ST TIERNACH’S PARK, Clones, will host a double-header of Lidl Ladies National Football League semi-finals on Saturday week.

Holders Dublin face Donegal in the opening clash on 19 March [throw-in 1pm], before 2021 All-Ireland champions Meath do battle with Mayo [3pm].

Both games will be shown live on TG4, while tickets are available now.

Dublin and Mayo both hold 100% records in the campaign thus far; Mick Bohan’s Sky Blues having defeated Meath by the minimum in their final group game at the weekend to top the pool, as their quest for a third Division 1 crown roars on.

The Royals, meanwhile, are eyeing a top-flight final after rising back through the league ranks and winning Division 2 last year.

Michael Moyles’ resurgent Green and Red and Donegal are both recent Division 1 semi-finalists, and targetting significant breakthroughs.

🏐Update on @lidl_ireland National League fixtures, including details of a Division 1 semi-final double-header (live on @TG4TV) at St Tiernach's Park, Clones, on Sat March 19@DonegalLGFA v @dublinladiesg @Mayo_LGFA v @meathladiesMLGF https://t.co/kgDlIzOkpy#SeriousSupport

— Ladies Football (@LadiesFootball) March 9, 2022

The final will take place in Croke Park on Sunday, 10 April, forming a double-header with the Division 2 showpiece. Armagh and Laois, and Kerry and Monaghan will contest the last four battles at that grade over the coming weeks.

The Division 1 relegation play-off between Westmeath and Waterford takes place this Sunday, as both sides battle for top-flight status in Abbotstown. Simultaneously, Louth and Wicklow are looking to avoid the drop to Division 4 on another pitch at the same venue and time.

The O’Connor Cup — the top-level colleges competition — is also down for decision this weekend, with DCU and UCC, and UL and NUIG in semi-final action on Friday before Saturday’s final.

This weekend’s heavy schedule for some players has led to discontent:

With the relegation game being played the same weekend as the college finals could potentially mean myself and some teammates could have to play 3 games in 3 days!! Surely there is another free weekend to play this game ?? #LGFA #playerwelfare @LadiesHEC @LadiesFootball https://t.co/73NHm0Ynjb

— Sarah Dillon (@sarah_dillon9) March 9, 2022

Great to see division 1&3 relegation games fixed for the same weekend as the college football🙄 Players potentially playing 3 must win games in 3 days!!! Surely it could have been fixed for any other weekend🤷🏽‍♀️ #LGFA #PlayerWelfare https://t.co/UQYFzyNo60

— Karen Hegarty (@kazzyheg) March 9, 2022

How can the Div1 relegation between Westmeath & Waterford go ahead the same weekend as college finals? Surely this can be pushed to next weekend, what’s the rush? Player welfare? same story.. different year 🤦🏼‍♀️ @LeinsterLGFA @LadiesFootball @LadiesHEC

— Carole Finch (@Funchla) March 9, 2022

All games, which are listed out below, are available to watch live on the LGFA Facebook and YouTube, Sport TG4 Youtube or the LGFA’s live-streaming portal.

Upcoming Lidl Ladies National Football League Fixtures

(All fixtures 2pm unless stated)

Sunday 13 March

Division 1 relegation play-off

• Waterford v Westmeath; Abbotstown, Pitch 2 (Astro)

Division 3 relegation play-off

• Louth v Wicklow; Abbotstown, Pitch 1 – 1pm

Saturday 19 March

Division 1 semi-finals

• Dublin v Donegal; St Tiernach’s Park, Clones – 1pm – Live on TG4
• Mayo v Meath; St Tiernach’s Park, Clones – 3pm – Live on TG4

Division 2 semi-final

• Armagh v Laois; TBC

Sunday 20 March

Division 2 semi-final

• Kerry v Monaghan; TBC

Division 3 semi-finals

• Kildare v Roscommon; TBC
• Down v Wexford; TBC

Division 4 semi-finals

• Leitrim v Offaly; TBC
• Fermanagh v Limerick; Kinnegad

Sunday 3 April

Division 2 relegation play-off

• Clare v Tyrone; Glennon Brothers Pearse Park

Division 3 Final

• Kildare/Roscommon v Down/Wexford; TBC

Division 4 Final

• Leitrim/Offaly v Fermanagh/Limerick; TBC

Sunday April 10

Division 2 Final

• Armagh/Laois v Kerry/Monaghan; Croke Park – Live on TG4

Division 1 Final

• Dublin/Donegal v Mayo/Meath; Croke Park, 4pm – Live on TG4

All games not being shown live on TG4 will be available to view via the LGFA’s live-streaming service: https://page.inplayer.com/lgfaseason2022/

Yoplait O’Connor Cup semi-final fixtures

Friday 11 March

Saturday 12 March

ALL-IRELAND CHAMPIONS Kilcoo will be “forever grateful” to Mickey Moran following his decision to step down as manager after guiding the Down club to glory earlier this year.

News of his departure was first reported by the Irish News, as the Derry native brings the curtain down on another successful period of his managerial career. Assistant managers Conleith Gilligan and Richie Thornton will take over as joint managers of the club as the new season looms.

Moran brought the Down outfit to their first senior All-Ireland title following a dramatic extra-time battle with Kilmacud Crokes in Croke Park last month. Kilcoo, who previously contested the 2020 showpiece, clinched victory after a late goal from Jerome Johnston.

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In addition to the All-Ireland crown, Moran has also managed Kilcoo to three county championship titles and two Ulster titles during his time in charge.

“It’s unbelievable when you think of where we’ve come from when we sought Mickey out to come and manage the team in 2018,” Kilcoo PRO Michael Kane told The42 as he recalled the early days of the Moran era.

“The players are a very ambitious group and we knew there was more in them, and we needed the best man in Ulster to take us over the line.

“He did that in his first year – won Down, won Ulster and then took us to an All-Ireland final against Corofin. We lost a year with Covid, we got our county championship but never got to progress and it was probably our best year in terms of performances under Mickey.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

“We all know what happened in the recent months when we became Ulster champions for the second time and our very first All-Ireland. He was a massive part of bringing success to the club and we’re indebted to him.

“He’ll forever go down as a legend with the respect he has among the people in Kilcoo.”

Commenting on the background of Moran’s exit, Kane explained how the squad took a break on the back of their All-Ireland success. Moran then made contact with the club chairman Roger Morgan over the weekend to request a meeting with the players, which took place last night.

Kane says that it was an emotional evening as Moran informed the camp of his intention to step away after overseeing the most successful period in the club’s history.

“The players were all there. Even the ones that were away were involved through zoom to be part of it. It was an emotional evening. It wasn’t totally unexpected, we thought it was coming but Mickey decided that he wanted to go out at the top and he thanked the club for everything. He had so much good to say about the players and their attitude and commitment.

“We’re sad to see him go but we totally respect and understand his decision. Taking the travelling involved and his recent health scares, we totally respect his decision and we’re forever grateful for what he’s brought to our club.”

One of the most enduring images from Kilcoo’s victory over Kilmacud Crokes was the sight of Moran walking down to the goals at the Hill 16 end and kissing the ground after the game.

Having suffered All-Ireland heartache as manager of other teams in the past, Kilcoo’s achievement was all the more significant for Moran. And he marked the moment with a poignant gesture to the turf in Croke Park.

Kane notes that the players were determined to deliver for their manager as much as themselves.

“It’s pure class. The effort and commitment he has shown to our guys, it’s nothing more than he deserves. We’re delighted for him that he can go out at the top and he got a guard of honour from our players as he travelled out the lane last night. He bowed out as an All-Ireland champion so what better way to go.

“What he put in place, his coaching ability and what he’s brought to the table, he’s the reason why we were back in Croke Park and he was like a father figure over our players.

“They wanted to win it for themselves but they wanted Mickey to get up them steps as well because I know, not just with Kilcoo, he had hard luck with Slaughtneil and a couple of inter-county All-Irelands.”

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KILKENNY MANAGER BRIAN Cody has paid tribute to former Ballyhale Shamrocks player Paul Shefflin who passed away on Friday.

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The younger brother of Henry Shefflin died while out running and news of his passing sent shockwaves through the local community.  

A minute silence was held for the 40-year-old father of four before yesterday’s Division 1B hurling tie between Kilkenny and Dublin in Parnell Park.

The Cats prevailed by 2-23 to 0-16, and afterwards Cody said: “It’s so sad for everybody concerned.

“He was a very good hurler, obviously a terrific club player and underage with Kilkenny as well and Fitzgibbon (Cup). It’s just an absolute tragedy.”

Speaking to RTÉ prior to the game, he said: “It’s a really, really sad time for Ballyhale, Kilkenny and the whole hurling community everywhere.

“The Shefflin family are synonymous with the game, and Paul was a terrific hurler himself and obviously just a really popular figure.”

Shefflin won three All-Ireland club titles and six Kilkenny crowns with Ballyhale during his career.

“When the news trickled through, you were just asking yourself, ‘Why?’ said Jackie Tyrrell.

“All the things you alluded to – a great clubman, a family man. Possibly because of Henry’s success, his achievements may have been overshadowed. But you look at his list there – three club All-Irelands, a real great clubman, a coach and a treasurer there.

“I played against Paul a few times. A tough cookie, but a gentleman off the hurling field. It’s such a sad, sad day for a community like Ballyhale that have had a lot of tragedies, down through the years.”

Henry Shefflin was absent from the sideline yesterday for Galway’s defeat to Cork as he comes to term with the tragic passing.

Ballyhale’s Paul Shefflin celebrates with the Leinster club title in 2014.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

Richie O’Neill, who was previously involved with Paul as part of Henry’s Ballyhale backroom team, assumed management duties for the day and he spoke afterwards about his shock at the sudden death. 

“It was shocking to get the call yesterday, the tragedy that had come on Paul, Ballyhale and the Shefflin family,” he told RTÉ.

“An absolutely brilliant chap. I got involved with Ballyhale with Henry in 2018 and Paul was just a real rock-steady solid guy in the parish and in the club.

“He carried the hurleys for us in the senior team. If you were looking for a dig out to make 15 v 15 in an internal game he’d tog out and play and was as competitive as ever.

“He was a really good guy in the community. He has young kids now and was involved in training the underage in the club.

Galway selector Richie O’Neill speaks to the media before the Cork game.

Source: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO

“One of those guys you need around in every club and for something like that to happen is just unthinkable really, for his wife Aoife and his four kids it’s unthinkable.

“It makes you rethink things definitely. We all get caught running around, stressing about things that maybe aren’t worth stressing about.

“In Ballyhale, when I was there for the two years there were other tragedies (as well). We used to say that life can be cruel but sport is our outlet.”

Originally published at 10.00

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Results

Croke Cup Semi-final

St Joseph’s Tulla 1-11 St Kieran’s 3-16

Allianz Football League Division 3

Longford 0-14 Westmeath 0-10

Fermanagh 3-15 Laois 3-9  

***********************

IN TODAY’S REFIXED Allianz Football League games, there were wins in Division 3 for Longford and Fermanagh. 

Billy O’Loughlin’s Longford eased their relegation fears with a 0-15 to 0-10 win over Westmeath, denting the promotion hopes of their neighbours in the process. 

Driven on by Mickey Quinn, Longford shot six points in success during the second period  before Westmeath finished the game with 13 men. David Lynch was red carded seven times from time and Kieran Martin picked up a black card in injury-time. 

Fermanagh won their second game on the bounce, seeing off Laois in a six-goal thriller. They won by 3-15 to 3-9 after three-pointers from Sean Quigley, Ciaran Corrigan and Darragh McGurn. Laois hit the net through a brace from Mark Barry and one form Evan O’Carroll, but it wasn’t enough. 

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In the Croke Cup semi-final, Kilkenny side St Kieran’s College sealed a return to the All-Ireland post primary schools senior hurling championship final with a 3-16 to 1-11 win against St Joseph’s Tulla.

The Clare outfit were shock winners of the Harty Cup earlier this year but their historic run ended today. St Kieran’s led by four at half-time as Brian Dowling (2) and Donagh Murphy scored goals in the second period.

They’ll face Ardscoil Rís in the final after the Limerick school saw off Wexford’s Good Counsel in the other semi-final.

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Wexford 1-22
Offaly 2-12

Ronan Fagan reports from Chadwicks Wexford Park

WEXFORD PRODUCED A late flourish to add to Offaly’s relegation worries after Saturday’s Allianz National Hurling League Division 1 duel at blustery Chadwicks Wexford Park.

A 48th minute penalty goal from Luke O’Connor gave Offaly a fighting chance of a first victory in Group A on their return to the top-flight as they battled into a 2-10 to 1-12 advantage.

But Wexford overcame a troubled display with a strong closing surge, accounting for ten of the last twelve points to maintain their push for the league semi-finals with a 100% record under new boss Darragh Egan.

Offaly must now win on the road against Limerick if they are to have any chance of avoiding the relegation play-off.

But after hammerings against Galway, Cork and Clare, the midlanders offered plenty of encouragement in this latest outing, which was preceded by an immaculate minute’s silence for Paul Shefflin, a Ballyhale Shamrocks’ club-mate of Offaly manager Michael Fennelly who passed suddenly.

Wind-assisted Offaly boosted their boss’s spirits as they crafted a 1-3 to 0-2 advantage when Luke O’Connor netted in the thirteenth minute after being located unmarked by a smart cross from Paddy Clancy.

Wexford’s Laurie Foley tackles David Nally of Offaly.

Source: Bryan Keane/INPHO

Wexford were underwhelming. But the free-taking of Rory O’Connor and a Diarmuid O’Keeffe equaliser hauled them back level after 21 minutes (0-6 to 1-3).

However, despite incurring a booking for a late challenge in the build up to the O’Keeffe leveller, Offaly midfielder Adrian Cleary immediately restored their advantage which climbed to 1-6 to 0-6 after 25 minutes.

But Wexford transformed matters by 1-8 to 1-7 at half-time after Rory O’Connor burst in from the extreme left to ram to the net with an equalising goal before tagging on the lead score from an injury-time free.

A quick Luke O’Connor double saw Offaly reassert by 1-9 to 1-8 after 39 minutes.

And a foul on Eoghan Parlon paved the way for O’Connor to drill home a 48th minute penalty to lead 2-9 to 1-10. And after Wexford tied matters for a fifth time, O’Connor nudged Offaly back in front on 55 minutes (2-10 to 1-12).

Wexford eventually shook off their lethargy as they produced an unstoppable late charge, Rory O’Connor, substitute Connal Flood and corner-back Conor Devitt fashioning a 1-15 to 2-10 transformation after 57 minutes.

They maintained the thrust, with O’Connor forcing a fine save while teenager Corey Byrne-Dunbar rounded off the scoring on his league debut with a point as Wexford came good to leave Offaly frustrated after a promising effort.

Scorers for Wexford: Rory O’Connor (1-11, 0-9 frees), Connal Flood, Conor McDonald, Kevin Foley (0-2 each), Diarmuid O’Keeffe, Liam Óg McGovern, Conor Devitt, Jack O’Connor, Corey Byrne-Dunbar (0-1 each).

Scorers for Offaly: Luke O’Connor (2-6, 1-0 penalty, 0-4 frees), Adrian Cleary, Joey Keenaghan (0-2 each), Paddy Clancy, Stephen Corcoran (0-1 free).

Wexford

1. James Lawlor (Ferns St Aidan’s)

2. Shane Reck (Oylegate-Glenbrien), 3. Matthew O’Hanlon (St James’), 4. Conor Devitt (Tara Rocks)

5. Gavin Bailey (Ferns St Aidan’s), 6. Damien Reck (Oylegate-Glenbrien), 9. Diarmuid O’Keeffe (St Anne’s)

12. Conor Hearne (Shelmaliers), 7. Jack O’Connor (St Martin’s)

10. Charlie McGuckin (Naomh Eanna), 11. Oisín Foley (Crossabeg-Ballymurn), 8. Kevin Foley (Rapparees, capt.)

15. Rory Higgins (Rathnure St Anne’s), 14. Conor McDonald (Naomh Eanna), 13. Rory O’Connor (St Martin’s)

Subs:

26. Liam Óg McGovern (St Anne’s) for McGuckin (42)

21. Corey Byrne Dunbar (Ferns St Aidan’s) for Higgins (42)

23. Connal Flood (Cloughbawn) for Bailey (44)

24. Paudie Foley (Crossabeg-Ballymurn) for McDonald (62)

18. Cian Byrne (Fethard) for Hearne (66)

Offaly

1 Stephen Corcoran (Coolderry)

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4 Paddy Delaney (Kinnitty), 3 Ben Conneely (St. Rynagh’s, capt.), 2 Jack Screeney (Kilcormac-Killoughey)

7 Killian Sampson (Shinrone), 6 David King (Coolderry), 5 Ciarán Burke (Durrow)

8 Joey Keenaghan (Clodiagh Gaels), 23 Adrian Cleary (Shinrone)

10 Brian Duignan (Durrow), 11 Jason Sampson (Shrinone), 12 Eoghan Parlon (Coolderry)

15 Luke O’Connor (St. Rynagh’s), 14 Paddy Clancy (Belmont), 13 Liam Langton (Clodiagh Gaels)

Subs:

9 Eimhin Kelly (Lusmagh) for Delaney (HT)

25 John Murphy (Ballinamere) for Duignan (48)

22 David Nally (Belmont) for Langton (62)

17 Pádraig Cantwell (Shamrocks) for Clancy (67)

24 Morgan Watkins (Birr) for Parlon (70)

Referee: Nathan Wall (Cork)

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THE PHONE CALL came out of the blue. A few days beforehand, Monica McGuirk had made the decision to take a break from one sport.

This was at the start of 2018. An accomplished goalkeeper in the Women’s National League [WNL] at the time, she was stepping away from the top-flight of women’s soccer on these shores. Temporarily, anyway.

“I just decided, ‘Look, I’m just giving soccer a break. I just maybe need to reset and look at it again in a year or two,’” she explains ahead of today’s mouth-watering Division 1B league meeting with Dublin, a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland final.

“I hadn’t decided to focus on Gaelic or anything like that, it was just a decision I made myself.

“I’d say within a week [Meath manager] Eamonn Murray got wind that I wasn’t playing soccer so he was straight on the phone to me, and he was like, ‘Just give me two weeks and see how you go. If you like it, you like it, and if not, you can walk away from it.’ 

“And I haven’t looked back.”

An All-Ireland senior crown, two All-Stars and plenty more medals and accolades later, she’s happy to do so for the purpose of this interview.

McGuirk had always balanced both, but up to that point, soccer came first. That was a well-known and widely-accepted fact. She played underage Gaelic football with Meath, and had been in and out of the senior set-up since 2009 or 2010. 

Irene Munnelly was the Royals’ number one, an All-Star arriving for the long-serving ‘keeper in 2011. Her understudy was swayed towards association football, signing for Peamount in late 2012. 

Reaching the FAI Cup final and lining out in the Aviva Stadium in 2014 was a certain highlight, though Peas were beaten 2-1 by Raheny United. Ireland captain Katie McCabe scored a sensational free-kick that day — “That was me alright. Horrible,” McGuirk laughs — while she had the best possible view of one of the most famous goals in the history of Irish football: directly in line with Stephanie Roche’s Puskas wonder-strike.

Two seasons at UCD Waves followed her time at Peamount, before she made a brief return to Greenogue. She caught the eye in the league week in, week out, so much so that she was called up for Ireland trials, but a coveted call-up never materialised.

Dejection in the closing stages of the 2014 FAI Cup final.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

“At the end of 2017, the beginning of 2018. I just said, ‘Look, I’ve had enough now,’” McGuirk recalls. “My soccer career wasn’t going the way I wanted it to go, they weren’t pushing me to the limits that I felt I needed to be pushed to.

“I was constantly getting knockbacks, not getting selected for the Irish team and stuff like that. I wasn’t getting selected but yet I was able to turn around and play with the same players in the National League. D’you know what I mean? I was basically told I wasn’t good enough.

“I got callbacks to the last stages of everything and then just being told [no] at the last thing. A lot of it was to do with certain things like I needed to get fit or I’d have to lose weight, things like that.

“I’m just like, ‘This is me. If this is not what you want, then that’s fine, I’ll understand that.’ I’m a bigger person, I know who I am. But like, I’m strong. I had those knockbacks – I wouldn’t say that’s the reason why I gave up soccer, I kept going at it. I was still 26/27, I still gave it a good 10, 12 years. But it was the best decision I ever made.”

It came shortly after that fateful phone call with Murray, who had taken over as Meath boss at the end of 2017.

Munnelly had retired by then, and while a couple of goalkeepers were coming and going, there was no nailed-down replacement with the 2018 National League already underway.

“Not that he was under orders not to ring me, but he knew my situation,” McGuirk grins.

“I was playing for Peamount in Dublin, and I live in Duleek. That is a separate commitment, it’s nearly the same as Meath. There’s one or two girls that currently do it in the National League now, the likes of Lucy McCartan from Westmeath.

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“If it works for her, it works for her, but I don’t think it would work for me personally. The commitment was too much. And you’ve no personal life. None of your own time to do your own thing.”

She admits that she could have easily fallen away from sport altogether, as so often happens, left disillusioned and disenfranchised after putting so much in for so little in return. 

But thankfully, McGuirk has gotten it all back in spades since her 100% commitment to Gaelic football. 

In September 2018, she switched one national stadium for another and graced the hallowed turf of Croke Park. She did the same 12 months later; back-to-back All-Ireland intermediate finals ending in heartbreaking defeat to Tyrone and Tipperary respectively.

It was in the pre-Christmas Covid finals of 2020 that the Royals finally got their hands on the Mary Quinn Memorial Cup and achieved promotion back to the senior ranks. And we all know what happened thereafter, simply stratospheric heights hit in 2021.

McGuirk celebrating Meath’s goal in the 2021 All-Ireland final.

Source: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO

Celtic Crosses and a pair of All-Star awards – from 2019 and 2021 – now sit in McGuirk’s cabinet, taking pride of place after her up-and-down journey to this point.

The Duleek Bellewstown clubwoman, who works as an Operations Manager in Aura Leisure Management’s site in Drogheda, does keep in touch with former team-mates and other figures from the previous chapter.

“They obviously see what I’ve achieved through social media and stuff like that as well,” she adds. “It’s selfish even for myself to know that I was able to go and perfect it in this sport.

“I know in the back of my mind, I was good enough and I am good enough. I didn’t just get the two All-Stars because they were given to me. D’you know what I mean? I feel like I’ve proved to myself now that I know I was good enough.”

It’s fair to say that she’s had the last laugh after the setbacks, and that the success and personal accolades, in particular, hold that extra bit of significance?

“Yeah,” McGuirk smiles. “Especially the first one [All-Star]. The first one obviously, I didn’t have all the girls there. I was intermediate. I just felt I was voted and that was it.

“I felt honored just to be up there among the best, but then when they called out my name, I could not believe it. We didn’t win the All-Ireland that year either. And then to get one this year along with the other seven players was amazing, that was just a great night.”

A great night, indeed, and given the upward trajectory McGuirk’s career is on, there should be many more on the horizon.

– Meath v Dublin, Páirc Tailteann, Navan, throw-in 4pm, live on TG4.

THE ALL-IRELAND CLUB camogie final is coming at a good time for Eoghan Rua forward, and Irish hockey international, Katie Mullan.

Eoghan Rua’s Katie Mullan.

If the season had been any longer, she might not have been able to keep committing to both teams. On the day she speaks to the media — one week out from her Derry club’s junior A decider against Clanmaurice of Kerry — she’s in the middle of a training camp with the Ireland hockey team.

The Green Army has a hectic few months ahead as they prepare for the women’s hockey world cup in July.

It’s a tight operation, no doubt, but Mullan is blessed to have the support of her colleagues in both squads to keep all the plates spinning.

“I’m sitting in a changing room on Irish camp right now,” she explains.

“I’m playing pretty full on hockey at the minute. We’re in camp now for three days and we were away in France two weeks ago. We were flying to France the day after the Ulster final, so it’s pretty tough to manage but it’s been good too.

“I just manage it very well with my club coach. The good thing is that the girls in my club team are very understanding, so the main thing for me is to get out on the wall ball with camogie. I go to training and do a lot more of the skill based stuff because I’m getting my physical training in with the hockey.

“So it’s just a real understanding and collaboration, which again, for to support any athlete or any kid playing multiple sports, you need that collaboration between coaches which I’ve had a fantastic experience of the last couple of months.”

Up until the end of last year, hockey was Mullan’s one and only sport. She played camogie as a youngster, and combined it with hockey for a time. But as she grew up and the opportunity to be a dual athlete became less accessible to her, she could only focus on one.

Sticking with hockey proved to be a fruitful one. Mullan captained her country through an amazing World Cup campaign in 2018 which turned hockey into a household favourite for a short spell. Ireland went into that tournament as the second-lowest ranked side, but emerged as silver medalists after reaching the final.

The following year, Mullan’s Ireland qualified for the Olympics for the first time after a dramatic qualifier against Canada in Donnybrook.

But last October, while attending the Derry intermediate camogie county final where her Eoghan Rua side defeated Newbridge, she felt something stir in her.

“I just really got an itch to be back playing camogie,” Mullan recalls about resuming her playing career with Eoghan Rua who were back-to-back All-Ireland intermediate champions in 2010 and 2011.

“So that was when the wee seed was planted, and it’s been quite a good year and quite a good run. It’s in the last month that it’s sort of really clashed for me, but with an understanding coach, with it being an All-Ireland, he’s been very supportive in that.

“I think if it was going on for much longer, I’m not sure I could have managed it but, yeah, very understanding.

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“It’s been quite an intense few years with hockey and going away and speaking to my coach about that, I sort of asked if I could go back and play a bit of camogie. A lot of the girls I had played with 10, 11 years ago are still there playing for that team. A lot of them are my close friends so he was quite supportive of me doing that from a mental perspective.

“But also, I suppose, after the Olympics and sort of the comedown from the Olympics, and a break in our Irish hockey training programme after the qualifier in October, I was quite keen to do something different.”

Katie Mullan with her silver medal after the World Cup.

Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO

In the time that Mullan has been away from the sport, she has noticed some changes in the way camogie is played. The endurance levels have increased and the game has become more physical.

Tactically, it’s a different sport to her now too.

“I think camogie players are a lot less stuck in positions, so you’re covering an awful lot more ground and you’re not necessarily in a little 10×10 yard zone, which was maybe the case the last time I played.

“And I know from a skills perspective, I was a huge one for dropping the hurl and getting the handpass away from my right hand. So, I’ve been blown up a few times for that just because it sort of happens instinctively.

“The girls are having to give out to me a bit for that, but it’s loads of fun and even just bringing across a small number of ideas from the game of hockey into the world of camogie, the girls have been super receptive, and I’ve enjoyed that too.

“There’s so much crossover [between hockey and camogie] from things within a team culture and high performance environment that don’t even relate to the specific skills of the game, that I think can be transferred to many different sports.

“It’s fantastic and the most important thing is that I’m getting to play with girls I grew up in the club with, and I’m getting to pull on the club jersey with them again, which is very special to me.”

Eoghan Rua have just the week to prepare for the All-Ireland final. Their semi-final meeting with Roscommon’s Athleague was originally scheduled for 19 February, but the inclement weather forced a postponement until last Saturday.

It was a tough arm wrestle for much of the contest, with Eoghan Rua leading by just two points in the 15th minute of the second half. But the Ulster club managed to pull away and sign off with a 1-12 to 0-6 win to send them through to the decider.

The team are in good shape after that battle, and explains that travelling the short distance to Letterkenny for the Athleague game has improved their recovery time before meeting Clanmaurice this weekend.

Mullan has said in the past that she always wanted to go back to play camogie at some point, but she believed that it would be after she finished up with playing hockey for Ireland.

Taking the decision to make an earlier return to the sport could result in another All-Ireland crown for Eoghan Rua.

“I never thought it would be something I could do while still playing international hockey.

“It very much just happened naturally and I’m so grateful that it has. And just the way the season has unfolded, a lot of the camógs maybe don’t enjoy winter camogie, and it’s not their first choice. But for me, I’m really enjoying it so I’m very grateful.”

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President Donald Trump seemed to have very different things to say about Covid-19 when he spoke in public — at press conferences and TV appearances — than when he spoke to journalist Bob Woodward one-on-one.

In public comments, Trump took a tone that downplayed the coronavirus — making it seem like the virus would go away quickly, and emphasizing the need to reopen the country to try to get the economy going again.

With Woodward, Trump warned about the risks of the virus in frank and scary terms, calling it “the plague,” acknowledging it’s deadlier than the flu, and saying it could spread by air.

This was, apparently, deliberate. As Trump also told Woodward on March 19, “I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”

Of course, this is not how viruses work. While Trump tried to downplay the risks, Covid-19 continued to spread across America. As of September 16, the nation has reported more than 6.6 million confirmed cases and nearly 200,000 deaths. It still reports the most daily new coronavirus deaths out of any developed country.

“There was a failure to realize what an efficiently spreading respiratory virus for which we have no vaccine and no antiviral meant,” Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, previously told me. “From the very beginning, that minimization … set a tone that reverberated from the highest levels of government to what the average person believes about the virus.”

In other words, Trump’s deception left America unprepared for the virus. The president claimed it was intentional, part of an attempt to keep the country upbeat. But we now know we were misled — to deadly results.

“Deadly stuff” versus “It’s going to disappear”

In February, Trump told Woodward that the virus was “deadly stuff,” more dangerous than the flu and potentially transmitting through the air. (CNN has audio recordings of Trump’s comments.)

February 7, to Woodward: “It goes through air, Bob. That’s always tougher than the touch. You know, the touch, you don’t have to touch things, right? But the air, you just breathe the air, and that’s how it’s passed. And so that’s a very tricky one, that’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than your — you know, your, even your strenuous flus. … This is more deadly. This is five per — you know, this is five percent versus one percent and less than one percent. You know? So this is deadly stuff.”

Yet in public, Trump took a very different tone. He consistently suggested that the virus was under control, soon to disappear “like a miracle.” In early March, Trump totally contradicted his comments to Woodward by suggesting the coronavirus was less deadly than the flu.

January 30, in a speech: “We think we have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment — five. And those people are all recuperating successfully.”

February 26, at a press conference: “When you have 15 people [infected by the coronavirus in the US], and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.”

February 27, at a White House meeting: “It’s going to disappear. One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”

March 9, on Twitter: “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!”

Acknowledging the risks to the young — but cheering for packed churches

Later in March, Trump acknowledged to Woodward that the coronavirus could affect not just old people but young people, too. But he added that he prefers to downplay the threat.

March 19, to Woodward: “Now it’s turning out it’s not just old people, Bob. Just today and yesterday, some startling facts came out. It’s not just old, older. Young people too — plenty of young people. … I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”

In public, Trump soon started suggesting the economy should take priority over dealing with Covid-19, continuing to suggest that the virus wasn’t a major threat to the US. He even said that the recently initiated lockdowns and stay-at-home orders could end by Easter (on April 12).

March 22, on Twitter: “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!”

March 24, on Fox News: “Easter’s a very special day for me. … You’ll have packed churches all over our country. … I think it’ll be a beautiful time.”

“This thing is a killer” vs. “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!”

In April, Trump described the coronavirus in terrifying terms to Woodward.

April 13, to Woodward: “This thing is a killer if it gets you. If you’re the wrong person, you don’t have a chance. … So this rips you apart. … It is the plague.”

That was quite different from what Trump was saying in public at the time, indicating that the virus was already well on its way to defeat in the US. He soon after sent his “LIBERATE” tweets, demanding that states reopen their economies.

April 10, on Twitter: “The Invisible Enemy will soon be in full retreat!”

April 17, on Twitter: “LIBERATE MINNESOTA! … LIBERATE MICHIGAN! … LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd amendment. It is under siege!”

The one consistency: Avoiding the blame

There’s one thing Trump was consistent about: Whether in public comments or his interviews with Woodward, he never took responsibility for the virus spreading out of control in the US.

July 21, to Woodward: “The virus has nothing to do with me. It’s not my fault. … China let the damn virus out.”

August 14, to Woodward: “Nothing more could have been done. Nothing more could have been done. I acted early. I acted early.”

Trump took a similar stance when asked, in press conferences and interviews, about the US’s failures to build up testing and prevent the deaths of more than 1,000 Americans a day to Covid-19.

March 13, at a press conference, when asked about tests: “I don’t take responsibility at all.”

July 28, in a televised interview, referring to 1,000 deaths a day: “It is what it is.”

Trump failed, and more people have died as a result

This is not just something that makes Trump look bad or exposes the bullshitter that he is. During a major crisis, particularly a pandemic, clear and transparent communication is one of the most important things leaders can do to keep the public and other officials not only informed but also ready to act. By consistently downplaying the threat of the virus, Trump worked to disarm one of the country’s biggest weapons — public action — against a major disease.

As Céline Gounder, an epidemiologist at New York University, told me in the early days of the pandemic, “You really need very strong leadership from the top.”

Trump’s downplaying of the virus extended not just to his public comments, but the actions taken by him and his administration, too. He’s called for less testing, arguing that more tests make the US look bad by revealing more cases — and his task force successfully pushed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to, in effect, recommend less testing. His staff has simultaneously pushed the CDC to change scientific reports and studies because they might make Trump look bad by contradicting his evidence-less claims about Covid-19. He pushed the CDC out of a public leadership role after an official there made grim — but correct — comments about what to expect under the coronavirus.

Trump has even contradicted his own administration’s recommendations to push a rosy image of the country’s fight against Covid-19, demanding that states reopen quickly, before they met his administration’s recommendations, and getting parts of the public to think (wrongly) that masking is unhelpful or unnecessary, as his administration recommends public use of masks.

Now America is doing quite badly in its fight against Covid-19. The US hasn’t seen the most coronavirus deaths of all wealthy nations, but it’s in the bottom 20 percent for deaths since the pandemic began, and reports seven times the deaths as the median developed country. If the US had the same Covid-19 death rate as, say, Canada, 115,000 more Americans would likely be alive today.

Overall, Covid-19 cases in the US are now declining after the country’s recent surge. But that’s in large part because people have ignored much of what Trump has said: The public, as well as many cities, counties, and states, have embraced social distancing, particularly indoors, and masking — likely driving down new infections.

At the same time, the US’s number of cases and deaths remains unacceptably high; over the past week, nearly 900 Americans have died each day, on average, from Covid-19. Some US outbreaks continue to pop up as well, with states in the Midwest and South recently hit hard.

This is the reality Trump tried to downplay. And we’re stuck with those consequences — those infections, those deaths — no matter how the president tries to spin the pandemic.

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President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that if you excluded blue states, America’s high number of Covid-19 deaths wouldn’t look bad compared to other countries. “If you take the blue states out, we’re at a level that I don’t think anybody in the world would be at,” he said at a White House press conference.

There are plenty of problems with this. It implies that the deaths of Americans who live in blue states don’t matter as much to Trump. It suggests that he doesn’t take any responsibility for deaths in the states that have a different political party in charge. And it’s generally absurd for Trump to act as though he’s not the president of the whole country.

But it’s also flatly false: When dividing states based on their 2016 votes for president, 11 of the top 20 states for Covid-19 deaths went for Trump. Overall, blue states fare worse with a death rate of 74 per 100,000 people, but red states still have a relatively high death rate, by global standards, of 49 per 100,000.

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To put it another way: If you somehow “take the blue states out” and red states were their own country, they’d still be in the top 20 for Covid-19 deaths worldwide. Blue states would rank in the top five. Among only developed countries, blue states would be in the top five and red states would be in the top 10.

As a whole, the US is currently 11th worldwide and fifth among developed nations for Covid-19 deaths.

Individual states look even worse. If Republican-run Mississippi, with its Covid-19 death rate of 93 per 100,000, was a country, it would be in the top three globally, after San Marino and Peru. Democratic-run New Jersey and New York, with death rates of 181 and 168, respectively, would lead the entire world.

America’s coronavirus epidemic hit blue states particularly hard at first, especially in the Northeast. New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts are still the top three states for Covid-19 deaths per 100,000 people. (Massachusetts has a Republican governor.)

But the recent resurgence of Covid-19 hit red states hard too, unfortunately working to balance the scales in this grim statistic.

Trump’s comments are just another way that he’s tried to shirk responsibility for America’s Covid-19 epidemic as the national death toll nears 200,000, effectively shifting the blame to Democratic leaders. Previously, Trump told journalist Bob Woodward, “The virus has nothing to do with me. It’s not my fault. … China let the damn virus out.” Trump later told Woodward, “Nothing more could have been done.”

The reality is much more could have been done, but the president blundered at every step of the way. As cases climbed in the US, Trump abdicated problems with testing to local, state, and private actors; pushed states to reopen way too early to supposedly “LIBERATE” their economies; spoke negatively about masks while refusing to wear one himself; and backed unproven and even dangerous approaches to treating Covid-19, including injecting bleach. Each of these failures compounded and led to the current US death toll — and local and state governments, as hard as some tried, simply don’t have the resources to fight a pandemic on their own as the federal government flails.

The result: While the US hasn’t seen the most coronavirus deaths of all wealthy nations, it’s in the bottom 20 percent for deaths among them since the pandemic began, and reports seven times the deaths as the median developed country. If the US had the same Covid-19 death rate as, say, Canada, 115,000 more Americans would likely be alive today.

That’s on Trump, no matter how much he tries to shift the blame to blue states, China, and everyone else.

Correction: The Covid-19 death rates for both red and blue states in this article were originally underestimated. They’ve been fixed.

Pauline Binam, a 30-year-old former detainee at Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia, had been in custody for about two years when she started having irregular menstrual bleeding. She feared that confinement was taking its toll on her body.

Binam, who came to the US from Cameroon when she was 2 years old, was being held at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center while awaiting deportation.

According to her attorney, Van Huynh, she consulted with medical staff at the facility who told her that the condition could be treated by a minor surgical procedure in which a doctor dilates the cervix and scrapes off the lining of the uterus.

Instead, the doctor informed her that he had also removed one of her fallopian tubes and that she could expect to have difficulty conceiving if she wanted to have more children.

Binam is now at the center of a congressional inquiry into allegations of a pattern of nonconsensual gynecological procedures, including hysterectomies, performed on detainees at Irwin in recent years. ICE ordered her deported on Wednesday morning, but she narrowly avoided deportation only after two Congress members got involved in her case.

“I’m often not surprised by things in the world of immigration nowadays,” Huynh said. “I was shocked and appalled, hearing Nurse [Dawn] Wooten confirming what Pauline had been telling me all through 2019.”

Binam says she had invasive surgery with no opportunity to consent

Before her procedure in August 2019, Binam gave verbal consent, indicating that she understood the course of treatment. But she was not given the opportunity to consent to the much more invasive and life-altering surgery she received while under anesthesia. She later expressed to a psychiatrist that she was “bothered” that she had one of her fallopian tubes removed when she was expecting a different procedure, according to medical records from August 2019, which Huynh shared with Vox.

“She was adamant that she did not give consent for them to do anything to her fallopian tubes,” Huynh said. “Had she been informed of what was being done with regard to her fallopian tubes, she would have been able to respond fairly to that.”

To this day, Binam, who has a US-citizen daughter, doesn’t know whether she’ll be able to conceive again, or whether it was medically necessary that her fallopian tube be removed.

Wooten, a nurse at the facility, was the first to raise concerns about the hysterectomies, which were performed by a gynecologist described as “the uterus collector” in a whistleblower complaint filed Monday.

Multiple attorneys have since come forward alleging that their clients had been subjected to hysterectomies and other gynecological procedures. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, vice chair of the House immigration subcommittee, said that, based on conversations with three of those attorneys, it appears that at least 17 detainees had such procedures.

Mahendra Amin, a gynecologist associated with Coffee Regional Medical Center and Irwin County Hospital in Georgia, allegedly performed at least some of the gynecological procedures, including hysterectomies, that were described in the whistleblower complaint and by the detainees’ attorneys. (His attorney has “vigorously” denied the allegations.)

It’s not clear whether he alone performed the procedure on Binam or cooperated with other doctors, but he is listed as the “ordering” doctor on a pathology report relating to her surgery.

The House Committee on Homeland Security is investigating the allegations in the complaint, and more than 170 members of Congress have called for a separate investigation from the Homeland Security inspector general’s office.

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Testimony from Binam and other detainees at Irwin will likely be critical to those inquiries.

Binam was almost deported — just as she came forward with the allegations

Binam came to the US when she was 2 years old from Cameroon. She might have been eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, which has allowed more than 700,000 unauthorized immigrants who came to the US as children to live and work in the country legally, if it weren’t for a shoplifting conviction from when she was 17. She paid a resulting fine without understanding the consequences: She was essentially admitting guilt to the charges against her.

A couple of years later, she was charged with larceny in a separate case from the first shoplifting incident and was offered a plea deal. She took the deal, again admitting her guilt, which qualified as a second strike on her record. Immigration officials consequently launched deportation proceedings against her and detained her at Irwin starting in October 2017.

Though a mother of a US citizen who had lived in the US for decades would typically be able to apply for deportation relief, Binam’s conviction and plea deal made her ineligible. In immigration court, she claimed that she feared returning to Cameroon, a place that she has never called home, and where there is ongoing conflict between the state and anglophone separatists. She was nevertheless ordered deported in an immigration court ruling that she is now appealing before the 11th Circuit.

Even though her appeal is still pending, ICE could have deported her at any moment. But it was only on Wednesday — in the wake of the whistleblower complaint’s publication and after Huynh sought an emergency pause on her deportation, identifying her as a victim of a nonconsensual gynecological procedure — that ICE finally tried to put her on a 9:30 am deportation flight out of Chicago.

“We were just shocked to find out that — just as we were learning about all these things that were coming out from Nurse Wooten — they wanted to put her on a flight and try to deport her as soon as possible,” Huynh said.

A petition that garnered more than 1,800 signatures overnight also sought to halt her deportation. But it wasn’t until Jayapal and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) intervened that she was finally pulled off the plane at the last moment and sent to another immigration detention center, the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas.

“There’s so much about immigration detention that takes away from a person’s life,” Huynh said. “It robbed her and her future because of what we’re learning today.”