Olwen Carey Interview

  • Sep 25,2015

Olwen Carey: “We respect Cork, but winning would mean absolutely everything”

 

Talk for a few minutes about Olwen Carey’s life, and it becomes obvious she lives for football. In her second season with the Dublin senior panel, Carey still makes time to train underage players at her club, Thomas Davis in Tallaght, and also referees. She was part of the Dublin U-21 panel that took home the All Ireland title for the last two years, and still manages to fit in college at IT Tallaght, too. In the build up to the final, perhaps it's unsurprising that she identifies time management as her greatest challenge:

 

“It’s been hard to manage all the different sides of my football,” she admits. “It’s been a lesson, mixing playing with college, and time management has become really important. I really enjoy working with young players. They’re developing players at a really young age now. It reflects in this Dublin squad.”

 

The benefits of having a senior player contributing at age-group level are obvious: Carey passes her skills down, and though she’s modest about it, admits that the presence of a senior player amongst the Thomas Davis junior sides is aspirational for the club. She’s reluctant to take any credit personally, but clearly sees stacks of long-term potential around the set up.

 

“It’s definitely a bonus,” she explains. “I’ve had a lot of messages of congratulations and messages of good luck from various people at Thomas Davis, which has been really nice. There’s definitely a buzz around the final, but over the course of the last week we really have to concentrate, and make sure we bring the right attitude on the day.”

 

For Carey, though, the final also feels like a step towards bigger things; a young team developing within a broader context that’s good for the game in general. “So many young girls are playing now compared to when I was playing at 13 or 14 that it’s extremely encouraging for the future,” she tells us. “The minor team definitely isn’t quite on the same level as the seniors, so seeing so many step up successfully has been a great thing for Dublin.”

 

“A lot of teams and a lot of players have got used to playing at Under-21 level,” she explains “and having so many people step up makes a huge difference. It motivates us to play in front of more people. The only way to see the game develop is to see more people come out and support it.”

 

That’s happening more and more often. It only takes a quick glance at the attendances of the last few ladies All Ireland finals to see that support it stepping up, from an average of around 15,000 to a peak last year at over 27,000. “I think the women’s game has a lot to offer,” Carey says. “The sin bin from a yellow card reduces cynicism and means the women play a much more open game. We like to play ball. We play because we love it, but we play a great game.”

 

The All Ireland final isn’t expected to be any different, despite the inevitable nerves of the big day. Cork have taken nine of the last ten Ladies All Ireland titles (Dublin took the tenth, in 2010, when the rebels didn’t reach the final), but Dublin have been getting closer, particularly in holding a substantial ten-point lead with just twenty minutes left on the clock last time out, only to be pipped by a single point.

 

“We respect Cork as a team,” Carey says. “How could we not, they’re so successful. It’s obvious that we have to step it up for an All- Ireland final. It might look like we’ve had an easy ride so far, but it hasn’t felt like that. The scores haven’t reflected the games. The score line against Armagh was comfortable, because we controlled the game early on, but we felt it was a tough game; that the score didn’t reflect how competitive it was. I played, and I found it a hard game.”

 

Anticipation for the final is huge, and Carey is one of several players who identifies crowd noise as a likely problem, given the typical game is played in front of a much smaller audience than the final (though she adds “support for the semi-final against Armagh was fantastic”).

 

“For a place the size of Croke Park, and with an audience the size of the Croke Park’s crowd, communication really has to be spot on. Last year the crowd was very difficult,” she explains. “we’re not used to playing in front of really large numbers, so hearing each other and getting the message across is something we have to think about.”

 

For players like Carey, for whom this final is a second shot at a senior All Ireland, it’s probably reasonable to expect that there might be more chances in the future, with years of football ahead. For the young Dublin side, though, this is is the culmination of a long journey.

 

“It would mean everything to win. It’s very special to have reached the last day, and we’ve been working incredibly hard to get to where we are now. We know what we have to bring in advance of the game, and I think my experience with the Under-21s will help. It’s a little bit different to senior level, though. Preparation is so important, and we’re focusing in that.”

 

“We’ll have to go out and give it everything. Obviously when you lose like we did last year, there’s a lot of hurt. We’ve been working for this for nine months. We know that this is a big event in our lives. We just have to work hard, and go out there and give it everything.”