BY DÁIRE BONNAR
IT has been a successful year on the pitch for Ciara McGarvey so far, lifting silverware for three different teams.
Her success began with ATU Donegal winning the Quill Cup, the third division of the league, at the end of 2022.
But 2023 has gone even better as back in March, as they lifted the Lynch Cup.
McGarvey, who spent two years at ATU studying a Higher Certificate in Health Science with Physiotherapy Studies, was named Player of the Match in the final.
That Lynch Cup final would be her last game in an ATU jersey as she moves on to complete her physio degree in Coventry University over the next two years, and she was determined win that game, especially after they lost the Moynihan Cup final the year before.
“It was great for Letterkenny and a huge boost for football and for students looking in this year to apply in September,” McGarvey said.
“To see that the standard of football is high and the girls will be moving up to the Giles Cup next year and hopefully they’ll give it a good crack.
“I’ve my two years done so I’ll be moving on and that was another motivation, I knew it was going to be my last game for Letterkenny so it was a nice way to finish up.
“We got to the Moynihan Cup final the year before and we weren’t very good that day and lost by a few points in the end.
“But we went up a grade and to go up and win it after losing the lower grade the year before was a great achievement for us.”
McGarvey scored 1-8 in that final against University College Cork as ATU Donegal won by 1-11 to 1-7, earning her the March Donegal News Sports Star of the Month Award in conjunction with Brian McCormick Sports & Leisure.
She also scored 1-10 in the semi-final of the same competition as they won 4-18 to 3-6 against DCU the day before at the Connacht GAA Air Dome and for her performances over the season, was awarded a Yoplait HEC LGFA All-Star Award.
“It was two really good outings for us and there were a lot of other girls who performed, I know Emma Howe scored 3-5 the day before as well and we didn’t have her in the final but thankfully the other girls made up for it.
“It was a close game but I think we were always in control; there was no stage where we thought we didn’t have it.
“At half-time we were a few points up and we kicked on and saw out the game.
“We won the Division 3 league final as well last year and that was a really tight game against St. Mary’s Belfast, but winning the championship was definitely the highlight of my ATU career.”
McGarvey is also part of the Donegal senior panel, and has done her bit for the county as well.
Donegal were relegated to Division 2 in the league and after losing by eight points against Armagh in the Ulster round-robin, very few people were giving them a chance of doing anything in the Ulster final and the All-Ireland series.
But they bounced back and McGarvey was only on as a substitute for Karen Guthrie in the Ulster final with Donegal 0-10 to 0-9 up when she struck the back of the net in the final minute to confirm the win.
And since that game, Donegal have won both group games to top Group B in the All-Ireland series, defeating Waterford and reigning All-Ireland champions Meath just last Saturday.
That has given them a home tie in the quarter-final against Leinster champions Dublin, with the tie to be played on Sunday, July 16 at 2pm, venue yet to be confirmed.
“It has been a good year so far, I’ve picked up a few bits of silverware but now for Donegal, Dublin is our next focus and we’re not feared of them and I’m sure they’re not feared of us.
“But hopefully now we can kick on and have a good performance at home and to get Dublin up to our home ground in Donegal is a big achievement.
“We were definitely underdogs going into the Ulster final after our outing against Armagh two week’s beforehand and then Meath we’ve played many times over the last few years and we haven’t been able to get over the line so to finally beat them last week was a great achievement for the team and it has really boosted our spirits going into the Dublin game.
“Everybody wrote us off after the league and maybe that was good for us going in as underdogs and now we can show what we are as a team and hopefully push on another step.”
Another successful weekend for McGarvey came at club level last month, as her Termon side won the 2023 All-Ireland Senior Ladies Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta.
The Burn Road outfit won the county final against old foes Glenfin 0-11 to 0-9 in May but had it much easier in the national final as they beat Moycullen 10-20 to 1-4, with McGarvey scoring 2-2 in that game.
Termon also won the Donegal Senior Championship last year and they will be hoping for similar success again this season, with a league semi-final coming up soon.
“We had a really good weekend. We came up against two tough teams and then in the final thankfully it went our way on the day and we were able to turn the screw and finish off in a good way.
“It was a good start to the year and hopefully we can kick on as well for Termon. We have the league semi-final in a few weeks so hopefully we can build from there and win it again.”
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