By Conall Collier
Living almost in the shadow, or even the mist, of the famous Glencar Waterfall, Muireann Devaney has her focus set solely this week on the build up to Sunday’s Women’s FAI Cup semi-final at the Showgrounds where Sligo Rovers will take on her former club, Athlone Town.
Muireann returned to the Bit O’Red this year after three seasons with Athlone Town, she previously played at u-17 level for Sligo Rovers in 2019 and 2020 and was player of the year in 2020 and she also has appearances for the Republic of Ireland under-19s to her credit.
However, on Sunday the Leitrim woman will emerge from the home dressing room whereas 12 months ago it was the away dressing room as she helped Athlone Town to victory against her home town club.
She combines her role with Sligo Rovers along with Leitrim GAA footballers and apart from the FAI Cup medal shoe won with Athlone last year, she has enjoyed success already this year.
Muireann has Connacht and All-Ireland GAA medals in the locker after a great year with Leitrim and she would be thrilled to add another FAI Cup medal to go with the one that she collected last season.
“I had three great seasons with Athlone, Tommy (Hewitt) was the manager, but I always wanted to come back to Sligo at some stage, and I felt that this season was the right time to do it as the travelling for training was significant, it was two hours to Athlone, each way, and I also wanted to give the GAA with Leitrim another shot,” she explained.
“I think Tommy is going to bring Sligo Rovers on in leaps and bounds, but we will be underdogs against Athlone, they will be expecting to get another comfortable victory.
“However, you saw a few weeks ago when UCD came to the Showgrounds and knocked the men out of the FAI Cup, you always have to expect the unexpected and this weekend could be our chance,” she added.
Muireann was delighted to have the chance to combine playing for Leitrim and for Sligo Rovers this year and also suggested the GAA can toughen you up for the physicality of the Women’s Premier Division.
“I played GAA for Glencar / Manorhamilton and then the soccer was with Manor Rangers, I was selected for the Sligo / Leitrim Gaynor Cup team and I also featured in the Connacht interprovincials before linking up with Sligo Rovers,” she said.
“That’s how I got started, but there are only two soccer clubs in Leitrim, Manor Rangers and Carrick Town, Niall Morahan’s club and he has made a big impact at Sligo Rovers, that’s my intention now as well.
“The standard in the Women’s Premier Division this season has continued to improve from last year and the year before, that’s quite easy to substantiate when you see the clubs in England regularly recruiting the best players here.
“They wouldn’t be doing something like that just because they like us, it’s down to the quality of the players at adult level and that’s a credit to what is going on at academy level around the country,” she suggested.
Apart from playing Gaelic football and soccer, Muireann is studying at the University of Galway (formerly NUI Galway) where she has completed three years of a four-year Ag Science course (Level 8 Bachelor of Science) and she lives with a number of Athlone Town players while in Galway.
“I’m studying Ag Science in Galway, I’m in my third year so I will finish in 2025, I’m staying with some of the girls, Shauna Brennan and Kate Slevin, who are on the Athlone team so that will make for some interesting discussions this week anyway,” she commented..
“I can’t wait for the game on Sunday, it’s a semi-final, we are one game away from the final and anything is possible, anything can happen.
“We played them (Athlone) a few weeks ago, but Bonnie (McKiernan) was sent-off after about a minute and that really changed the game, despite that we were by no means outclassed and we scored a good goal against them.
“The performance that day demonstrated our spirit and determination and I’m quite certain that we can put it up to Athlone, they will definitely know they have been in a game after 90 minutes.
“I had a great season last year with Athlone Town, but the time was right for me to move a bit closer to home and I was delighted to have the opportunity of joining Sligo Rovers.
“I’m really looking forward to playing Athlone on Sunday and hopefully we can give it a good go, especially after our performance last Saturday at Tallaght Stadium.
“We worked hard for that late equaliser and we deserved it, what you saw in that game is the real potential of this group of players.
“Anyone looking in from the outside will see a semi-final between the team that’s top of the table and the team at the bottom of the table, that would point towards a particular result, but we won’t be too concerned about that.
“We have four points (four draws) from 17 games, but we were well in contention in many of those games and just didn’t get what we deserved for a variety of reasons, we now have this big opportunity to make a statement against Athlone Town, don’t underestimate us.
“We have had a lot of injuries, some experienced players moved on, but we are one of only four teams left in the competition at this stage, a win on Sunday and we are in the final.
“We have a young team, we finished a recent game and including myself, there were two players aged over-20, the girls from the Academy are doing very well, but it has been a steep learning curve.
“I know the threat that Athlone will pose, but I’m really looking forward to what is a huge game for everyone, it give us a platform to show that we are better than our position in the League.
“Winning the All-Ireland Intermediate final with Leitrim means that next year we will have the likes of Kerry and Dublin on the radar, that’s huge for the county and it will be a challenge for everyone involved.
“Winning an FAI Cup medal with Sligo Rovers would be a brilliant way to finish 2023 and I firmly believe that we are now only starting to see the full potential of the panel of players.
“We have already won twice in the FAI Cup this season, our target next Sunday will be to make that three wins and secure a final ticket for the first time in the club’s history,” she concluded.