Offaly's McEvoy ready to live life to full after near-death experience

The current whipped up, their rafts collided with logs on the river bank and they began to take on water, six of the group went under.

Ellee McEvoy spotted two who were being taken away by Bow River in Canada and stuck out her hand to save them before everyone climbed up on to one of the logs. The ice-cold temperatures of the glacier water only increased the sense of dread but they had found safety.

For the Offaly star it was a brush with death that she will never forget. They eventually took out a phone from one of their waterproof bags, dialled 911 and waited to be air-lifted away.

"I had gone out to visit my best friend, Aoife Corbett, for three weeks in Banff near Calgary," said McEvoy.

"I got thrown out of the raft first and my friend got a really big shock because she is not the strongest swimmer and all she saw was me being taken under. I was out visiting her and she was thinking about having to ring my parents saying Ellee was not coming home.

"There was a few minutes where six of us were in the water and two that were stuck in between the rafts. We were looking at each other and everyone was trying to calm down but you could still see the panic.

"All of us were very lucky, the fact that none of us got seriously injured bar maybe a bit of bruising from the logs, that was it."

McEvoy returned from Canada with a whole new appreciation for life and she got back to what she knows best, football.

Every weekend since, and she hopes until the end of September at least, has been dedicated to her beloved Naomh Ciarán in the county championship.

The 24-year-old is the key attacker for Offaly but even more so for her club, as they look to forget their nightmare final defeat to Tullamore last year.

Beating them in the group stages