Thousands of fans turned out at two Co Galway venues on Monday evening to welcome home the winners of this year’s All-Ireland camogie title.
The squad and management group, a day after pipping Cork at Croke Park by a point to capture the county’s fifth senior title, were greeted by a huge crowd when they stopped at Duggan Park GAA ground in Ballinasloe in the east of the county.
There was another huge turnout later in Clarinbridge, the home village of captain Carrie Dolan, as the O’Duffy Cup was welcomed to Galway for the third time in seven years.
The sunshine added to the feel good factor as the squad made its way across the county.
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Dolan, who landed the winning point deep into stoppage time to deny Cork a third title in a row, said the group was thrilled to return with the cup, which she was always confident they would win.
“It was a very special day for my family and my club,” she said. “There was never a doubt in my mind, we were always going to win. I said it to the girls on Saturday night that we had the work done and now let’s go and take what’s ours.”
The squad, some of whom visited Temple Street Children’s Hospital before leaving Dublin, stopped in Athlone and walked across the bridge over the Shannon with the O’Duffy Cup.
The first stop in Co Galway was at Duggan Park at 5.30pm and after being greeted by a maroon and white-clad crowd on the pitch, the squad went for a meal before departing for Clarinbridge, where people had travelled from all over for what promised to be a long night of celebrations.
Three members of the squad have created their own piece of GAA history, joining the late Mattie McDonagh as the only Connacht player to win four All-Ireland senior intercounty medals. McDonagh was on the Galway team which won the All-Ireland senior football title in 1956 and was on the team which completed a three-in-a-row from 1964-1966.
He has been joined in the records books by Aoife Donohue, Annmarie Starr and Ailish O’Reilly, members of the victorious Galway squads of 2013, 2019, 2021 and now 2025.
Sunday’s victory was also a special day for two former Galway hurlers who battled for years but never got to taste All-Ireland glory.
Joe Rabbitte and Pádraig Kelly were selected as all stars during their careers but never brought home the Liam McCarthy Cup. However, they got to celebrate on Sunday as each of them had two daughters on the squad – Olwen and Sabina Rabbitte and Caoimhe and Rachel Kelly – who were central to Galway’s success during the year.
Camogie Association president Brian Molloy, himself a native of Galway, said Sunday was a wonderful promotion for the sport, and he hailed Dolan for the way she clinched the win.
“The senior final could have gone either way and for Carrie Dolan to stand over that last free, and if any fella took that in a hurling game, people would be talking about it for years to come,” he said.
“She’s out on the line and knowing she has to score it to win the game. And she scores it, calm as you like, and then pops up the stairs and gives one of the best speeches I’ve heard in a long, long time.”
Galway County Council chairman Cllr David Collins said the camogie squad had brought great honour and enjoyment to the county.
“What we witnessed in Croke Park was nothing short of remarkable,” he said.
“This Galway team have shown incredible resilience and fight, bouncing back from the heartbreak of last year’s final and overcoming Cork in the most dramatic fashion ... I know every parish and community in Galway will be celebrating this historic win.”
