Senior title with Tipperary remains all-time dream for Niamh Martin

When it came to understanding what it means to represent Tipperary at the highest level of inter-county football, Niamh Martin and her sister Nora didn't have far to look for some guidance.

Playing under her maiden name of Lyons, the Martins’ mother Ann was part of the last Premier team to win the TG4 All-Ireland senior title — courtesy of a three-point victory against Cavan in Edenderry in September 1980. One of six players on the panel from the Sliabh na mBan club, she had scored a goal in their semi-final win over Galway before going on to start their showpiece success.

39 years later, Ann looked on as her daughter Niamh won an All-Ireland intermediate as part of a Tipp squad that was captained by Samantha Lambert — whose aunt Antoinette was another member of that 1980 winning side. While this is a triumph that she continues to cherish, Niamh one day hopes to join her mother in claiming a top-tier ladies football championship title.

"It was great and it was unreal to be part of that team at such a young age. We’d love to push on. I think my all-time dream would be to win the Brendan Martin Cup. There’s a lot of history there, my Mam reminds us the whole time that she had won it before," Martin said.

"We’d love to be able to say the same back to her. She would have won it many moons ago. She would be slagging us the whole time."

Like their mother before them, Niamh and Nora Martin both line out in the Tipperary scene with Sliabh na mBan. Although the club isn’t currently at the same level as the team that won five senior county championships on the bounce from 1980 to 1984, Niamh explains how the present crop of Sliabh na mBan footballers have found themselves on an upward trajectory in recent times.

"With Sliabh na mBan,