Goalkeeper Denise Lynch is the elder stateswoman of the Clare Senior Camogie panel and is determined to make this year one to remember.
When asked by The Clare Herald, what’s the objective for Lynch and her teammates for this campaign, her answer is as quick and sharp as her puckouts. “Win the All-Ireland” she says in a calm and composed manner.
Denise admits that they couldn’t have a better manager than their current boss Trish O’Grady as few past managers would have gone to the same lengths in scouting for players that O’Grady does.
“I think as a group we were delighted that Trish took over the management role, you know exactly what you’re going to get with Trish she doesn’t take any nonsense, she’s very up-front, very open, very honest with us as a group and as long as you’re up-front, open and honest with Trish there’s no problems. As I say she doesn’t take any nonsense and she won’t take any nonsense either, Trish is around a long time, she knows camogie in Clare probably better than anyone I’ve ever come across, she’ll go to a U16 match in Scariff on a Wednesday evening just to have a look at players and I have to say that probably more so than any other managers that we have and that’s not to criticise anyone in the past she’s definitely looking at the long-term picture with camogie in Clare, even in the last four or five weeks she’s brought in maybe three or four players, young girls that are fitting in so well, she’s a great ability to spot a player who mightn’t be on anyone else’s radar and bring them in and they’ll fit right in so from that point of view we’re very lucky to be under her”.
All the work that goes in during the winter months is geared towards Championship. The Kilmaley woman is itching to get back into the heat of Championship but admits there is no newfound or different feeling in the Clare camp in the lead-up to their opening game against Offaly.
“You’re always waiting for June and July to come around, it doesn’t feel any different to the other years, probably feel a bit more further than the road than we were this time last year twelve months ago so from that point of view is positive”.
“We played Offaly the last few years a good few times, we’ve always managed to beat them, we beat them in the League, it would be a streak that we’d hope to go on. We’ll have a tough one against Cork in the second round and its five weeks in a row, it’s going to be tough going whoever you’re going to be playing and hopefully we’ll pick up points and end up in a semi-final or quarter-final”.
Lynch shares a similarity with her current Clare manager in that they’ve both lined out between the posts for their County. Key to surviving in the position is to reset the mind and not to focus on the errors according to the present number one.
“Your mistakes are definitely highlighted, it’s not a position that you can get away with doing anything wrong, you just have to if something goes wrong park it and move on as quick as you can because if you stay on that mistake for a whole game you’re not going to be up to much for the match and just move on as quickly as possible”.
In her time between the posts, Denise has played behind the likes of Deirdre Corcoran, Cathy Halley, Helen McMahon and many more. Nowadays there is an increased level of competition for places in the full-back line with Carol O’Leary, Emma O’Connell, Aoife Griffin and Laura McMahon all fighting for starting positions, this makes the netminder behind them all the more comfortable.
“Every year has been different, you’ve mentioned some fantastic players and we’ve had really quality players over the length of time I’ve been playing. There’s definitely no lacking in the ability of the full-back line that we have now, it could be five or six different players playing in there, any day they go out they’re well capable of defending the goal, I suppose that’s probably the full-back’s line first job is kind of mark as tightly as possible and we’re very lucky that we have some very sticky and tight markers and I think they’re a fantastic line to play behind”.
Newer members of the panel have been achieving at schools and college level, the former Poc Fada winner feels this can only help them when playing with their County. “We’ve got plenty of girls that are there from Tulla and from St Flannan’s and they’ve been doing fantastically well in schools and we’ve got a load of girls that have played colleges with the likes of UL and have picked up Ashbourne Cups so you know the girls are used to the fixtures at the end of the season aswell, the business end of things in different competitions”.
Last year, Clare endured a rather traumatic campaign and were in the national headlines for the infamous cointoss saga. Denise and her teammates are now taking the approach of leaving the past in the past. “You’d have to ask them (Camogie Association) if they’ve learned from that. I suppose we’ve just parked it at this stage, it took up a lot of our time, a lot of our mental time aswell last year so we’ve just completely parked it. I think they have learned from it, they’ve a slightly different scoring structure this year than there was last so hopefully that thing won’t come up again”.