CIARA Hill didn’t play for Armagh last season. This year the Granemore midfielder finds herself as the county captain.
“I did my cruciate in 2022 and missed the first half of 2023,” she explained at the launch of the Very Camogie Leagues in Croke Park last week.
“I was planning not to play at all that year and allow the injury to fully heal, but I was training with the club team and they went on this championship run and I got involved.”
Hill came on as a second-half sub in Granemore’s narrow county final win over Ballymacnab and by the time they played Crosserlough in the provincial final she was a starter and scored 1-2 as the south Armagh girls went one better than the previous year.
Granemore then went on to win the All-Ireland junior title with victory over Roscommon side Athleague, with Hill by then a regular at corner-forward.
“It was great to be involved in that run and we have great memories from those games and the celebrations afterwards. However, I knew that I had pushed myself to be part of it and I needed to take a step back. That’s basically why I didn’t go to the county last season.”
As Armagh won promotion out of Division Three, but fell again at the semi-final hurdle in the All-Ireland championship, Hill was returning to her pre-injury fitness with the club team, eventually captaining them to another All-Ireland final, this time the disappointment of a loss to Wicklow side Knockananna.
“Yes, it was disappointing to lose an All-Ireland final, especially the way it happened. That was on the 14th of December and we all needed a break and PJ (O’Mullan) was happy enough with that.”
The appointment of O’Mullan, Loughgiel manager when they won their second All-Ireland hurling title and the Derry camogie manager in 2023 when they collected the All-Ireland intermediate camogie title, as Armagh manager came as a bit of a surprise to the players.
“Yes, it certainly did,” says Hill, a primary school teacher in St Michael’s, Newtownhamilton.
“We knew that the previous management had stepped down, but didn’t know who to expect. But it shows the ambition of the county board to get someone as experienced as PJ.
“He was announced at the start of October last year and he has a good back-room team assembled, Barry McCormack and Philly Kirk along with his wife Ciara, who is the goalkeeping coach.”
Hill was impressed with the set-up from the first meeting with the players.
“He set out his plan with us. He met with the clubs and worked out a plan that allows the county players to be available to the clubs for certain periods. He has been looking after those who are dual players in their clubs. Basically covering all bases and that allows him to get the best at club and county level for the players.”
It still came as a shock for Hill when O’Mullan called her aside one evening after the Granemore girls linked up with the county squad in mid-January and told her he wanted her as captain.
“I wasn’t expecting it. After all, I hadn’t been involved with the team last year. It’s a great honour and also a responsibility of course, but it’s the team and how we play this year that will define the season.
“We are up a division this year in the league and it’s going to be a tough couple of months ahead. As a county we have wanted for a while to get up to a higher level and improve as players and as a team.
“We want to use the games we get in the league to prepare us for the championship. We as a team want to be back here (in Croke Park) in August and walking up those steps.”
