Edel served Louth well
December 30, 2009When Edel McKeown-Sloane first broke onto the Louth ladies football team back in the early 1990s, things were a lot different than they are today. Suffice to say, the ladies game didn't exactly have a high profile... Then came the famous All-Ireland junior and intermediate successes of 1998 and '99 respectively, victories that spawned an explosion of interest in the game all over the Wee County. Ten years on, Dermot Agnew's charges landed more silverware in '09, with Edel as team captain.
The 2009 Leinster junior ladies football championship crown was thoroughly deserved and it also represents a fitting signing-off note for Edel, who's bringing her long intercounty career to an end. 'Wee County 2009' caught up with the Naomh Malachi girl to look back on the past year and on her impressive career in general.
Edel is a happy-go-lucky personality who has no regrets as she looks back on her days in the Louth jersey: "I enjoyed it all and it's nice to go out on a high as captain and also with a bit of silverware in the bag," she notes. So, is she going to reconsider and perhaps return for one more year? "No, I don't think so. This is the right time to step aside and let a younger player come through. A few people have asked me to stay on but I really think I'll leave it. I've had 16 good years with Louth and I've enjoyed every bit of it. I won't be playing next year, but I do hope to be involved with the team in some capacity."
Player of the match (with a decisive haul of 2-2) as the provincial junior crown was culled with victory over Wicklow in a replay at Athy on September 6, Edel is quick to point out that ladies football is very much a team game: "There's a good bunch of girls there and they have a good backroom. I hope the backroom team stays on for next year because the likes of Joey Kirk - who is a great motivator -, Alo, Dermot and Pat have a lot to offer the team. They lifted it this year and the team made a lot of progress. I can remember times when we were only getting seven girls out for county training, but this year was great and hopefully we'll get a bit of continuity."
When Edel started out in '93 there were only a handful of ladies clubs in the county and she played for the Joes first before transferring to the Mals. "Things were different," she reflects. "You knew all the girls and it was a small scene. But things have taken off in a big way since. There were only three or four clubs in the county, whereas now we have junior, intermediate and senior championships."
Edel is delighted with the progress that has been made: "It's great to see the whole thing taking off, especially with underage, where tremendous strides are being made. There was no underage at all when I started playing but now the girls are learning the skills from a very young age. It wasn't as serious and there was no such thing as sponsorship for ladies football. We were happy enough to go to training with our gear packed into Dunnes bags.
"Things really took off when we won the All-Ireland junior title in 1998 with Alo McGrath and Dermot Agnew in charge." The final was played in Croke Park and Edel, who has represented the Wee County in literally every area of the pitch, lined out at centre back that day. She has no hesitation in citing that brilliant success as the highlight of her career: "You always dream of playing in Croke Park and it was a great experience to win an All-Ireland there."
The Louth girls ended a ten-year trophy famine in 2009 and the signs are encouraging that they are capable of adding more silverware in the coming years. "We were delighted to win the Leinster junior," Edel notes. "The weekend before we were beaten in the All-Ireland semi-final and the girls were very down after that defeat. But they picked themselves up and we said we weren't going home without a cup. Thankfully, we managed to come away with a win."
Though she's stepping aside as a playing member of the squad, Edel is confident that the team can continue to blossom in 2010. "I think they'll be a force to be reckoned with next year. They have a good squad of 30 there and a few more nice players coming through, so they'll push all the way to get to an All-Ireland junior final next year."
As for captaining her county in '09… "It was my first year as Louth captain and it was a great honour to be captain and to work with such a great bunch of girls. Once you go out onto the pitch, we are all captains. All the girls can play football and they all took on responsibility when they had to." Scoring 2-2 in a Leinster final is a real captain's role, though, even if Edel is keen to play it down: "I'd take 2-2 any day in any game but the ball has to get into me before I can score. It was a team effort. I got to take the scores at the end of the moves but the girls worked the ball through to me and they all played superbly."
Despite the disappointment of a county final replay defeat to Stabannon in 2009, Edel will play on with her club in the coming year. There's also a strong chance she'll have some involvement at other levels. "I'd like to be involved in some capacity," she concedes. "I couldn't walk away from it altogether. You make a lot of good friends and you feel like you're part of a family. I've done some coaching courses and I'd like to get involved in underage coaching, maybe.
"Ladies football in Louth is on its way back. There was a good crowd out at the three county finals this year and everything seems to be moving forward at the moment. There's better competition that ever before. There are five senior clubs now. The Geraldines are only up and, in my opinion, they have some players who are good enough to make the county panel."
Edel McKeown-Sloane may not intend to play for the Louth ladies any more. But she's clearly going to remain part and parcel of the burgeoning ladies football scene in the Wee County. Tweet
