Greenfields Hockey Club hope to become the first Connacht club to win a national trophy when they take on Omagh in Sunday’s All Ireland Trophy final in Dublin’s Belfield Arena.
Greenfields reached the final in 2010, but were beaten by Catholic Institute of Limerick. Now they are hoping to go one better this time to make history.
They have already accounted for teams from all the provinces, having beaten Terenure of Leinster, Ashton of Cork, Bandon Hockey Club of Cork, and Northern Ireland Civil Service of Ulster en route to the final.
With no injury concerns, they have a full squad from which to select.
Greenfields have put in a huge effort to try to make hockey history. With the lack of facilities in the province, Greenfields travelled to Dublin last weekend to train on a water base pitch similar to that at Belfield. While most clubs in the other provinces have water base pitches, there is not one in Connacht.
It has also been a busy few weeks for the four Jes students who are on the Greenfields squad - Alison Ryan, Clodagh Kennedy, Ailbhe Finnerty and Ingrid Murphy. They spent most of last week in Belclare, Co Antrim, participating in the All Ireland schools finals, while after three intensive days in the north, Ailbhe Finnerty spent Saturday travelling to Donegal with the Galway Ladies minor Gaelic football team and then to Dublin on Sunday for training.
Greenfields will be hoping for big performances from their experienced players. Clodagh Greally, Gillian Heavey and Sarah McDonald have all played in Leinster clubs, while Neasa McGettigan, Catherine Moore and others have represented Connacht at different levels.
Greenfields will need to closely mark Omagh’s Jane McClung, who scored twice against their arch rivals Galway Hockey Club in the All Ireland semi-final. Omagh will also have Ann Buchanon back from injury. She scored a brace in Omagh’s quarter-final victory over Clontarf. Greenfields will be hoping that Omagh goalkeeper Gillian Adams will not be in the form she has shown in the competition to date.
