Cooney intent on leaving jersey in a better place

Claregalway clubwoman remains at the coalface

TWENTY years have passed since the Galway senior ladies footballers reached the Promised Land.

Charlotte Cooney remembers it well. She was there in Croke Park when Niamh Duggan, Annette Clarke and Edel Concannon all netted goals and Niamh Fahey, in her pre-Republic of Ireland soccer days, starred as a 16-year-old in a come-from-behind 3-9 to 0-11 victory over Dublin.

The early days of Charlotte’s career overlapped with some of the heroes of 2004, Galway’s first All-Ireland winners, and now the Claregalway clubwomen has assumed her role among the current panel’s most experienced players.

“When I first started with Galway, I was very fortunate to be in the dressing-room with the likes of Annette Clarke and Emer Flaherty,” recalled Charlotte.

Read the full interview and more in our special All-Ireland preview in this week's edition of The Tuam Herald.