ANTRIM and St Paul’s star Saoirse Tennyson feels the GAA should prioritise finishing the remainder of the outstanding competitions from 2020 whenever a return to play is confirmed.
Tennyson, who was named at centre-back on the TG4 Ladies Junior Football Championship Team of the Year last week, is hoping to complete an Ulster Club Championship campaign with St Paul’s following their quarter-final victory over Armagh Harps last September.
The Shaws Road outfit were due to host Monaghan side Donaghmoyne in the provincial semi-final the following week, but the Ulster series was postponed as positive cases began to creep up again. By the start of October, all club activity was suspended once again.
The Ulster Minor Football Championship was also due to be completed in January, but the semi-final games remain on hold.
Tennyson recovered from an ACL injury to return to the fold for club and county last season and she hopes that Brian Coyle’s side will get to play their outstanding Ulster Club game against Donaghmoyne.
“For me, personally, I’d love to finish our Ulster campaign,” said Tennyson.
“Last year, we had a really good game in the quarter-final. We had never passed the first game when we moved up to senior level in Ulster, so it was a big achievement for us.
“We wanted to push on and we genuinely feel like we could have beat Donaghamoyne. I know that sounds confident, but our training was going well.
“I’d love to finish Ulster and see how far we can get. I know it will be hard to cram everything in and we don’t know when things are going to start back up again.
“I think they should finish the 2020 competitions, not just for ourselves, but the likes of Moneyglass didn’t get to play in their Intermediate game either.”
Tennyson and her St Paul's team-mates were due to face Donaghmoyne in the Ulster Club semi-final before all club activity was halted
Tennyson also spoke of her surprise after being named as Antrim’s sole representative on the JFC Team of the Year.
The Saffrons suffered a 7-11 to 3-10 defeat to Wicklow in their All-Ireland semi-final back in November with Wicklow losing to Fermanagh in the decider.
Oddly, the Garden County had more players selected (seven) on the Team of the Year than champions Fermanagh (five) – although Erne County attacker Eimear Smyth was named as the Junior Players’ Player of the Year.
“I was very surprised – I wasn’t expecting it whatsoever,” added Tennyson.
“I was sitting binge-watching Game of Thrones and my phone started pinging. I was delighted, especially after the knee injury. I was just delighted to get back playing.”
Tennyson’s award capped off a stunning comeback for the defender during a 2020 season which began with an arduous rehab programme following the ACL injury which forced her to miss the 2019 All-Ireland Intermediate Club Championship final.
St Paul’s manager Brian Coyle remains convinced Tennyson’s presence on the pitch would have prevented a 2-11 to 2-9 defeat to Naomh Ciarán of Offaly at Breffni Park.
The first Covid-19 lockdown last spring gave Tennyson the extra time she needed to make a full recovery. Some 12 months later, she is itching to get back playing as soon as the GAA is given the green light to resume activity across the board.
“I was lucky enough when the lockdown started, it came at a good time because it gave me longer to get my rehab done and get back playing,” stated Tennyson.
“I took things slowly because I didn’t want to rush back and risk coming back too early and injuring myself again.
“At the minute it is frustrating because we have no idea when we can start back.
“It is hard to keep motivated. Some weeks, you are focussed and you are doing your workouts and you are out running.
“Then, there are weeks when you don’t want to do anything because you’ve no dates or games to look forward it. It is tough, but the GAA will start up at some stage so you have to keep going.”
