Lorraine Brown and Athgarvan's journey to 2005 Leinster glory and an All-Ireland final

The team bond of the Athgarvan Ladies team in the 2000s could scarcely be replicated these days.

As most under-age sides move through the ranks and seek to join an already established senior team, when the Athgarvan Ladies of that era were 15 or 16, they became the senior team.

One woman at the centre of it all was midfielder Lorraine Brown, or Lorraine Whyte as she was then.

After being part of one of the first senior ladies team’s in Athgarvan, and the only senior side in the club with no men's team for many years, Lorraine was then a part of a legendary journey and a true underdog story.

The Athgarvan team of 2005 had been together for several years at senior level and even more at underrage. They were growing up together in many cases.

Led by a new management set-up of Paddy Tierney, Christy Shields, and Seamus Fingleton, they reached a Junior ‘A’ county final against heavy favourites Eadestown that year.

“We beat them by a point in the county final, which would have been a bit of rivalry at the time,” Lorraine explained.

“That was huge for us because every time we played them it would have been that they won, then we did, and so on, back and forth. That day you didn’t know which way it would go, but we were able to dig deep and win. It was fantastic and great to see two good teams go up against each other.”

Perhaps nobody who was at that county final even knew just the extent of how good the two teams they saw go toe-to-toe were.

Athgarvan would kick on to reach an All-Ireland Junior Club Championship final, and Eadestown win the All-Ireland themselves the following year. It was no exaggeration to say that two of the finest Junior teams in the country were in the Kildare championship at that time.

The win was a first major ladies football Champion-

ship for the club, as well as a first title win since 1989, and the whole village was out to mark the occasion.

“There were brilliant celebrations after it. The Rainsford family in the Athgarvan Inn were very good to us. That was our place to go afterwards and everyone from the village would have been out,” Lorraine recalled.

The Athgarvan Ladies then brought their club into uncharted waters and into the Leinster Championship. They made their mark too with thumping wins over Ardee St Mary’s, Portlaoise and Skerries Harps.

Athgarvan hit the Louth side for 7-17 before hitting 4-11 against both Portlaoise and Skerries Harps with just 0-8 and 1-1 going the other way.

After stomping their way to a Leinster final, Athgarvan would face Wexford side Adamstown in Pairc Ui Bhriain in Carlow and had the hopes of a passionate village on their shoulders.

“It was nerve wracking for us. But we had been playing football together for so long that we knew how to calm each other down, as well as rally ourselves for the games that needed that,” Lorraine said.

Following a nip and tuck encounter, the Sky Blues kicked on late to take home the glory. They finished with an impressive 1-10 to 2-2 margin of victory after another outstanding showing from top-scorer Tracy Noone, with 1-5 to her name on the day.

“When we arrived back to Athgarvan after winning the Leinster final they had fireworks going off for us outside the pub. I remember coming in off the bus and the place was packed, crowds everywhere, and the fireworks going off. It was amazing and then we partied until 3am no doubt,” Lorraine recalled.

The next step on the journey would be to face Clones and again they emerged with a win. The side, who shocked everyone months ago with a county final upset, were now in an All-Ireland final with a 3-5 to 1-4 victory over the Monaghan champions.

The only downside on another famous day for Athgarvan was the loss of Lorraine’s midfield partner, Emer McBride. The controversial sending off meant that she would miss the All-Ireland final vs Cork side, Mourneabbey.

“We appealed the decision and it had to go through different channels. There was a lot of pressure building up to the game about whether or not she would play. It was only two days before the game that it was confirmed that she was out for the final. That run up to it was frustrating because she was a huge player for us in midfield,” Lorraine explained.

“We had to change our team around then because of the loss of her presence and that shook us a little as well. I remember the drive down to Cork in the bus was long of course and the warm-up space was poor. I think mentally we weren’t in the right headspace before the game, we were definitely slow to start.”

That early slump would be the exact opposite of what was needed against the Cork side. Reports from the game noted that Mourneabbey had an average age of 17 in their squad and they took an 0-8 to 0-3 lead into half-time.

“They were very talented footballers, as well as young and fast,” Lorraine laughed.

“We knew we were up against it, but we knew what we had too. We tried to put that to one side, but we were beaten by the better team on the day.”

Athgarvan would go down swinging, hitting 2-1 just after half-time to set-up a grandstand finish.

Mourneabbey would emerge victorious at 2-11 to 2-7 following a thrilling finale to the Junior Championship.

The young Cork side would go on to win an All-Ireland Intermediate Championship just two years later. As well as contest Senior All-Ireland finals in 2014, 2015 and 2017 before winning the big one the following year.

After the dust settled following the whirlwind year, the trail-blazers of Athgarvan GAA could reflect on an incredible achievement. Some 19 years later, many are still going, with Lorraine retiring from playing just last year.

“It was amazing and we still hold onto that year now, all the older ones, that we got to an All-Ireland final,” she said.

“For me, it was the best experience that I had ever had with football. The friendships that we made on that team. When you win and lose games together, you have that bond. Once you cross the line everyone has each other's back and that lasts right up until today. Most of us that are still around are involved with Athgarvan.”

Adding, “I hope my two girls have the incredible experience playing with Athgarvan that I have had.”