Shinrone’s Sharon overcomes injury woes to play her part
With two Ashbourne Cup medals to her name and a spot secured on this year’s ‘Rising Stars’ team for her performances for UL, Sharon Shanahan has marked herself out as one of the leading lights on the Offaly camogie scene.
In most cases, that would mean opponents trying to come up with a plan to counteract the Shinrone player, but Shanahan is a little different – she is the ‘in case of emergency’ option for David Sullivan and co.
She has seen action in the full-back line, half-back line and midfield, but invariably with one primary goal – to negate the threat posed by a key player on the other side. Whether that’s Jackie Horgan on Sunday or perhaps a switch out to midfield to curtail Patrice Diggin, Shanahan’s role won’t involve looking for the limelight, but instead making sure that her direct opponent doesn’t light up Croke Park.
“You have a job to do and once you’re doing your job and that the girls around you are doing their job as well, then we’ll be in a good place,” said the PE teacher, who will start a new post at Birr Community School later this month.
“If you’ve been asked to stop a certain player from scoring, they might move around and you’ve to respond to that. I had that job against Antrim marking Caitrín Dobbin, it could be the same on Sunday.”
It’s a role that she almost had to re-learn. A spate of concussions at various stages of her career led to Shanahan considering if she might be forced to hang up her boots and switch to non-contact sport, but she’s adapted her approach and feels that she can still do what needs to be done.
“Unfortunately I’ve sustained a number of concussions and it’s part of my reputation, I suppose, and something I have to live with,” she told the Offaly Independent.
“I just try and work through it and not avoid it. It’s nearly a confidence thing. When I got my last concussion, there was a fear of going into a tackle and getting concussed again. I found that when I was hesitating I was nearly getting more hurt in the long run.
"The way I look at it now is just go out and hurl and don’t worry. I’m getting on with it now, it doesn’t affect me on a daily basis, and part of that is I’ve done a lot of rehab with it, working with physios that have been very supportive.
“I got the confidence back after two or three sessions and I was just dogging straight in again. At corner-back a lot of it is winning the dirty ball and if someone’s in on goal you’ve no choice but to take them, to stand them up and defend your line. You can’t have fear.”
Shanahan feels that the experience of third level camogie has been invaluable to her, and to several others on this Offaly panel.
“Winning the Rising Stars award was huge, I rang Mam and Dad and sure they were all crying on the other end of the phone. But the team I was playing with and the group of girls that were there, they nearly made you look good. We all looked out for each other, we all supported each other on and off the field. The only word for the whole UL thing was wholesome, there’s lifelong friendships out of it. Gráinne Egan and Christine Cleary were playing with UL as well.”
As for her teaching role in Birr, Sharon said: “It’s great to have a job 10 or 15 minutes down the road and I can’t wait to get involved with the coaching teams there. For me, the main aim is to stay as close to home, to be able to commute to training and keep going with Offaly for as long as I can.”