Aoibhín Cleary eyes another All-Ireland medal before AFLW adventure

RTÉ News​

30-07-2025

Meath captain Aoibhín Cleary will shortly be heading to Australia to pursue a career in the AFLW but before that there is a strong determination to win a third All-Ireland senior title for her county.
Last February, Cleary signed a two-year deal to join Richmond, so bringing the number of Irish players contracted for an AFLW season to 40.
Richmond recruiting manager Trent Mosbey spoke highly of the first Irish player to join upon the Royal defender putting pen to paper, when saying: "The strengths in her game will translate well to AFLW - such as her speed, endurance, agility, running patterns and high-end work rate.
"She has the ability to defend, apply pressure, to win one-on-ones and has illustrated competitiveness, aggression and physicality which has been impressive to see."
High praise indeed!
Cleary, not surprisingly, is relishing the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Meath team-mates Vicky Wall and Orla Lally in making the switch Down Under. But there is that important assignment to come at Croke Park first.
Speaking at a media day ahead of Sunday's TG4 All Senior Championship final against Dublin, she said: "I'll be heading out pretty quick after the final but for now I'm just focusing on Sunday"
Cleary is thankful for the support shown by Richmond in allowing her to remain part of the Meath set-up for the 2025 season.
"Before the offer was made, I was committed to Meath and I wasn't going to change," she explained.
"From the start Richmond have been very accommodating, very supportive and very understanding of the situation, wishing me and the Meath team in general the best.
"From their perspective they would have liked to have got me out there quicker but they also recognise the value in the season we are having. They realise how beneficial it is for me to be involved in a team that is back in an All-Ireland final."
Cleary played on the Meath sides that won back-to-back Brendan Martin cups in 2021 and 2022, with memories of that maiden win, when accounting for Dublin in the final, still fresh in the memory.
"It was a great day and it meant a lot to us and to so many other people, our family, our partners and our friends, the All-Star defender recalled.
"In particular it was that we were coming out of Covid and it lifted the spirits."
And now the team managed by Shane McCormack are back in the decider. Their semi-final victory over the defending champions Kerry sent out a statement and Cleary is delighted they are part of the big day again.
"It is great to be back in this position and to be that one step closer in bringing back the cup. There is obviously a huge task ahead of us before we get our hands on that cup. Excited to be in this position. In the last couple of years it was hard being knocked out and then seeing the rest of the championship progress. We had a huge determination to not let that happen again. It's great to still be training over the last couple of weeks, to still be playing games at this time of year."
The Donaghmore Ashbourne player also believes that some of the chatter as to whether the county could rise again after losing to Kerry in the 2023 and '24 campaigns drove them on.
"The belief in our group never wavered, and we heard the whispers," she stated.
"We knew what we had in the group and in the last two years we have not been able to push ourselves to our potential; we knew we had more to give. Our management team had great belief in us."
And that belief seems to have grown after a somewhat patchy league run, before finding a renewed lease of life in the All-Ireland series.
"We've had ups and downs, some good performances and some very disappointing performances," was Cleary's part summation of the year.
"Even after all those losses the belief never wavered. We looked at what need to be fixed; the work ethic and the culture that we do have in the group is brilliant. Everyone put the head down and worked on what we needed to work on.
"Over the year we have got to a point where we've been more consistent in our performance, particularly in the last few games. But we'll have to take that up a notch going into the All-Ireland final."
Sunday's finale at GAA HQ is a repeat of the Leinster final at the same venue. Meath fans were out in force to also see the men's team take take on Louth in their provincial decider.
"It was great to have both teams there on the day of the Leinster finals even though it didn't go either of our ways which was very disappointing," Cleary recalled.
There were better days ahead as the Royal fans found their voice again.
"There definitely has been a great buzz and energy in the county with the lads going on such a great journey and I think we fed off each other's energy."
Cleary's partner is Cork camogie star Hannah Looney, who also has a an All-Ireland final to look forward to against Galway on 10 August.
A time then for each of them to support on another, as Aoibhín outlined.
"We are both aware of all the motions that you are going through, nice that we can feed each other, and understand what each is feeling at a given moment in time."