Athenry News & Views Winter 2025

Athenry News & Views

A memorable year for victorious Captain Athenry’s Dervla Higgins stars for Club and County

Described as a model of consistency, Dervla Higgins took her game to new heights again this year and was fittingly rewarded with an All-Ireland Medal, her second Camogie All-Star Award and a coveted County Senior Camogie Medal. When the Athenry captain lifted the county senior trophy, she didn’t just celebrate victory, she extended one of the most extraordinary family traditions in local sport. Dervla became the latest in the Higgins family to lead an Athenry team to championship success, following a legacy of captains stretching back nearly four decades. In 1994, her father Pat, made history when he captained Athenry to victory in the County Senior Hurling Final, also against Sarsfields completing what was already becoming a unique family record. Just a week before Pat’s triumph, his younger brother Brian had led Athenry’s Minor Hurling team to championship glory. The previous year,

Dervla is presented with her 2015 All-Star Award by Camogie President Brian Molloy with Marie Coady.

older brother Michael had captained the Junior A team to victory and going back even further, in 1987, another brother, Declan, was at the helm of Athenry’s County Under-21 winning side. It’s a record few, if any, sporting families can match four brothers and now a daughter, all captaining victorious teams across generations and codes. And the story doesn’t end there. In another twist to this remarkable tale, Michael Higgins returned to the winner’s podium this year captaining the Athenry Connacht Shield Golf Team to victory.

Pat Higgins raises the County Senior Hurling Cup in 1994, with his daughter Dervla following the County Senior Camogie Final in 2025 and son Darren.

Winner Dervla Higgins, with family and officials of Galway Camogie at the Medtronic Galway Sports Stars 2024 awards banquet in the Galway Bay Hotel last January. Seated from left are, Josephine McManomon, Veronica Gaughran, Sarah Gaughran, PRO, Galway Camogie, Patricia Harraghy, Dervla’s mother, and Becky Mahon, Dervla’s partner. Back row, Paul Kelly, Chairperson, Galway Camogie, Michalle Kelly, Ann Kearney, Darren Higgins, Dervla’s brother, Paul Harraghy and Pat Higgins, Dervla’s father. Photo: Connacht Tribune