Few footballers get to make their senior county debut at Croke Park, but that's what happened to Dublin's Kate Sullivan in February 2019.
Having played for the junior team that reached the semi-finals of the All-Ireland A Championship in 2018, Sullivan was selected for the Jackies by manager Mick Bohan ahead of their Lidl Football League Division 1 campaign.
When the squad for the opening match against Donegal was announced at GAA headquarters, Sullivan was among the substitutes.
However, on the day of the match she was officially included in the starting line-up, along with debutant Sarah Fagan.
Sullivan had learned her place in the Dublin attack a few days earlier, and although the game ended in a 1-11 to 1-7 loss for her team, it was a memorable day for the St. Sylvester's forward.
“It was a fantastic day to make my debut. Especially walking out into that stadium was great. That moment will probably always be etched in my memory as the start of my career in Dublin.
“I found out earlier in the week that I was going to be a starter. Of course, the team made an announcement and I'm not sure if they named me, but apparently they decided to keep it a secret and only tell my family,” Sullivan explained.
“It probably helped a little bit that there was no noise or anticipation outside. When we were walking to the game, Mick came up to me a few days before the game just to let me know. I was a little nervous, of course, but I was excited to get to the start, especially so early in the league.”
When Sullivan first broke into the Dublin first team, she was surrounded by players with a wealth of experience, including her Sylvester team-mates Sinead Ahern, Nicole Owens and Niamh McEvoy.
After being an unused substitute as the Jackies beat Galway in the 2019 All-Ireland final, she came on as a substitute and scored a point to help the capital side win their fourth successive Brendan Martin Cup the following December.
By the time Dublin won their next All-Ireland Senior Football Championship TG4 final in 2023, Sullivan had become a regular starter and scored a second-half goal to help the Jackies beat Kerry 0-18 to 1-10.
Following a quarter-final defeat to Donegal in the previous year's All-Ireland series, the team were determined to return to the top of the inter-county competitions.
The absence of a number of standout players from previous successful matches with Brendan Martin meant that Sullivan and others like her had to take on extra responsibility on the pitch, but she was more than up for it.
“I think there was a lot of hurt feelings from last year, and going back to that season, we put a huge emphasis on wanting to succeed. Wanting to enjoy it, working hard. Coming back together as a team.
“Some of the older girls had moved on and my age group or group of friends had become more experienced on the team. It was great to step up to the next level and see what you could contribute this year.”
Now in her seventh season as a senior player, Sullivan has appeared in four of Dublin's five games this year in the NFL Lidl Division I under new joint management team Paul Casey and Derek Murray.
Ahead of today's round six clash with Tyrone in Dungannon, the Jacks currently sit fifth in the First Division table with seven points.
After Mick Bohan ended his incredibly successful tenure as Jackies manager just months after the 2024 All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Galway (a game Sullivan missed with a hamstring injury), Casey and Murray were appointed as his successors.
Both had previously worked with Dublin as scouts and Sullivan believes that made the transition away from Bohan's management easier.
“It was a little easier because the guys and the rest of the management team were already there and they had
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
