Ciara Mageean

Camogie is where I cut my teeth in sport.

It was my first love and the passion that you feel as a child doing your sport and a teenager doing your sport is incomparable.

You know, as you get older, you have probably more of an objective look on careers.

But yeah, whenever I put the blue and yellow jersey on of Portaferri, I would run through a brick wall.

And yeah, I was a tough player and definitely didn't spare any punches on the pitch with regards to tackles.

But yeah,

Yeah.

And, you know, that identity, look, it's something that's so unique to the GAA, that sense of parish, that sense of this is us and we're representing our little town.

And like, look, that was the camogie team that I grew up in.

They were my friends from school.

They were, I'm from a small town.

We all know each other.

And, you know,

the the passion that you have behind your own team I I missed that and it took me a long time to find that like obviously I felt so passionate about racing for Ireland but I got to race for Ireland once or twice a year the rest of the training was felt very lonely having come from an environment where I had my sisters my cousins my best friends around me and I'm glad to say I eventually found that in the sport of athletics like I and I'll emphasize in the

So many people feel that in their athletics club.

But I just suddenly appeared on the scene as this good little youngster in school and ran for my school and then got on the Irish teams.

And then whenever I eventually did join an athletics club, I wasn't training with them and I was heading off to university.

And so many people will have that experience with their athletics club.

I will not do athletics a disservice by saying that it isn't there for that.

It just wasn't my experience because I wasn't there as a grassroots player.