Kerry’s joint-manager Declan Quill has been dealing with the All-Star corner-back enough to know what she’s all about, and he has the perfect description of the girl who is literally one of the first names on his team sheet.
“I’d describe Eilís as a lady off the field and a killer on the field,” Quill said.
“She’s just a totally different personality when she goes across the white line. She’s a girl that looks at you before matches and you’d be wondering if she’s going to pass out with the nerves. ‘Oh, the stress of it all’, she’d be saying to you. I’d be like, ‘Eilís, don’t be stressed. You’ve gone through all of this before’,” Quill says with a laugh.
“She’s a brilliant character. She’s a phenomenal athlete, trainer, and in the gym she’s fantastic. She has a savage burst of speed and someone that we love being around. A gas character too. Herself and Aishling O’Connell are always thick as thieves and stuck to each other and coming up with some devilment.”
To understand Lynch, it’s important to know her background. Born and raised in Castleisland, she would run through her grandfather Seán’s fields to the local GAA grounds for U-10 training. These were some of the best times. The seed of sport was sown, and she loved it.
Her hero growing up was Sonia O’Sullivan, and in a sports-mad town like Castleisland she had plenty of opportunity to emulate the great Cobh woman at the An Ríocht athletic track.
Funnily enough, her earliest success in a sporting sphere came in tag rugby where Dan Casey and John McCarthy trained an U-10 mixed team to win the All-Ireland title.
Lynch’s first taste of a Kerry jersey came at U-12 level when she played with the development squads. It’s a memory that she has a good laugh about today.
“I think that we got a free pair of shorts and had a blitz in Clare, and I thought that was deadly. I thought it was class! Then at U-14, that was the first kind of serious thing I suppose because it was a real competition. We actually won the All-Ireland U-14 title and I thought, ‘jeez, I can’t wait for this to happen again’, but they’re hard to come by.
“Anna Galvin and Kate O’Sullivan were on that team I think and Megan O’Connell from Southern Gaels who played with Kerry for years. Claire O’Sullivan, our current nutritionist, was on the team as well.”
After going up through the ranks, Lynch is now in her ninth season with the Kerry seniors having made her debut against Dublin in 2015. The pathway was shown by some of her club-mates.
“Before I was in with the Kerry seniors some of my older Desmonds team-mates were doing really well in the green and gold.
“The likes of Aisling Leonard, Aoife Lyons, Cáit Lynch and Lorraine Scanlon, and I knew that I wanted to follow in their footsteps.
“I think it was after the year that we won the intermediate All-Ireland with Desmonds [2014], just playing alongside them was inspiring. The likes of Aoife Lyons alongside you blocking a ball, and you get a real feel for what level they’re at, and the things that they can do, and you want to be able to do that too.”
After five solid seasons in the Kerry geansaí, a tough blow followed when she ruptured her ACL in a club game. Thus began the long road back to recovery, a rocky journey, but one that she mastered with an All-Star nomination in 2022, before claiming the right-corner-back spot in 2023.
“The ACL tear was devastating. It was in September during Covid, and we weren’t allowed play with our counties. We were only allowed play with our clubs, and it was one of my most enjoyable times playing football.
“I knew it was serious when I went down and then when I got the news it was just devastating to hear. Anna Galvin and Kayleigh Cronin had previously torn their ACLs and they were able to return to the game at the top level, so you do take encouragement from things like that.
“Surgery went to plan with Ray Moran in Santry and then I completed my rehab with Ger Keane and Julia Buest in Castleisland. I honestly couldn’t say enough good things about them. I returned to play stronger than ever, and I ended up finishing off the year with my first All-Star nomination.
“Then last year I was lucky enough to be nominated again and received the All-Star at corner-back. It was very surreal hearing my name being called out. It’s such a long recovery that you couldn’t stay positive for the whole nine or 10 months or year or however long it takes. You’re bound to have bumps on the road here and there.
“The day that I did my MRI was the day of the county final, so I rushed across to Fitzgerald Stadium after the MRI. I wasn’t thinking straight at all that day. You feel a bit helpless. All you want to do is be on the pitch.
“The Division 2 league final against Armagh in April 2022 was my first day back making the Kerry panel. I was number 30 and I was never so happy. Making the 30 was progress. The team was going places, and it was something that you wanted to get back to. It wasn’t like a half-in sort of a situation. It was worth putting in the hard work.
“I started for the first game of the championship against Tipperary in Cork. That was my first game back and we ended up getting to the All-Ireland final that year.”
Unfortunately, Kerry lost to Meath that day and also a year later to Dublin. Lynch says that it has built a massive resilience in the team, though.
“Losing the All-Ireland final is tough. Everyone puts so much energy and sacrifice into trying to get to the final and to fall short on the last hurdle is disappointing, and then for it to happen two years on the trot, it either makes or breaks a team.
“I’m so proud of the resilience that this team and management have shown to get ourselves back to our third All-Ireland final in a row. The hunger grows the longer it goes on.
“Your focus is narrowed as well. You have less tolerance for noise or anything else. It’s a job that you want to get done.
“Galway are a great team and it’s going to be a tough battle as it always is when we go head-to-head.
“The support in my own neck of the woods just blows me away, and we’re just so appreciative of it. My family are loving the journey so far. We do put them through more than a fair share of stress on the sideline, but they just want it for us so badly that they’ll do anything they can to help along the way”.
Finally, primary school teacher Lynch says she will have a very special treat for her students if Kerry manage to get over Galway and win the All-Ireland title.
“If we manage to bring the Brendan Martin Cup to Kilmurry National School I think it would warrant at least a week off homework,” she laughed.
“Honestly though, my principal and colleagues and students are fantastic supporters, and I’m very lucky to work with such a great bunch of people, so it would be brilliant if we could do it and bring the cup to the school.”
