Sarsfields' Maria Cooney talks up power of resilience

Maria Cooney played through pain to help Sarsfields claim the Galway camogie title last month - and the sacrifice took a toll.

She may not be fit enough to play a part in Saturday's AIB All-Ireland Senior Club Camogie final semi-final against St Vincent's of Dublin, but resilience is a key part of Cooney's makeup.

The Athenry-based secondary school teacher says the Covid-19 pandemic threw up professional and personal challenges that showed her a different side other people - and a side to herself she wasn't fully in tune with.

"It does show you how much resilience you would have as a person," Cooney told RTÉ Sport.

"I can see it in the students, and I would see it in myself as well that I'm actually a lot more resilient than I thought it would be.

"Covid had huge challenges. It was a massive curveball, nobody knew what to expect or where we were going to go. It is great that we're all able to get back together, the championships are going on like they would have before.

"A resilience was built up and we're kind of reaping the rewards of it. You know when you put your head down and you have to do something that you can do it."

Mental resilience is one thing, physical resilience is another. Cooney showed tremendous heart to twice play through an ankle injury but the toll those exertions took caught up on her.

"In our county semi-final against Athenry I did damage to the inside and outside ligaments of my ankle," she added.

"I played in the county final and that probably set me back a good bit - anything I had in it, I used up the reserves in that game.

"The last couple of weeks for me have been kind of slow. I've been trying to do a lot of rehab, focusing on trying to get back on the pitch. It has been tough.

"I'm hoping I might be