It’s a family affair
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By DECLAN ROONEY
Loughrea forward Johnny Coen will hope for County Cup glory next Sunday but his mother and sister have already created their own bit of history this year.
Rita Coen and her daughter Aisling (16) are playing out their own generation game as they inspire the Shamrocks camogie club to glory.
The two played a leading role as their team won the Galway camogie championship and will now hope to lead them into intermediate grade next season.
Mum Rita, who first took to the camogie fields in 1983 with her home club in Glenamady, is chuffed with the family’s success and all going well, she plans on sticking with the game for another year at least.
“Last year was the first year we played together and I suppose it has worked well for us,” she said.
“It is a great achievement for us coming all the way up through the levels after not having a team for a good few years. We are back in the big time again!”
But while goalkeeper Rita holds the upper hand on the home front, once they get onto the camogie field, 16-year-old midfielder Aisling is well able to stand her own ground.
“I think it is great we get on very well on the pitch,” Rita said. “When we are playing she calls me Rita. I often hear: ‘Puck it out there Rita’ or ‘What were you looking at that time Rita’ when I let in a goal, but we are team mates after all.
“We just do it for the craic though. We get a great buzz from the whole team. We socialise together and all get along. I suppose that is what is all about.”
And the family affair does not stop there as former county star Rita’s husband Tommy, is a former Galway goalkeeper and currently trains the Mullagh hurlers.
“We are all big into the game in our house. Tommy set up the Shamrocks club in the early 90s before Aisling was born.
“Then when Aisling was in the under-10 age group I started training them and we won that competition and the under-12s the following year. We didn’t win at under-14 grade but it has given us a good base to work from and with a few auld ones to show them how it was done the club is improving again.”
