When Claire Dunne first came into the Sligo set-up back in 2018, she found herself thrown right in the mix with a side that were regularly challenging at the business end of a host of competitions.
Still a member of the underage ranks within the Yeats County back then, Dunne started at left corner-back in June of that year as Sligo lost out to Roscommon in a Connacht intermediate decider in Castlebar.
She also played a significant part in their march to the All-Ireland semi-finals, a regular fixture in defence when Sligo also reached the penultimate round of the second-tier competition 12 months later.
That year, 2019, also saw Dunne and the Yeats women making it all the way to the Division 3 final, a 4-11 to 1-07 defeat at the hands of Meath. The Royals fielded 14 players that saw action in their breakthrough senior All-Ireland success just two years later.
"You were right in the mix of it then coming in," Dunne recalls. "I only came into the championship in 2018, but we made it to the Division Three league final against Meath the following year just before they got on their road for winning.
"There was a good couple of years there where you were getting to All-Ireland semis against teams like Tipp," Dunne said.
"It was such an experience to be thrown in at the deep end. Getting bits of game time as well and playing alongside all those players that are just great to have there coming in as a young girl. Looking up to them and then playing with them. Trying to develop into a player like them as you go on."
Fast forward to 2024 and Dunne — a member of the St Farnan’s club that are based in her home parish of Templeboy — is now in the middle of her second season as captain of a Sligo team that are aiming to get back to the level
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