Josie quite willing to do the donkey work
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EVERY TEAM need one of those players that, no matter what is going on in the match, is buzzing around, closing down, harrying and generally being a nightmare for the opposition. Wexford have a couple, and Josie Dwyer is the prime example.
'I'll do whatever I'm asked to do, I'll run up and down the field, I have no problem being the one that will do the donkey work around the pitch,' said Josie. 'Someone has to do it and I have no problem doing it.'
It was that style of play which basically robbed Kilkenny of the 2009 camogie player of the year, Anne Dalton, in the semi-final.
'We played them in the last round here in Wexford Park and I had the same job that day. I knew I was able to hold her, I mean Anne Dalton, she is a class player, no-one can say that she isn't. But at the end of the day if you stick with someone, and I went out and was determined to do that, and try my best, some days it will work and some days it doesn't. The last two days I've had to try mark her it worked for me luckily.'
Having chosen football over camogie in 2007, Dwyer missed out on the All-Ireland victory but it's something she is keen to put right.
'I was playing both football and hurling and I made a decision to go with the football that year. We made it to a final in the football (Intermediate All-Ireland) and it could have been a happy year for me, but look, I get a chance to correct it I suppose; to make amends for the decision I made.'
Dwyer believes that the strength of this side is the fact that they are a team, not a group of individuals.
'I would honestly look on it that it's everybody, a team. Some people say the likes of Una (Leacy) and Ursula (Jacob) would be the leaders in the attack, and are probably the leading scores all through the championship, but everybody has a job to do, a ball has to be gotten to the people that are going to finish it. The hooks and the blocks, it's just an all-round team game.'
Having that first-hand experience of the build-up to All-Ireland final day in Croke Park, Dwyer certainly knows what to expect.
'It will be a great occasion, you can see the buzz, I can't talk to anyone and they want to know how's training and how things are going. That's part and parcel of it,' said Josie.
'I don't get too worked up over games, thank God. I should be okay, I know the set-up in Croke Park because of the football so I mean that's the most daunting thing out of the way for me. It's just a matter of getting out, getting the parade done and tearing into the game.
The greatest prize in the game may be just 60 minutes away, but the Ferns St. Aidan's clubwoman has been waiting a lifetime for this chance.
'I can't even imagine what it's going to be like (to win). You're out there pucking around in the back field since you were five or six, you were scoring a goal in the All-Ireland final and you're winning it for Wexford.
'It would just be amazing to win it, and to think of the Monday. I myself tried to not think about it too much because I don't want to get caught up in the hype of it. I just want to be able to take the game as it comes and then deal with what comes after.'
- DEAN GOODISON
