Meath forward Vicki Wall has revealed she was blown away by the widespread support received by her team as they surged to their first-ever All-Ireland Ladies Senior Football title.
The Royals stunned Dublin in Croke Park on Sunday, edging the defending champions by 1-11 to 12 points to claim the Brendan Martin Cup.
It is the perfect ending to a remarkable story for Meath this year, who only won the All-Ireland Intermediate Football Championship in December.
Since then, their meteoric rise has piqued the interest of veteran fans and casual supporters alike, something which has amazed Wall herself.
Wall was speaking to Richie McCormack on Monday’s Off The Ball, and the St. Peter’s Dunboyne player noted that the team’s story this season has resonated with GAA fans throughout the country, both male and female:
“I think everybody in the county has come on board,” Wall said. “it doesn’t matter if they’ve grown up as a men’s supporter or a women’s supporter, if they’ve seen All-Irelands, or if they’ve seen Sean Boylan at the helm.”
“I think everyone has such respect for us, and we definitely felt that with the support we’ve had, not just in the last week, but in the last few years - it’s been unbelievable.”
“I’m buzzing to go back up to club training, to be back with the girls in Dunboyne; they’re the people we’ve grown up with, and, even for them, this is huge.”
“I don’t think it’s fully sunk in yet, but even the amount of young girls and boys in Croke Park yesterday wearing the Meath Ladies jersey rather than the Men’s jersey - to me, that is unbelievable.”
“I’ve gotten messages from girls playing across different clubs and different counties. I suppose people are delighted to have seen our journey, and to realise it’s not too far for their counties as well.”
Meath: achieving the impossible dream
Wall also alluded to the astounding progress that has been made by the team within such a brief period of time, recalling that there was a time when winning an All-Ireland was inconceivable:
“When I started playing football for Meath,” Wall added, “it was something that I dreamed of, but probably was not going to be [achieved] in my time on the team - I thought it would maybe be the next generation below, because when I started playing, it was just horrendous.”
“To be here in the space of five or six years which, in hindsight, is not really too long, is just unbelievable as well.”
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