When your club wins 42 consecutive county titles, and you've been there for 17 of them, memories of finals mash together. It can be hard to distinguish one from another. Aileen Wall won't have that problem with this year's Waterford decider. It will remain distinct.
On the morning of the Waterford ladies football final against Comeragh Rangers, Wall received a phone call from her pregnant sister Mairéad, also a Ballymacarbry teammate.
13 December 2023; In attendance at a photocall ahead of the currentaccount.ie All-Ireland Junior, Intermediate and Ladies Senior Club Football Championship finals next weekend is Aileen Wall of Ballymacarbry, Waterford, with the Delores Tyrrell Memorial Cup. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
"My sister was due three weeks after the county final and her husband went on a trip to Dubai, thinking nothing would happen," Wall explained at Croke Park on Wednesday ahead of this weekend's Currentaccount.ie All-Ireland final against Kilkerrin-Clonberne.
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"He won an all-expenses paid trip to Dubai, he brought his brother. I suppose we never thought that she would go three weeks early - it was her first child.
"She rings me on the morning of the county final, saying ‘I’m actually in hospital in Clonmel'. I was her backup birthing partner.
"I accepted the cup, I did my speech, and I handed it off to someone and ran and went to the hospital. Her husband made it home with 15 minutes to spare actually, but I wasn’t allowed leave! We were all in it then at that stage.
"She’d a lovely little baby boy that night, at 11 o’clock. Little baby Mikey. Linda had a baby three weeks before that as well, so it was all go!
"It was a big day, yeah, one that I’ll remember for definite."
26 November 2022; Aileen Wall of Ballymacarbry after the CurrentAccount.ie LGFA All-Ireland Senior Club Championship Semi-Final match between Ballymacarbry, Waterford, and Kilkerrin Clonberne, Galway, at Fraher Field in Dungarvan, Waterford. Photo by Matt Browne/Sportsfile
The game will also be memorable as it was the closest Ballymacarbry have come to losing during Wall's time as a player. Extra-time was required when the game finished 1-6 to 0-9 after 60 minutes. Ballymacarbry eventually won by two.
"I think from the outside, maybe it’s expected," said Wall, who won the first of her 17 senior county titles as a 13-year-old.
"We don’t take anything for granted. We’ve had exceptional challenges over the years. People see this record and they think, ‘God, ye’re walking it’. We’re not!
"Especially this year. This year was the tightest game we ever had, and over the last few years, I’ve remembered very serious county finals. We were down six points at half-time, I think two or three years ago, so they haven’t been easy.
"But I suppose experience has always stood to us. And I suppose for the other teams, there can be a bit of fear there as well in beating a team and winning that county title. So, it’s all being played in our favour."
In the 46-year history of the All-Ireland Senior Ladies Football Club Championship, Ballymacarbry are the competition's most successful team with 10 titles. Though, the last of those was won in 1998, also the last time the club played in the final.
Last year, the club won its first Munster title since 2000 but lost heavily to this weekend's opponents in the All-Ireland semi-final.
27 October 2019; Maire O'Callaghan and Eimear Harrington of Mourneabbey celebrate at the full-time whistle following the Munster Ladies Football Senior Club Championship Final match between Ballymacarbry and Mourneabbey at Galtee Rovers GAA Club, in Bansha, Tipperary. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
"There was a monkey on our back there for 20 years to win a Munster," said Wall.
"We got so close over the years, God we were so close, it was Mourneabbey pipping us every time but thankfully we got over that.
"We set out to win Munster last year and that involved kind of peaking a bit earlier than we probably wanted to.
"We knew Waterford were playing the Cork champions in the Munster quarter-final so if we were going to win Munster it was going to be up against Mourneabbey and I suppose that is when we needed to peak really to get our best game because we hadn’t beaten them ever.
"It was a bit of a downward spiral after that, even in the Munster final last year because despite winning it, it wasn’t one of our best games. When we got to the semi-final, we were a bit spent and we didn’t have much in the tank."
Ballymacarbry have "prepared differently" this year and feel they are peaking at the right time for this weekend's game. There at Croke Park will be Wall's 11-week-old Mikey watching on as his mother and aunt look to bridge a 25-year gap.
"I’d probably give up every medal I could to win an All-Ireland with Ballymac," said Wall.
"I just think it would be the pinnacle of any player’s career to be in Croke Park and have your cup. To say you were the best club in Ireland that year - it would be amazing."
The Intermediate and Senior Finals will be played at Croke Park on Saturday, December 16, with the Junior Final to be played at Parnell Park, Dublin, on Sunday December 17.
