ST BRIGID'S, CALLANTogetherness and dedication to the game helped St Brigid's senior camogie team once again excel on the national stage this year, writes Seán Kenny

IN ST BRIGID'S, Callan, work was their mantra. Work and more work. There was no magic formula, no secret weapon, just honest graft and leadership on the field. In this year's camogie championship they played schools with bigger numbers, more storied histories.

At the very least, they decided they would not beat themselves through feeling either inferiority or complacency. Coaches Pat Power and Noelle O'Driscoll had a line from Edmund Hillary they liked to throw out to their charges: "It's not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves."

Callan's senior camogie team conquered themselves this year. Then they went ahead and climbed the mountain.

On March 8th the school won their second-ever All-Ireland Senior A camogie title, defeating St Mary's Charleville by 3-7 to 0-6. St Mary's teams have loomed hugely over the competition, having won seven titles in the last decade. All the sweeter, then, to defeat them and carry the trophy back to Kilkenny.

Leann Fennelly captained St Brigid's to victory. What did she feel as the final whistle sounded against Charleville?

"Oh God, cramps! It was just unbelievable. I know it's a cliché but words couldn't describe it. It was crazy. All the hard work really paid off."

Pat Power watched all the effort crystallise at the high altitude of the final, half-unbelieving that the fabled summit was now in sight.

"It was a fantastic thrill and a great feeling of pride because I think sometimes you're driven by the fear of losing as much as the joy of winning. We were just so wound up to work hard and concentrate, to keep driving on, that it was surreal. Also, "an rud is annamh is iontach" - what's seldom is wonderful. It was only the second time in the school's history to win it. By the final whistle you were nearly afraid to believe it. You just wanted to keep work, work, working the whole time."

They rose through a hard Leinster championship as underdogs, defying external expectations. The school's modest level of representation at county level belied the fizzing chemistry of its senior team in full flight, as Power explains.

"We had two people on the Kilkenny minor team, but we were playing schools like Castlecomer and Loreto Kilkenny that had nine or ten county players. But what we did have was a fantastic synergy about the team, a great combination where they grew in strength and confidence. There was a fantastic will and determination and we had excellent leadership on and off the field by senior players like Leanne Fennelly and Kate McDonald. We expect that leadership in the classroom too and the others rise to that."

Noelle O'Driscoll noted a thread of harmony tightly binding the girls from various years on the panel. The team came to transcend the usually rigid cliques.

"One of the big things about the team was the way they gelled. There were first-years on the panel who would have got on as well with the Leaving Cert girls as the Leaving Certs would among themselves.

"There was just a tremendous spirit. Other years you'd see cliques or groups. But they all just got stuck in. There were no groups, no divisions."

Leadership from the sideline was integral too. Both coaches, Power and O'Driscoll, had high-level playing careers. Power played with Tipperary, whilst O'Driscoll won six All-Ireland camogie medals, three each with her native Cork and her adopted county of Kilkenny.

"We were fortunate to have somebody like Noelle O'Driscoll involved in the coaching. Noelle would have been a mother to the girls as much as a coach.

"Her commitment was outstanding and the girls knew it was as important to her as it was to them."

Power arrived in Callan as principal three years ago, having previously worked and coached hurling in boys schools. Camogie was a little foreign to him, but he was forcibly struck by the skill and commitment displayed by the St Brigid's girls. He was taken aback and he was drawn right in.

"It was easy to get involved in the camogie here because of the enthusiasm and commitment of the girls. It's a busy day, in fairness, but because of the interest and commitment of the girls it's easy to get carried along. I'd have to say I find it hugely beneficial. At times you're tied up with the workings of principalship but it's a great antidote to go out and see the girls training hard, build up a relationship with them outside the formal situation. I must say, the craic is good with them as well."

O'Driscoll credits Power with a cool, shrewd understanding of the game from the sideline.

"We couldn't have done it without his contribution. On the line he's a shrewd man.

" I do the training but on the line, on the day, when it all boils down to it, he has a very level head. His tactical changes are very astute."

The school has progressed since Power's arrival in 2005. St Brigid's won a Leinster Senior A title in his first season. Then, early in the 2006/2007 season, they suffered an unexpected defeat to Borris Vocational School, just promoted from the B grade. There was a lesson to be learnt, writ large, plain as white chalk printed on blackboard. They had entered the game with the pomp of Leinster champions and Borris had sucked the wind from their sails, causing them to keel over. Power believes the iron will in evidence this season originated in that loss.

"That game was a really good reality check. It was part of the stiffening of resolve with regard to this year, that we weren't going to beat ourselves. That's not taking away from Borris at all; they're a good team. But it gave us a good old kick in the backside. It was a good lesson to learn."

The school's passage to the All-Ireland this year simultaneously drew on and fed into the energy of a strong community spirit in St Brigid's.

"I think that spirit has always been here. It's a lovely spirit, involving everybody. Don't ask me to define it, but it's tangible on the big occasions. It's just that sense of our school, our team, our girls. It's not from any one person manufacturing that. It's there of old and I suppose the challenge for us is to keep that dynamic and try to maintain and develop it."

Next year, of course, is uncertain. Whatever happens, the experience gleaned this year will prove a very useful asset and the trophy will not be relinquished lightly.

"If we can take those attributes that were vital to us this year and if we can get our leadership and example from our senior people, then I think we'll have a chance. But it won't be for the want of trying."

St Brigid's Facts

School:St Brigid's, Callan, Co Kilkenny

Founded:1939

Number of pupils:433

Sports played:Camogie, volleyball, Gaelic football, rugby, badminton, athletics, equestrian pursuits

Major sporting honours:Two All-Ireland Senior A camogie titles, eight Leinster Senior A camogie titles. The school have also won the All-Ireland Senior A volleyball title for the past two years

School sports colours:Navy and sky blue

Notable past-pupils:Numerous Kilkenny camogie players, including twins Angela and Ann Downey, Sinéad Millea, Tracey Millea, Maireead Luttrell of Tipperary, Irish Olympic hammer thrower Eileen O'Keefe