Niamh McEvoy remains an influential player for the Dublin Ladies footballers.
By Cian O'Connell
Another important sporting weekend beckons for Dean Rock and Niamh McEvoy.
The partners feature in two All Ireland finals for Dublin at Croke Park on Saturday and Sunday.
"Yeah, absolutely, and I was just laughing," McEvoy says.
"He did the media night last week and it was the first time ever he’d been asked about me so it just goes to show that ladies football has obviously grown a bit over the last couple of years for a man to be asked a question."
That is another sign of the increasing awareness of the ladies game, but McEvoy and Rock will remain calm even with the stakes piled high at the Jones Road venue.
"It’s always a chilled vibe, mostly on his side of things, he’s a very laid back type of character," McEvoy remarks.
"That obviously is good for me and rubs off some of the time. We’ve been in this situation a lot of times over the last couple of years and we just really enjoy it.
Niamh McEvoy and Dean Rock celebrate following Dublin Ladies All Ireland win in 2018.
"Thankfully we’re training on the same night for the last couple of weeks which is nice, so we’re getting to really enjoy our football and enjoy each other as well."
A decade ago McEvoy featured in her first All Ireland final for Dublin in 2020. The intervening years have brought harrowing losses and thrilling triumphs.
"I was a sub that day, came off the bench that day, same with Noelle, we both came on that day and I was talking to Kate Sullivan a clubmate of mine who is in with Dublin at the minute, she came on and had an impressive performance against Armagh," McEvoy says.
"I was saying, you know, you’re going to be in my position in 2030 so it’s quite strange if you think about it like that.
"We have some absolutely wonderful younger players coming through, Keeva (check) O’Connor gave an amazing account of herself in the championship last year, Kate Sullivan is brilliant and more than just keeping us on our toes they’re putting us under a lot of pressure.
"These are really, really good players who have learned a huge amount from being involved with this group and this management.
"Not only are they really threatening, they have kind of garnered that game sense that I would say me and Noelle didn’t have at their age."
Dublin's Niamh McEvoy in 2020 TG Ladies Championship action against Waterford last month.
After Christmas McEvoy will return to Melbourne for another stint in the Women's AFL with Dublin colleague Sinead Goldrick.
Former Dublin player Brian Stynes has been a significant help.
"Obviously Gaelic football will always be my first love and the girls I play football with here and nearly like sisters at this stage," McEvoy admits.
"Yeah, absolutely, there’s a huge level of respect between the management in Melbourne and the group as well.
"There’s obviously that Dublin GAA connection with Jim Stynes and it having been his club. When we were over there Brian Stynes was very good to us. He had us over to his house a number of times and was really good, just kind of talking about AFL and coming at it from a GAA background.
"Sometimes the Australians can’t understand why we were doing things that we were doing whereas Brian was able to tell us that they would expect you to do this, that or the other.
"It’s nice that there was a Dublin GAA connection with Melbourne." Tradition and respect will always be valued.
