When it comes to achieving a suitable balance between work and sport, Kerry footballer Aishling O’Connell has a tougher task than most within the inter-county game.
A Garda based in the West Cork town of Bandon - located all of 83 kilometres from her home village of Cordal - O’Connell has often found herself working 12-hour night shifts either before or after collective training sessions with the Kingdom’s senior squad. While O’Connell recognises this was always going to be part of the bargain when she decided to pursue a career with An Garda Siochána, she freely acknowledges it can take its toll even at the best of times.
“It is tough, I won’t lie! We trained last Friday week and I drove straight to work after down in West Cork. It does take its toll. It is hard enough going into nights after a tough training, but the two hour drive down hasn’t helped,” O’Connell explained.
“You start a night shift at 7pm and you finish at 7am. You could be working on a Saturday night and you’ve training on Sunday morning. There have been times that I’ve driven down to Kerry, you might get half an hour in the bed and you’re going straight to training.
“You want to train, but you’re not able to do as much as you’d like because there is obviously an injury risk factor there. In a way it’s good that I’m around this long, but it’s hard if you were trying to make an impact because you’re not going to be training as well as you should be. It’s tough, but it’s the job I signed up for!”
However, things are set to become that little bit easier for O’Connell in the long run as she is due to take up a post at Killarney Garda Station inside the next few weeks. This will leave the 2022 TG4 All Star with a much shorter commute to Kerry training and it also changes where the 27-year-old defender will be playing her club football once the Kingdom’s championship campaign reaches a conclusion.
Having represented Éire Óg in Cork for the past few years - she narrowly lost out to Mourneabbey in a senior championship decider on the Leeside in 2023 - O’Connell will soon be back in the colours of her previous club Scartaglen.
“It will take a bit of pressure off the body and less driving as well. It might make things a little bit easier. I made the decision at the end of this year that I was going to try and get home for work. That in turn did lead me to wanting to go back and play with my home club. It was a natural progression.
“I’ve had great times there at Éire Óg, but I want to go back playing for Scart. I felt like I had given everything I could to Éire Óg. My partner, he’s actually a Cork man, so once I was able to convince him to move to Kerry, it was just the next step to make!
“I started with the boys’ club in Cordal, where I’m from, but then at U14s I joined Scart and played with them up until seniors. It’s because of them that I’m wearing the Kerry jersey. They’ve gotten to the intermediate final in the last two years and following the end of the championship this year with Kerry, I’d love to be able to contribute to a win with Scart as well.”
Yet as she alludes to, O’Connell does have some unfinished business with The Kingdom before she contemplates a return to the local club championship. Starting on Sunday.
