Low profile but high achieving O'Brien an ace in the Déise pack

by Daragh Ó Conchúir

Ask your general camogie supporter to name a few Waterford players, and the names will trip off the tongue.

Beth Carton, Niamh Rockett, Lorraine Bray, Brianna O’Regan. High calibre operators, the first three All-Stars, the latter an annual nominee who somehow is still awaiting the coveted individual recognition.

It is no reflection on Mairéad O’Brien’s talent or influence that that she seems to fly under the radar. Nor does it bother her one iota. The likelihood is she hasn’t spent a millisecond thinking about it. It takes a lot more to knock the almost horizontally laidback Modeligo sharpshooter out of her equilibrium.

That makes her a positive addition to any dressing room but her contribution to the Déise cause is far, far more than what she brings in terms of serenity and personality.

Like much of what she does, the 22-year-old’s feat of concluding the National League as the leading scorer from play in Division 1A with 3-4 would have escaped the attention of many. Given Waterford only won two games, it was a notable achievement.

It is particularly so when O’Brien is such a team player, powerful in the air and over the sliotar, happy to get down and dirty to supply those around her. But the nose for a goal has been showcased ever since Derek Lyons called her into the senior panel.

Despite her youth, she nabbed three goals in the group stages alone as Waterford moved onto a first All-Ireland senior final in 78 years in 2023. That has continued unabated and opposition defences have surely cottoned on now.

Today, the Suirsiders get their Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Championship Group 2 campaign under way against neighbours Kilkenny, who already have a win under their belt, at UPMC Nowlan Park (throw-in 12.30pm) and O’Brien cannot wait.

Given she hit the Cats for a brace of goals on the way to defeat in the League in March, Tommy Shefflin and co will definitely be forewarned about her threat but even if they weren’t, the likes of Caoimhe Keher Murtagh would inform them. Keher Murtagh was a colleague of O’Brien’s as UL won the Ashbourne Cup for a second season on the trot and they were both named in the third level team of the year.

Whereas Keher-Murtagh’s Rower-Inistioge are a storied, traditional hurling club however, Modeligo used to be focussed entirely on the big ball, with hurleys extremely thin on the ground until very recently.

The camogie club was only established in 2011 to field an U12 team and O’Brien has been the core of everything that has been good since, highlighted by her tally of 1-4 as Modeligo defeated Tipperary outfit, Fethard by 2-5 to 0-10 in the Munster junior club final last November.

“The first adult team was put out in 2017, we won the junior in 2019 and then, obviously, last year we had a good run of luck,” says O’Brien with just a touch of understatement.

“As a group, our main aim was to get back to the county final and try and win it. I think we probably bottled a lot of disappointment from the year previous. But to be fair, we used it to our advantage and we went back training that bit earlier, and worked really hard throughout the year.

“And once we got out of the county, we were definitely in bonus territory and unknown territory to be honest. The lads involved were great when it came to the big days. They never kind of picked up on the occasion too much. I suppose their main point, is just to go out and enjoy it and work really hard. And that’s what happened.”

The smile breaks out just thinking about the odyssey and what it meant in the small country parish to the west of the county.

“It was just unbelievable. We had a few good celebrations. We just enjoyed it. When we were enjoying it, we were just playing well. The whole community was behind us. And in the Munster final, they were definitely a 16th player. We were struggling for scores in the second half and we had phenomenal support that got us over the line.”

The skipper of that team, Rhona Drohan is vice-captain of the Waterford U23 squad that also includes Mairéad’s younger sister Rachel. A rising tide does what it does.

It has been a bit of a period of upheaval since the conclusion of the League, with Waterford manager, Jerry Wallace departing and Mick Boland stepping into the plate.

Meanwhile, there was the entire skorts discourse, with Waterford playing a brave and central role in the campaign that included the postponement of their Munster final with Cork and ultimately led to the alteration of the rule on kit by a 98% majority that allowed players to choose shorts or skorts on match day. It was a decision hailed by Uachtarán Brian Molloy as “a historic day for the association.”

“Yeah, we were definitely delighted. We got the news at training, and we were just about to do our running block. I swear we’ve never run so fast all year!

“It is a massive step. There was an issue with comfort levels but the players was listened to, and the results were pretty significant. And any step forward for keeping younger girls involved is great.

“It was frustrating to have the Munster final postponed 16 hours before when all the preparations had been made to optimise our performance. We had been training well and had a good win over Tipp to get there.

“There was a change (of manager), but all the rest of the management are still on board. And suppose as a group, we’re just driving it forward and just focusing on the championship now. And I think the management team we have currently is phenomenal. The commitment they’ve shown is as much as the girls’. We’re all just kind of working together and pushing forward as a group and trying to get the best out of each other.”

A former dual operator, O’Brien stepped away from Waterford’s ladies football squad this year as she was completing her final year at UL in physio. She has just completed her last placement and is looking forward to getting the professional phase of her life under way, perhaps in the autumn.

Everything right now is zoned in on the next couple of months with Waterford camogie. A date with the Stripeywomen ensures that it is no soft launch.

“They beat us in the League but we would be looking to improve our performance from then. We got off to a good start but in the second half we didn’t maintain it. I don’t think we’ve ever actually beaten them in championship so hopefully we will put that right this time.

“We’ve got quite a competitive group (completed by Galway, Dublin and so it’s definitely going to be a challenge to get out of it, but at the end of the day, it’s a challenge we’re looking forward to as well.”

With Mairéad O’Brien doing her thing, they have every right to.