By Daire Walsh

Following a 2024 club season that was beyond their wildest dreams, Shannen Cotter and Bennekerry/Tinryland are exactly where they want to be in this year’s Carlow senior football championship.

Having overcome Old Leighlin a little over 12 months ago to claim their sixth top-tier crown in the O’Hanrahan County, Bennekerry/Tinryland subsequently secured a Leinster intermediate championship crown with an impressive final win over Meath’s Dee Rangers.

After getting the better of Cavan’s Mullahoran in a last-four bout, Cotter and her team-mates then pulled out all the stops to defeat Annaghdown of Galway in an AIB All-Ireland intermediate football championship final at Croke Park last December – becoming the first club from Carlow to win a national ladies football club title in the process.

Attempting to replicate an impressive treble success was always going to be difficult, but Bennekerry/Tinryland safely advanced to another Carlow SFC showpiece for 2025 with five consecutive group stage victories.

This sets up a top-tier final date with Old Leighlin for a ninth time in succession at SETU Carlow this afternoon and owing to their success in the Leinster IFC last year, the winner of their latest clash will progress to the provincial senior series.

“We had such a fantastic 2024. I don’t think any of us ever dreamed of it happening, but coming into club championship this year, at the start of the year there was 11 of us in with the county as well. The girls were training away on their own for ages and then we all came back together. Our aim for this year was always just the county final,” Cotter explained.

“That is our aim obviously. People are coming up to you and saying ‘oh you’re going to do this’ and so and so. You’re just trying to keep level headed. You have one match at a time and that’s the way we’ve kind of worked it since the first round of the group stage.

“We haven’t thought too far ahead and we’re not putting this year up against last year, I suppose. Our group goal was three-in-a-row in Carlow, so that’s what we hope to accomplish now on Saturday.”

While playing at the venue with her club made it a monumental occasion in its own right, Cotter’s experience in Croke Park on December 14 of last year was enhanced when Bennekerry/Tinryland defeated Annaghdown on a scoreline of 2-10 to 1-7.

Even better still, the reliable goalkeeper was captain of the side on the day and this meant she was the first one tasked with climbing the steps of the Hogan Stand and lifting the All-Ireland intermediate club championship trophy on behalf of her club.

“I mentioned before, a complete honour to be able to do that for my club. I remember when Chris [Townsend, team manager] said I was the captain, I was like ‘are you sure, because there is some amount of leaders on the team’. That’s one thing, I never felt like I had a job within the team.

“Everyone has their roles, but there is so many leaders on the team. Team talks weren’t just me, everyone was speaking out. There’s such a fountain of knowledge within the girls that it was just such an honour, that I got chosen and got to walk up those steps first.

“It was just fantastic for the club and the support we were getting really, really made a difference as well. I always say, there’s a few girls on the pitch that refuse to lose. That really helps as well.”

Although just 25 years of age when she lifted an All-Ireland title with her club, Cotter has been playing senior football with Bennekerry/Tinryland since 2015. It proved to be a whirlwind introduction to the top adult grade for the netminder as this was the season that saw them winning a Carlow Senior 'A' football championship title for the first time in their history.

Featuring alongside eight players who saw game time in last year’s All-Ireland intermediate success, Cotter played a significant role as Bennekerry/Tinryland defeated Myshall on a scoreline of 4-8 to 1-8 in a Carlow SFC decider held in Tullow on September 9, 2015.

“It’s funny. That match was actually played on a Wednesday night. For a few of the girls and me, it was our Junior Cert results night! It’s funny when you think back on it, but that was such a massive thing for our club. We hadn’t won a senior county final and it’s the same as this year, there was young ones coming up,” Cotter recalled of that 2015 triumph.

“I just happened to be one of those young ones that got picked to play. It was just an amazing experience. I don’t think I understood the experience that I was in at that time back in 2015. I’d love to live through it all again.

“It was great, that was a great day for the club. We were thinking through memories and stuff over the last week and there has been some fantastic club days out.”

Away from football, Cotter is currently in her second year as a teacher at St Mark’s Community School – located just outside of Tallaght village in Dublin. Although this presents her with a sizable commute to and from club and county training, she is not alone in this regard.

She lives in the capital with her Carlow and Bennekerry/Tinryland colleague Clíodhna Ní Shé and there are others like them who are also based up in Dublin for the majority of the year.

“We usually commute together, so we’ll meet somewhere and one of us will drive down. Switching every trip. It is what it is at the moment. It’s grand and some of the most enjoyable times and some of the memories I have when I think about football are those commutes up and down to Dublin,” Cotter added.

“That’s something I wouldn’t be too sad thinking about it, but obviously some of the girls have a way shorter commute, so it’s probably a bit easier. We just have to be prepared. Just getting your nutrition and your eating right as well, but we’ve kind of got it down to a tee now at this stage.”

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