Dawson cleans up at National awards
By Hayden Moore
DUBLIN starlet Caragh Dawson has expressed her delight with being included in the Camogie ‘Soaring Stars’ team and picking up the Junior Players’ Player of the Year after her success at club and county level.
Dawson, who plays her club camogie with St Jude’s in Templeogue said: “I am completely honoured to win these awards and I didn’t expect to win at all, especially being up against my teammate Dee Johnstone.”
St Jude's Caragh Dawson with her award
Both Deirdre Johnstone and Dawson where included in the 2018 ‘Soaring Stars’ Team of the Year while they were both nominated for the grand award alongside Patrice Diggins of Kerry.
Speaking about what drives her on to the levels of success Dawson has achieved this year, she told The Echo: “Winning the county final was huge for me, then winning the All-Ireland was obviously huge too.
“The main driving factor is who we play with. At Dublin we’re like a family and it’s great to come back and play with your friends at your club.
“We’re all in it together, and you just want to go more when you’re playing with your friends.”
The Jude’s star has been playing with Dublin right the way up from the Under 13 development squad and played a major role in Dublin’s march to the Premier Junior All-Ireland title against Kerry.
“It’s a huge achievement moving up to inter and, moving forward, we’re hoping to have just as much success at inter as we did in the junior,” said Dawson.
Training to be a teacher in Dublin City University, she also spoke about the level of commitment needed saying “we are starting in the championship and league now soon with the college.”
“When I’m with Dublin sometimes we do end up training five or six nights a week with gym and on-pitch drills, and then ideally on the weekend we’d want a challenge match.
“It’s tough, but all the girls are doing it. So that makes it a lot easier,” she exclaimed.
At club level, Dawson and Jude’s achieved major success this year after they captured their very first Senior One Camogie Championship with a win over Na Fianna before losing out to Thomastown in their first Leinster clash.
“When we started earlier this year, winning the county was the goal, anything else was a plus.
“When we travelled to Kilkenny to play in Leinster that was a plus, we didn’t beat Thomastown, but it was still a great experience considering county was our goal,” she added.
Among the other locals nominated for inter-county awards where Lucan Sarsfield’s Orla Beagan and Chris Crummey.
Beagan narrowly missed out on a slot in the full-forward line of the Camogie All-Star team, while Crummey, as the only Dub nominated in the hurling section, was unable to pinch a spot in defence from the All-Ireland finalists Galway and Limerick.
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