Kerry's Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh with her Ladies Football Personality of the Year award at the Gaelic Writers Association Awards, supported by the Dalata Hotel Group, at the Iveagh Garden Hotel. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
By John Harrington
Kerry LGFA star, Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh, still hasn’t decided whether she’ll continue to play for the Kingdom in 2025.
Now 32, the Corca Dhuibhne woman wade her senior debut for Kerry as a 16-year-old back in 2008 and finally won her first All-Ireland senior title this year.
Announced on Friday as the Gaelic Writers’ Association Ladies Football personality of the year, Ní Mhuircheartaigh doesn’t know yet if she’ll spearhead the defence of Kerry’s title.
“I don't really know,” she said. “It’s obviously going over and back in my head, what to do. Just taking a bit more time to think it over. Think what can the body do. And just enjoy the moment, that we did get over the line.
“I don’t want to be thinking about what next for another few weeks anyway. Take the time to talk to people about it and come up with my own decision then. It’s a tough one. It depends on what the body can do.”
Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh of Kerry with the Brendan Martin cup after the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Football Senior Championship final match between Galway and Kerry at Croke Park, Dublin. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile.
If Ní Mhuircheartaigh does decide that the All-Ireland Final win over Galway in August was her last ever game of senior inter-county football, then she’ll hang up her boots satisfied that she finally fulfilled all her dreams.
“It’s been the last thing that we wanted, that we were chasing for years – to win that All-Ireland medal,” she says.
“There is a real sense of achievement, of pride, that we stuck at it. Overcame two final defeats. Third time lucky we got over the line.
“Just a moment that we’ll cherish because there has been a load of Kerry greats that don’t have an All-Ireland medal. You’d think of them and teams I played with over the years who came close but we were still far away.
“I feel very privileged to have got the opportunity to play with Kerry for so long. To finally get over the line with such a special group and such a special management team is unbelievable.
“It was just so special to be able to celebrate with the team and the management after the final whistle. And meeting our families too, it's something we'll never forget. Sharing that moment with them. Just a special time.
“You get a chance to sit down and realise you have the job done. That you have the All-Ireland medal at last. You’d have a smile on your face - I think the smile has been permanent really.”
The 2024 Gaelic Writers' Awards are sponsored by the Dalata Hotel Group. Read more on all of this year's winners HERE.
