Áine Keane: 'Being back on the pitch with the girls brings a smile to my face'

Michael Bolton

Having missed Galway's 2025 All-Ireland win through injury, Áine Keane is back and ready to help the Tribeswomen defend their title.

Stopping Cork's three-in-a-row bid with a last-second free from Carrie Dolan, Galway had their first All-Ireland since 2021.

An important player for her county, Keane missed a huge part of the 2025 season due to an ACL injury, as well as their league title this year.

For the first time in a while, Keane is back fully fit and looking forward to the action.

While she admits it was not easy to be on the sideline for the All-Ireland, she did what she could to support her teammates.

"It has been a long time coming, just to be back on the pitch with the girls has put a smile on my face.

"It is probably a bittersweet moment, but I am just so proud of the girls for getting over the line. We were four years in the making of getting that All-Ireland success, so I played a part in the team in those years gone by.

"It is tough to sit on the sideline and not be able to help them on the pitch, but I did what I could off the pitch for them.

"When we got over the line, it was just elation. It was just brilliant to get there, and I was so proud of the girls."

Although she was unable to make her influence felt on the pitch, Keane was never far away from camogie during her time injured.

The St Thomas woman will have many years ahead of her in a Galway jersey, but dipped her toe into management during her recovery.

"Nine months seemed like a long time, but it kind of flew by.

"In college, I got involved with the Ashbourne team in the management side of things. That was something new for me, and it was a really good experience. I felt like I was still involved, so that was really good.

"In the league, I helped out on matchdays as best as I could with whatever was needed. I looked at myself and seen if I could improve in any way, shape or form.

"Being involved in different teams definitely helped time go by."

After chasing Cork for the past couple of seasons, Galway is now the team to beat.

Their league win after a tricky start shows they are showing no signs of slowing down, but the Galway defender is keen to look forward and not look back on previous success.

"It is great to win last year, but it doesn't really change our outlook.

"Each year, we are trying to get better and to make ourselves better. We need to keep driving on and bring some of that success from winning the All-Ireland into this year.

"It was a very disappointing start to the league campaign for ourselves. We let ourselves down in the first couple of games and didn't put in the performances we should have.

"To reverse that and finish the campaign on the high we did in the league final, that is probably bonus territory. We probably didn't think we would get to a league final after the first two games."

If Galway are going to win the O'Duffy Cup once again, they will be made to work for it with the new group format.

Joining them will be Cork, Waterford, and Tipperary, the semi-finalists from last season.

While all four teams will get out of the group, there will be three tough games Galway will have to face before a quarter-final, where a team eager to cause an upset will be waiting for them.

"We are going to have three really competitive games against some of the top teams of the championship. Each game is going to be a ding-dong battle, which is hopefully going to be exciting for spectators.

"I can see why the Camogie Association have gone about it this way. It is even more motivation for the like of Dublin, Kilkenny, Clare, Limerick, Offaly, and Wexford to get to the knockout stages.

"It is going to be different, but it should be good."