‘It's been a privilege' – Emotional Hannah Tyrrell reflects on Dublin LGFA career before All-Ireland final swansong
The final training session is over and regardless of the result in today's All-Ireland final against Meath, she will wave goodbye to inter-county
football
.
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Pictured is Dublin Footballer and Former Irish Rugby International Hannah Tyrrell ahead of the 2025 Aer Lingus College Football Classic between Kansas State University & Iowa State University this August
Credit: Ben McShane/Sportsfile
4
She will play her final game for Dublin in the All-Ireland final against Meath
Credit: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
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Tyrrell, right, also played for Ireland in rugby
Credit: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
The Na Fianna
star
has come a long way since her Dubs debut in 2013.
Previously an
But she said farewell to rugby in 2021 and her long-waited
reality
.
Tyrrell helped the Jackies win the 2023 All-Ireland and capped it with a star performance in their final win over
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She turns 35
next
week and still leads the charge as the
Sky
Blues chase their seventh Brendan Martin Cup.
Tyrrell's
But at the start of the campaign, she knew this was it.
Very few get the fairytale ending, and what will be will be against the Royals at
Croke Park
.
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Tyrrell told SunSport: 'Yeah, I'm trying not to think about it to be honest, and I don't know if I will.
'Like, obviously it'll be, you know . . . the last training session, regardless of the outcome of the match, will be a difficult one after so long.
'Aged like milk on a windowsill in July' - Watch BBC's GAA pundits ALL predict Donegal to beat Kerry
'But it's also a really enjoyable one. You know, my last involvement could have been that kick of a ball against Galway in normal time. I think maybe just the training session, 'You know? That's my last training session', particularly with someone like Sinéad Goldrick, who I've played with from Under-14 all the way up. So we've known each other for 20 years or so.
'That'll be just that for me, walking away from that, but there's so many new opportunities out there.
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'Like I said, I'm lucky enough to have gotten to wear this Dublin
jersey
for so long. And it's been such a privilege.
'I got an opportunity to play with Dublin for another couple of weeks and get to play in the best stadium in the world, in my
opinion
, for my last-ever game — which is amazing.'
Dublin's season came with an air of unfinished
business
.
MICK IN THE TEETH
Mick Bohan left as boss after their All-Ireland semi-final loss to Galway last
summer
.
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The Clontarf man spent eight years in charge during a glittering second stint in the hotseat which saw them win five All-Ireland titles and four in a row from 2017 to 2020. Paul Casey and Derek Murray took over as joint-managers and have led them straight back to the biggest day — and Tyrrell admits hurt is always a silent motivator, personally and for the squad.
She said: 'I think there's hunger in the camp every year — it's the reason why we come back and want to play.
'But after last year I think it was more the manner of the defeat to Galway, and how we were very disappointed in how we performed, it kind of brought a lot of us back, we didn't want it to end on that.
'I'm just enjoying the process and the moment. I decided on it last year that this was a definite, and why not go again and really enjoy my football this year?
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'I think there's multiple factors that go with that. I think fitness-wise and physically, I'm in a really good place this year.
'I probably didn't feel up to my best last year and just hit some new heights in the training ground. And there's a good atmosphere in the team and training and all the rest that just feels really
nice
and I'm really enjoying it.
'I think I'm playing pretty well. I'm just happy it's all working out but we have nothing won yet and there's one more big game to go.'
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Hannah Tyrrell of St Patrick's CYFC during the FAI Womens Amateur Shield Final in 2023
Credit: Tom Beary/Sportsfile
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Tyrrell is all about today, but will soon think ahead to tomorrow.
Unless there is a replay, her inter-county door will close tonight and a new chapter will begin with her wife Sorcha and their daughter Aoife.
Sport will always be there but it is time to give back to her
family
as a new adventure begins.
She added: 'Of course, there are obviously things I'll be able to do when football is over and I'm a lot less restricted. I'll be able to go off on
holidays
and enjoy my free time with my family. And they're the ones who have kind of given up and sacrificed to allow me to go off and play football. So it's just about being able to spend time with them and enjoy the other things that life has to offer.
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'I'll go off and play a bit of social sports somewhere else and, you know, just enjoy time with friends and make some memories off the pitch.
'I'm one of the lucky few, though. Lots and lots of people would love to play for Dublin, let alone get to play in a couple of All-Ireland finals with them. So I'm very privileged.
'And that's why I
work
so hard to try and produce it on the field and bring a bit of joy back to this beautiful county.'
l DUBLIN footballer and ex-Ireland rugby International Hannah Tyrrell was speaking ahead of the 2025 Aer Lingus
College Football
Classic between Kansas State
University
and Iowa State University, which will take place on August 23 at the
Aviva
Stadium. There are limited
tickets
available at www.
ticketmaster
.ie/collegefootball.
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So the fact that I got in there and got that done, y'know, it was good, but this training camp has been much different. 'I'm firing on all cylinders again. The first one, I wasn't really firing at all. This one, I'm starting to come back into myself and I'm really excited because I'm expecting a spectacular performance. 'I haven't felt this good in the gym in a long time – and that's not a lie. Like, I know a lot of people say it, a lot of fighters say, like, 'best camp' and all this… nah, that has never really been my case. I've always been honest and open about that, y'know, but this one really has been the best I've felt, mentally and physically, in a long time. 'So I'm going into this fight and, listen, anything can happen, you've got to be prepared for anything. I can go in and look spectacular, or I can go, y'know, look shit, but how everything is going at the minute, I believe I'll go in and look unbelievable.' In truth, the former English super bantamweight champion is, at his absolute very best, 'European level'. Michael Conlan should be winning this fight comfortably if he wants to have any chance of contending for world titles. The problem is that similar was said in December 2023 ahead of Conlan's fight with Jordan Gill in Belfast. This was a comeback against 'domestic-level' opposition in which Conlan was a heavy favourite (even heavier, with the bookmakers, than he is for his upcoming bout). That night, Conlan, who was 'starting afresh' under storied Cuban coach Pedro Diaz, was sensationally stopped in seven rounds by his unfancied foe. Contextualising what many thought would be the final time he would be seen in a ring, Conlan says: Before that, there was an awful lot of family stuff going on which wasn't a good thing to be going on during a fight week and, y'know, a lot of personal issues which weren't resolved until probably the end of 2024. It was announced in December 2024 that Michael would be stepping away from the 'Conlan Sport' management company he had founded with brother Jamie. Michael subsequently launched his own 'Conlan Boxing Management' outfit. 'They're resolved, they've been banished now. It is what it is, and I'm happy with my decisions which I've made and happy to stand on my own feet and my own truth,' says the younger Conlan brother. 'I wasn't in a good place then. I probably shouldn't have been in the ring, especially when I only trained for six weeks for the fight and I actually was only with the coach eight weeks. 'I said before the fight that I should not fight, and then my ego was kind of questioned. 'Really?' And I was like 'no, all right, well, listen, all right, I'll do it'. 'I'd sparred him (Jordan Gill) and I'd done this and done that, but sparring is sparring – and I learned in that fight that sparring is sparring. It doesn't really equate, especially when you're not in the right headspace. 'That one, yeah, I don't pay too much attention to it because of the situation which was going on in the background. 'No fighter should have fought in that way, but it is what it is.' Conlan believes his third professional stoppage defeat, following prior world-title reversals to Leigh Wood and Luis Alberto Lopez, could prove to be a blessing in disguise. He remains a fighter with a large profile, a recognisable name, but the Gill loss, would suggest he is unable to compete at the upper levels of the sport. These are all attractive traits for a matchmaker. 'It's a fight anybody can look back on and go, 'Oh I could do that',' Conlan says. 'Great, great, come and do that. Let's see what happens because you didn't get an 80% me in that fight. 'So, the fact that I'm going into this fight and I feel like I'm getting back there, probably gonna be, I wanna say, 90 or 95 at the minute. I'm almost hitting 100 again and, once I hit 100, it's game over for anyone.' Michael Conlan receives a count against Jordan Gill. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO World titles seemed an impossibility in the wake of that Gill loss and talk of them may still sound fanciful to many in boxing, but Conlan is adamant he has the tools. 'I'm convinced. I know how I fight, I know how I've been performing in the gym, and I know what I can do and what I can't do,' he says, before offering further rationale. 'My body, I don't feel like I'm getting old. I don't drink. If I drink, I probably drink once a year, maybe twice. I don't take drugs, I don't smoke. So, it's not like I've abused my body. I've always lived like a professional, my whole career. 'I've no doubt in my engine still and how I can go. I've always been a fit person, you know? I was able to run a marathon in 2 hours 55 minutes last year – and that was my year off. I don't take my feet off the gas. I go 100 miles an hour, whatever I'm getting into, and give it 100%. 'There might be some things which are different, a lot of things which I've worked on, which I've wanted to work on. I think what Grant has done a great job doing is tightening up things and tightening up defensive movements, and defence while in close and stuff. 'It's something I'm very excited to show, something I'm very excited to do, and it'll give me more opportunities to do what I want to do when I'm in close or when I'm in long range.' While he is adding more strings to his boxing bow in camp, a rough few years have allowed Conlan to develop his intangible traits. 'It's just maturity isn't?' he says. 'It's all well and good saying when you haven't had the experience, but once you get that experience and you go in there and you know how to fight, and you know how to pace fights and you know how to do things differently instead of, y'know, look at the Wood fight where I probably overly worked. I did too much because I was winning rounds quite easy, but still trying to take a guy out who had enough grit to hold in. 'They're the things you look back on: 'If I would have done this, if I would have done that, things would end differently.' In that fight, it was more fatigue than anything that got me at the end, but that's experience and, y'know, it was my first world title fight and that's probably one that actually keeps me up at night at times. Well, I'll think about that one more than anything. 'But, yeah, listen, I've got the experience. You gotta go in there and use your experience to your advantage, and I think I'm at that stage now where I know what I have to do and know how to do it and if I can do this and that, this will work.' Conlan celebrates his 2022 victory over Miguel Marriaga. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO A self-confessed boxing anorak, Conlan has a route to a third title shot already plotted. Win his 10-rounder next month and he will pick up the WBC's 'International' trinket – a belt that is valuable only for the top-15 ranking it will likely provide. This would make Conlan eligible to be chosen as a voluntary defence by a world champion, while it is also a gateway to world-title eliminators from which he could position himself as a mandatory challenger. The current WBC champion in his weight class is former Carl Frampton sparring partner Stephen Fulton. The talented Philly fighter is a two-weight world champion but Conlan is confident and details why he has chosen the WBC route as his comeback trail. 'Stephen Fulton's the WBC champion and he's the one I like most out of all the featherweights. I think his style and my style would gel very well, and, y'know, he's the fighter I'd wanna fight out of all of them. 'And if I fight him, it will be in an away corner, but it could be in New York.' There is no margin for error anymore, though, and even if things go well, the route ahead is not guaranteed. But Conlan has already made his peace. 'I know that there's not a lot of years left on my clock – two, three max. Max. So whatever I want to do, I gotta do it fast, and I gotta do it soon – and if I don't do it, so be it. 'I've probably been unfortunate, with the fights that fell through and I've come up short in world title fights. Things out of my control have happened. 'For me, it would be a shame if I never won a world title in terms of my talent level, in terms of the effort I give. 'As I've said, the next time the opponent's hand gets put up, I'll say, 'That's me done'. No, that's it. 'Do I look back on my career and go, 'Well, you underachieved?' Yeah, I will, because I should have been a world champion. I was a minute and a half away from being a world champion. 'But, would I be able to sleep at night, knowing I've done it the correct way? I gave it all I could, didn't take no fucking steroids, didn't take any performance-enhancing drugs, like a lot of these people do. 'I'm happy, I've done well. I've earned out of boxing and, you know, I've been smart with money. I haven't been a silly person, spending money on silly things. 'I can look at myself and smile and say, 'You were smart with your money, you earned well, and you're out.''
