The Irish Times/Vhi Healthcare Sportswoman of the Year May Award: Such is the way with team sports, it's the goalscorers, the flying wingers, the midfield playmakers, or the stylish sweepers who, typically, get the plaudits. Hockey is no exception. Consistency and dependability might be highly valued by team-mates, but rarely do those who quietly and effectively get on with doing their job grab the headlines.
Fiona Connery fits that bill. Indeed, so unaccustomed is she to being singled out for praise, when she was named player of the tournament in the recent All-Ireland League play-offs she put it down to "someone just being kind to me".
That tournament - which Hermes won the following weekend, beating Pegasus in the final - completed an outstanding season for the club, which won four of the five trophies it contested, and concluded an exceptional month for Connery, who won her 50th cap at the World Cup Qualifier in Rome.
"That had to be the highlight of my year," she said. "It really made everything worthwhile. But it's hard to believe that I've won 50 caps - it doesn't seem that long ago that I made my debut. I just feel really lucky. There are much better players than me out there, but, for one reason or another, I've been given the chance."
Connery (29) made her debut against Japan in Holland three years ago when the full-back was part of a defence that kept a clean sheet in a 0-0 draw. And it was two more scoreless draws - with New Zealand and Korea in pool games - that proved the outstanding results of Ireland's (ultimately unsuccessful) World Cup qualifying campaign.
"They were definitely the highs in Rome, they were great results against such strong teams, but it was just very disappointing to miss qualification," she says.
"We're so close but we just can't make that next step. It's frustrating but I know we have it in us, so we just have to keep on trying."
Connery was one of the few to play every minute of Ireland's seven matches in Rome, and in light of the highly defensive strategy adopted by Riet Kuper, who has since resigned as coach, she and her co-defenders rarely had a chance to draw breath.
She still found the energy to play a crucial part in the All-Ireland success of Hermes on her return home, having helped them win the Irish Senior Cup and Leinster League (she missed the European Cup Winners gold because of international duty), though she admitted to feeling "shattered" through the play-offs and final.
The former Kilkenny camogie player, who hails from Clinstown and whose sisters Sinéad, Áine and Eimear are also fine hockey players, is back at work as a department manager with UBS, the Swiss financial services company, and, if time allows, hopes to resume her international career in the build-up to next summer's European Championships. "It's hard to keep it going, but it's even harder to give it up," she said.
