Caoimhe Dowling, Dicksboro, pictured ahead of this weekend’s AIB Camogie All-Ireland Senior Club Championship final and for the release of the second episode of ‘Meet #TheToughest’, a new content series from AIB that will showcase some of the final stages of this year’s AIB Camogie All-Ireland Club Championships, through footage captured by cameras worn by players for the first time in Gaelic Games. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
By Cian O’Connell
Medals earned and memories made, Caoimhe Dowling is simply enjoying the last few weeks in 2023.
An AIB All-Ireland Club Camogie Final appearance for Dicksboro against Sarsfields is imminent on Sunday. Another challenge to be faced, an occasion to be embraced.
A primary school teacher in Inchicore, Dowling is away from the hype at home, but that sense of hope is shortening the winter for those involved in the progressive Kilkenny club.
“The week goes by a little bit quicker up here, you don't have as many people coming up to you chatting about it, but it is really exciting, especially for the young camogie girls,” she says.
“No matter what is going on, you always see young children out and about. It is building a bit of excitement. Hopefully it will push us on a little bit too.”
Inspiring the next generation is part of the brief. In school, Dowling saw the value of St Patrick’s Athletic FAI Cup triumph. Sport undoubtedly can bring pain, but the pleasant days must be cherished.
“Teaching up in Dublin is different, I'm situated at the St Pat's football club, so GAA wouldn't be too big of a thing around there,” she explains.
“Ciara O'Shea and myself teach at the same school, we show videos of our matches and stuff. When it is coming around to Patrick's Day we might throw a helmet on them and give them a hurl, it is a completely new experience for them. They don't know what is going on.
“It is nice to promote that in the school, it is something for them to get used to. Most of the girls on our team would either be secondary or primary school teachers.
“You'd see that across the county teams too, it just fits into the lifestyle the girls are living, especially when they are involved with county. It is easier to get that work life balance for them.”
For children, though, the talk before and after matches means so much. “Even when Ciara and I get to bring a cup into school after the county and Leinster final, it gets a bit of a buzz and interest around the sport too,” Dowling remarks.
“As long as the children have an interest in some sport - no matter what it is - it gets them going, makes other friends groups too. I look back now, most of our friends played camogie.
Kilkenny's Caoimhe Dowling leaves the Croke Park pitch following the 2021 All-Ireland Camogie Final defeat against Antrim. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
“It is the same group of girls, obviously you have friends outside of sport. It is nice that the same girls stick around, you're playing with them and you get to know them throughout the years.”
For teachers sport can help forge meaningful connections with pupils too. Frequently Dowling is asked about Dicksboro’s fortunes. “When you go in on a Monday you can see that some of them will ask how did the match go?,” she laughs.
“It is just getting that interaction with them, it makes it seem that you are a bit more of their friend than maybe their teacher, especially in our school, that seems to work well. They are more willing to tell you if they are playing a sport, they want to tell you and want to get involved.
“They want to pass it on. It is a good way, even in PE, they are having a go at new things. You're looking at them to get involved in things outside of school, in clubs. You're just always trying to promote it and to promote the fitness side outside of school too.”
Dowling has kept busy in the capital. A productive spell playing football with Cuala brought silverware too. “At the start of the year I was playing football with Cuala on their Junior E team as a social thing - it was good, we actually won a county final with that,” she says.
“I'm lucky because we don't have a football club with Dicksboro so I got to play with them, it was really good. It was nice to be able to run around without having to hold a hurl or wear a helmet.
“It was something different. That was really fun, you are learning different little skills. A few of us play a bit of tag rugby in Dublin, a social fitness thing that doesn't make you feel you're doing too much.
“It was more social, but it was really good and look into another aspect of GAA. I really enjoyed it. A few girls on the team like Aobha O'Gorman, she was playing ladies football in Kilkenny, Ciara Phelan and Niamh were playing too. They did really well. Aobha won a Féile with the football too.”
These are encouraging times for Dicksboro. Dowling highlights the sterling work being carried out in the juvenile ranks ensuring new talent is being manufactured for the future. More players are lining out at adult level.
The links between the club and local schools has helped the process too according to Dowling. “We have a big commitment from the management getting involved - it can be hard on a Saturday morning because we are a big club at underage,” she says.
“We'd have 50 or 60 U6s and U8s, it is going up all the way through, especially in the primary schools too between Canice's and Presentation. Canice's is a major one getting the hurling going. I know one of the girls from our team Orla Hanrick, her dad was a teacher in Canice's. They have a field right beside, every lunchtime they were out.
“I didn't go to Canice's myself, but you always hear about it from the girls. It was different, you different have to throw a helmet on, you were out with a hurl. That was the culture people were brought up with.”
Caoimhe Dowling is a key performer for Dicksboro. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Dowling vividly recalls important moments, including an All-Ireland Féile triumph, hinting at Dicksboro’s potential. “A lot of girls from that team - a few have obviously stepped away - but there is a lot of core girls from that team, who have stayed going, especially a few above us - Aoife Prendergast, Jenny (Clifford), Ciara Phelan, all of those girls have always been there.
“So, there isn't too many leaving. I know some girls are getting caught going to Australia and whatever, but we seem to have been lucky, the girls we have are sticking around.
“Even the experience of going down to stay with a family, stuff we look back on now. It was completely different back then, it was a really good experience.
“We got to play in the Limerick pitch that day, going playing in a stadium when you wouldn't have got an opportunity at that age to do it. So, it was a really good experience to have and to look back on.”
Winning an Ashbourne Cup medal is another landmark as camogie players in Dicksboro sample significant occasions.
“I trained in Pat's, I got to play with DCU in camogie,” she recalls. “With Ciara O'Shea and Ciara Phelan, I'd have been part of the Ashbourne team that won two years ago, that was amazing.
“It was a really big thing for DCU as a college, it was a great experience for the team. Ciara O'Connor was on the team, we played against her with Martin's, it is mad the girls you come up through college with and then you see them at club level and at county. You're coming across the same names all the time. That was really good.”
It illustrates that Dowling has operated at a high level. Crucial matches are arriving thick and fast, but it is vital to enjoy the various aspects surrounding these fixtures. “Even doing stuff like this is completely different, but you don't know when the opportunity is going to happen again,” she says about the increased exposure.
“We've been lucky that nobody has left our team, but you don't know in a few years when girls go away to college or just want different career opportunities, what is going to happen.
“Sarsfields are used to these occasions by now, it is embedded into them, so trying to get something like that going in our own club, younger girls coming through see that is the goal we set for ourselves.
“It is nice obviously people saying things and you have to soak it in while you're there. It isn't everyday you get to go to play in Croke Park with the group of girls you grew up with. You're trying to take in what you can, but not let it get too much either at the same time.”
The approach is serving Dowling and Dicksboro well.