St Patricks player Kate Flood says Senior Championship triumph was 'a long time coming'

Winning their first Senior Championship, St Patricks had so many heroines among their ranks. Not many stand out like marquee forward Kate Flood.

The county star finished the day with 1-6, with her second half goal paving the way for victory, despite a late Cooley fightback, which saw them close the gap to two points heading into added time, before late frees from Flood and Grace Treanor clinched it for the Lordship side.

“Cooley are a credit to themselves, they are a hard team to play against in any game”, Flood explained afterwards.

“With us meeting them a couple of times a year means you kind of know their dangerous players, so we put the right people on them and worked hard everywhere else, it stood to us today”.

On getting over the line and beating their rivals, Flood was elated, paying tribute to her teammates.

“Its been a long time coming, we’ve always been there and there abouts”, she said.

“That group of girls, they’re just incredible, and they deserve absolutely everything, winning the league, winning the championship, doing the double, I couldn’t wish for anything better for them, just brilliant”.

Alongside Flood, Grace Treanor kicked 0-4, including that late free to seal the deal for the Pats, in this senior championship success, and the DkIT student came in for some special mention from Kate Flood.

“Grace is outstanding, considering everything she has gone through this year, losing her mother, she put that to one side and turned up for training week in week out, practiced on her weaker points and it paid off today”, Flood revealed.

Another teammate, Rebecca Lambe Fagan produce two saves of the highest quality to ensure the Pats’ victory, akin to Grace Treanor, Lambe Fagan played a key role in DkIT’s Moynihan Cup success earlier this year.

“That’s why she’s the Louth number one”, Flood insisted.

“She makes saves, that make you wonder how has she manage that? She’s still a young girl. She’s had a few knocks, over the years, but that doesn’t let it phase her, the saves she made today were fantastic”.

Looking ahead to next year, Kate Flood is also relishing the idea of working under new Louth manager Paul Hanlon who was in attendance in Dunleer on Sunday, and is hoping for a quick fire return to the Intermediate grade, having suffered relegation from it this year.

“I don’t feel we are a division 4 team”, Flood said of Louth.

“Hopefully we can get back into intermediate, we are good enough to compete at that grade at least”.