Aisling & Siobhán Carolan, playing and mentoring camogie at Féile na nGael this weekend
Each year more than 25,000 boys and girls take part in Féile na nGael, a festival of club hurling, camogie and handball for under-14s. More than 200 clubs have come through county qualifiers to take part in the finals this weekend, in Kilkenny. St Oliver Plunkett Eoghan Ruadh GAA Club will represent Dublin for the first time, courtesy of the club's under-14 camogie team.
It's a proud weekend for the team's captain, 13-year-old Aisling Carolan, and her mother, Siobhán, who is a team mentor.
"I have played in Féile in Dublin five times, and this is the first time we have come through," says Aisling. "It's a great honour to be the first captain from Oliver Plunkett's to take part."
Dublin hasn't landed a senior camogie title since 1984, but if interest at junior club level is anything to go by, that may soon change. "We used to struggle to put a team out," says Siobhán, "and now we have more than 200 girls across all the levels, from senior right down to nursery. All the other clubs locally are the same."
Aisling picked up the game almost by accident. "We used to send her off down with her brother to the club when he was playing on Saturdays, and she picked up a hurl and started messing around," says her mother. "When she was eight she started playing for the under-10 team. It's fantastic for her, and it's about far more than sport. It's amazing the friendships that the girls get out of it. Aisling is on Bebo at weekends, in contact with girls that she plays against at club level."
Before any socialising, however, there are matches to be played. The club play Mullinavat, Windgap and Toomevara in the group stages, with semifinals taking place tonight and the final in Nowlan Park in the city tomorrow.
"We would love to get through, but it's hard to know what the standards will be like," says Aisling. "We won the league and the championship in Dublin, so I think we should be in with a chance, but the Kilkenny teams are very strong. Hopefully, we will be returning to Dublin with the cup on Sunday night."
• Féile na nGael's final day starts at Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, tomorrow, 10am; Division 1 final: 3pm