Moloney Looking To Make Experience Count

For Clare Ladies Footballer Chloe Moloney playing in Croke Park this Sunday will be a new experience but the Peamount United defender is well used to playing in high pressure scenarios.

Clare will take to the field for their first All Ireland Final since 2016 this weekend, the excitement in the county over the last few weeks has been incredible say the players including Moloney. 

Flags and bunting are everywhere and the good luck signs on every cross road in every town and village across Clare. All Ireland success came to the Camogie side last weekend, now it is the turn of Moloney and the rest of her Clare squad in the football.

The Clare forward has gotten a huge buzz from seeing the run up in recent weeks, but also believes that it will be a great day for the young people of Clare, like her four year old niece Leah Moloney, who she one day hope’s to turn into a Clare player, can follow suit and represent the Banner at headquarters.

“It’s great, there’s been great excitement, even the last three weeks probably since we’ve made the final, everyone even my whole family, are just so excited to get up to Croke Park, obviously including myself. 

Even the Camogie had a great win yesterday and just even watching the camogie, watching the All Ireland Football Final last week, just gives you a  buzz knowing you’re going to be there next Sunday. It’ll be a great day and even for young people in Clare it’s something for them to look forward to, probably they’re looking up to us saying one day we can probably do that someday too.”

The 25-year-old is a well known female sports star in Clare, currently a dual star with Clare and Peamount United, but like other members of her panel on Sunday, has yet to play at headquarters. 

Playing for Peamount on the other hand, has seen her play in some of the biggest games in the female soccer calendar, on some of the biggest pitches including the Aviva Stadium. Moloney believes she will have plenty of experience to bring to the game come the weekend to not be too taken back by playing in Croke Park.

“It’s right up there without a doubt, I haven’t played in Croke Park before, I’ve played in the Aviva with Peamount, so I’d like to think I’ll be well prepared for the stadium and stuff like obviously it’s different when you’re there, but I’d like to think I’d have a little bit of experience from playing with Peamount, especially in big games cause even with Peamount every game you play is like an All Ireland final, especially at this stage for us now, it’ll be great just to get out there and get out at Croke Park and hopefully get the win.”

Seven years since their last date with destiny in the Ladies All Ireland Final, fourteen since they last tasted success in the decider, the last few years have seen them come so close to returning, but just losing out along the way.

Moloney feels they were all guns blazing this year and that the squad deserves to have their moment in Croke Park, based on the hard work and the quality of players that are in their squad at the moment.

“We never actually started out the year and our goal wasn’t to get to the All Ireland Final and to be honest I think in the last two or three years we’ve been very unlucky, two years ago we lost to Westmeath by a point in the Quarter Finals they went on to win it, last year we lost to Laois by a point, they went on to win it. 

So I think this year we were just all guns blazing and I think everyone in that team deserves to be there and we deserve a shot at it. Obviously our squads have changed especially a lot this year and stuff but that doesn’t matter we just went with what we have, it’s great to actually get over the line because a lot of girls are given a lot more years than I have on the team and it’s just a great reward for them as well.”

Being a dual star, Moloney has to balance her time to two sports, along with work, having in a lot of cases this year to play two games over a weekend, the last of which, saw her face Shamrock Rovers in league action before taking on Offaly the following day in the opening round of the Intermediate Championship.

With the league on hiatus due to the Women’s World Cup, Moloney has been able to focus for one of the first year’s in recent memory on playing one sport, Ladies Football. Only lining out for one game in the Avenir Sports All Island Cup, she was able to rest and recover for large parts of Clare’s Championship run, her managers James O’Callaghan at Peamount and Wayne Freeman at Clare, also played their part in accommodating her dual commitments.

“To be honest it’s probably one year and one Summer that I’ve been extremely blessed with, probably the Women’s World Cup being on, so I have been off for the last few weeks with Peamount and it actually just came at a perfect time. We obviously had our last league game against Shamrock Rovers and after that the next day on the Sunday was our first round of our Championship. We had a cup competition then after that for a few weeks but I only played one of them games and I was rested then for the other two.

It was great that I actually could go into most of our Championship games especially the Quarter and Semi Final without having played a soccer game the day before, even at that throughout the year and all my league games and stuff with Clare I’ve played double weekends. I’m used to it now, I’ve probably said this in like 100 interviews, it’s just managing yourself and obviously getting good recovery and stuff, I’m well used to it like if it did happen again where I had to play a Championship game and a League game with Peamount I obviously will it’s working for me once I stay injury free anyways.

They probably have to be in a way because they want me to obviously be injury free to play the games, I’m no good to them if I can’t play, they both knew at the start of the year that I was going to commit to both sports, I’ve been extremely lucky that both sports don’t clash or anything. It’s always kinda a Saturday and Sunday, so it’s great and even our league starts back the week after the All Ireland Final, which is great it’s just perfect then cause I can fully concentrate on soccer as well after Sunday as well, I’ve been given this week to concentrate on the All Ireland Final as well which I’m hugely grateful for.”

Moloney is eight years into her career in the Women’s League of Ireland, joining Galway WFC back in September 2015 from Connolly Celtic, that has taken her to now being one of Peamount United’s pivotal defenders.

An underage Ireland International at U17 and U19 also, along with her club credentials, saw the Quilty native be one Banner County’s finest female footballers, Gaelic Football might have taken a back seat, but was the first sport where she laced a pair of boots.

“I grew up playing Gaelic Football, I didn’t start playing soccer till I was 13, so it was all Gaelic Football up to when I started playing soccer and then when I got into the Ireland underage squads, I kinda said to myself that I just give that as much of a crack as I could. I did step away from Football for a few years, which I don’t regret because I knew I could always come back to football but I had to give the soccer the best shot that I could.

I did that and then when I moved home after college, I went back playing football then cause it was just easier for me when I was living at home and stuff, so yeah here I am now back playing the two sports again.”

Moloney comes from great footballing stock in Clare, her dad Aiden “Horse” Moloney, was part of the Munster Football Championship winning Clare team of 1992, also a championship-winning captain in 1993 and 2002 with Kilmurry-Ibrickane, the club both have had active roles in over the years.

While Chloe has had an established soccer career over the years, bringing underage international call ups and some silverware, her first taste of soccer was not something she wanted to do, more her father throwing her into the deep in and experiencing a new sport, she certainly survived and to this day he still brings it up.

“When I actually got a trial for the Clare Gaynor Cup team, that was the first kind of insight to soccer that I had. I didn’t want to go, I was like I’m not going, I didn’t know anyone over there and I was just all Gaelic Football where my friends were and I was like no not a hope I’m not going. He just dragged me into the car and was like get over the road and do the trial, even all the way over, I probably could have even been crying going over in the car I was 13, I was just like I don’t want to go. And then that’s where my soccer kicked off, so I can thank him for that and he still says it to me this day, only for him I probably wouldn’t be playing soccer.”

So would winning on Sunday and taking an All Ireland medal back to the dinner table at home, eclipse her fathers 1992 win in Munster, one of the greatest days in the history of Clare men’s senior football.

“He’ll never let me live that one down anyways, he’s rooting for us and he’s also putting a lot of pressure on me as well he always does. That’s our relationship really, I put pressure on him if he’s managing a team and he puts it back on me when I’m playing and stuff. We kinda thrive off each other which is good, it helps me and obviously helps him as well like we learn off each other, he’d be over the moon if we can get over the line on Sunday.”

Now comes Sunday, the final date on the Inter-County calendar, a day where dreams are made and hearts broken. Everyone’s dream is to walk up the Hogan Stand steps and lift the piece of silverware on offer, for Clare it’s the Mary Quinn Cup.

Moloney says many did not give Clare a chance this year, but her teammates deserve a huge credit for getting them to this stage and they hope that once the hooter sounds on Sunday they can make history and get over the line.

“It’s literally what dreams are made of I suppose for us, we’ve been trying to do that for a long, long time and we’ll do everything we can on Sunday to get up them Hogan steps. With the help of god we will, I think we’re in a good place, I just hope we can show people and show everyone what we can do on Sunday, in fairness to the girls they deserve huge credit. 

We’ve really performed well the last two games and not many people have given us a chance since the start of the year, here we are now in Croke Park on Sunday and I just hope for the whole team and the management that we do get over the line. The bunch of girls and management like nobody deserves it more, it would just be an amazing finish to the year, fingers crossed now that we can.”