Sarah Ward aiming to end her 20-year career with All-Ireland glory

There must be a certain degree of freedom that comes with heading into an All-Ireland final knowing that win or lose, it will be the last time you tog out beside those teammates again. Win or lose, it will be one to remember.

On Saturday afternoon, this will be the case for Kilkerrin-Clonberne veteran Sarah Ward as she plans to cap a career that has spanned 20 seasons with the most coveted of rewards.

"You always feel like you might get to that Holy Grail of an All-Ireland medal," said Ward speaking ahead of the 2021 currentaccount.ie All-Ireland Ladies football final against title holders, Mourneabbey of Cork.

"I think anybody who plays football would have the dream of winning an All-Ireland medal and it’s no different for me or the rest of the girls. The closer you get, the more you feel like you can achieve it and, absolutely, this year, it would be great to just finish off the career with an All-Ireland medal.

"I think the older you get and the further on in your career, towards the end, you’ve a tendency to savour the moments a little bit better," remarked the Tribeswoman, who was thrilled to be in thick of it last December when Kilkerrin-Clonberne won their fourth Connacht title in a row.

"Coming on in the Connacht final and being there for the final whistle, my kids coming onto the pitch, those are the type of memories that stay with you and I think I’ll probably savour them more than some of the earlier ones where success, you took it for granted or you didn’t put as much meas on it as I do now."

As well as preparing for high-stakes games like Connacht finals year after year, along with reaching the All-Ireland final in 2019, Ward is the mother of two children under the age of five and has a career with Microsoft that