by Daragh Ó Conchúir

Let’s get the name out of the way. Líadan C Fennell. Initials aren’t the norm in Gaelic games circles, and certainly not among the female contingent.

But this initial isn’t an affectation. Nor is it, as one might imagine, relating to a middle name. It is actually part of the surname.

It came about as their parents, Margaret Culleton and Brian Fennell were expecting the first of what would be five children. First, Margaret decided to go with an Irish name and to learn the language, something she passed on subsequently to the kids. But it didn’t stop there.

“The C stands for Culleton, so it’s Mam’s surname,” explains Líadan. “She wanted a double-barrelled name but Dad said, ‘Absolutely not! We’ll give you a C,” and so we’re all C Fennells.”

Brian and Margaret inculcated the love of sport and particularly the Gaelic codes too. The three boys came first. Ruairí played senior football for Laois up to five years ago, Fiachra was on the Laois hurling panel that made this year’s Joe McDonagh Cup final while Cathal was on the hurling squad last year before going to Australia.

The girls came next and the youngest, Dervla, is showing plenty of ability in both codes now.

Líadan, who skippers Laois in Sunday’s Glen Dimplex All-Ireland premier junior final against Tipperary (1.05pm, live on RTÉ2), is hoping that the midlanders’ run can lead to a growth in camogie in the county, in the same way as her club, O’Moores experienced when reaching last year’s Leinster intermediate club decider.

“We saw it with the club last year. We got to the Leinster final and there’s been more interest in the underage at the club as a result. Hopefully the same will happen with Laois.

“There are more clubs growing in Laois. There are six senior whereas up to two or three years ago, there has only been four. And there’s new clubs starting up. Abbeyleix - St Lazarians – Clough Ballacollla have started up. Hopefully there’ll be more if we can win an All-Ireland.”

The 25-year-old has been working in the audit sector at PwC since October, having qualified as a teacher with a psychology degree.

“I love numbers and I did accounting for the Leaving Cert. I had it in my mind to do but I can’t do everything so I just did one thing at a time. There’s a few of us there that don’t have business degrees. A few have science degrees and things like that. They have brought a diverse range of abilities into the company. I’d say that’s the way they’re thinking. I don’t know what they’re getting from me though!”

Plenty, one suspects, judging by the article that appeared in Laois Today almost six years ago to the day, hailing the former Mountmellick CS pupil’s 589 Leaving Cert points.

Of course Laois have gotten a lot too, even allowing for a period away from the fold. It is ten years – again, almost to the day - since the Rosenallis native was part of the victorious All-Ireland U14C squad.

This season has been about rebuilding under the management of Pat Collier and Robert Jones, with C Fennell an inspirational leader.

“It’s quite a young team now. There were people away, starting jobs and things like that. There’s a bunch of us back this year and there’s a cohesive group of us. The coaches are brilliant and we’re back in Croke Park now.

“The last few years I was starting new jobs and in college, finding my feet in different situations. There were a load of girls like that and a few girls came back from Australia. That’s the way life goes.”

Building experience applies in every walk of life and sport is the same. Laois fell just a point shy of Armagh in the Very League Division 3A final at Abbotstown last April, having taken the lead with an injury-time goal by Ava Coss but then conceding two points.

“The more finals you get into, the less nerves you get. The League final, we didn’t manage to win and we got to the Leinster final against Offaly and that was the same. We had two finals there but it’s going to be a different ball game now. There’s only two or three girls from the last All-Ireland final (won by Laois in 2015) still around. The rest of us haven’t ever even played in Croke Park.

“So not only is it an All-Ireland final, but it’s a game in Croke Park, so there’s two big senses there of nerves but we’ll just have to work with that and not let it interfere too much.”

There shouldn’t be much between the sides, judging by Tipperary’s one-point win over Armagh in the semi-final (Laois had six points to spare over Cavan).

“They’re a strong team. They have some exceptional players. They won the Munster intermediate final so we’re going to have to show them respect. We watched them play against Armagh and they’re a great team. We aren’t thinking it will be close or anything like that. We know we have to be at our very best and that’s what we’ll try to bring.”

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