INTERVIEW: Hannah Tyrrell chats to Daire Walsh

By DAIRE WALSH

Dublin star Hannah Tyrrell has said that winning this year’s ZuCar Golden Boot award is a ‘very nice bonus’ on top of securing a TG4 All-Ireland senior football championship title for the second time as she bows out of the inter-county game.

Thanks to the five points she kicked for the Jackies in their Brendan Martin Cup final success over provincial rivals Meath at Croke Park last month, Tyrrell finished the 2025 All-Ireland series with an impressive tally of 6-28 to her name. This left her three points clear of Maria O’Neill in the race for the Golden Boot – the Antrim attacker’s 0-3 haul in their TG4 All-Ireland junior football championship final defeat to Louth bringing her overall total to 8-19.

While claiming top honours in the All-Ireland championship with her county was the main priority coming into the summer months, Tyrrell acknowledged the ZuCar Golden Boot is a good honour to have at the end of a memorable season.

“Obviously personal or individual awards aren’t something I set out to achieve at the start of the year. Obviously it was the All-Ireland for us and to win that was great, but it’s always nice to get another award on top of that. It’s always nice to be celebrated and get these accolades,” Tyrrell said.

“They are very, very nice and it is great to have these promotions and exposure for players. I don’t play the game for that, but absolutely. A very nice bonus. It’s an individual award, but I can’t get the ball from one end of the pitch to the other all by myself. So my team-mates had a huge role in helping me get that too.

“A couple of people kind of mentioned before the final to me that I was in contention for this award, but I wasn’t thinking about that. I was just obviously thinking about trying to win an All-Ireland and thankfully this is like a nice little added bonus.”

A previous winner of the competition in 2023, Tyrrell’s latest All-Ireland SFC triumph with the Jackies was particularly special as it came in her final season as an inter-county footballer.

Along with fellow attacker Nicole Owens, the former Ireland women’s rugby international officially brought the curtain down on her time with Dublin in the wake of their 2-16 to 0-10 win against Meath in Croke Park on August 3.

Tyrrell did finish the contest watching on from the sideline, however, after she tore her anterior cruciate ligament in the closing minutes of this top-tier showpiece. She is now in the early stages of rehabilitation after having surgery on her ACL last week, but even though this wasn't an ideal way to conclude the game, the victory over the Royals still represented a fairytale ending to Tyrrell’s inter-county journey.

“If someone said you’re going to tear your ACL at some point in your career and you get to choose when to do it, I think you couldn’t do it at a better time than an All-Ireland final at the end. When you’re winning and it’s going to be your last game for your county,” Tyrrell explained.

“I could have done it earlier in the season and not gotten to enjoy the run that we had. Or I could have done it in the semi-final. I’m lucky, but unlucky. We got the win in the end and that was a nice thing to take my mind off it I suppose.

“I had my surgery and just trying to get around again. Get my mobility and start my rehab. Trying to focus on getting back on track in what is a new normal for me. I never had an injury like this one. It will take a lot to put the work in and get back to what I would have been before.”

Although she only missed out on a few minutes of inter-county action, the timing of her injury means Tyrrell isn't in a position to feature for Na Fianna in their ongoing club championship campaign.

She is hopeful of donning the colours of the Mobhi Road-based outfit again, but given the long road that is ahead in her ACL recovery, the two-time TG4 All Star isn’t looking too far into the future just yet.

“It’s tough. You want to play for the club and the girls in your community. I’ll just give whatever advice I have from the sidelines, but it is tough to watch on when you’re hoping to be involved in something,” Tyrrell added.

“With this injury to be honest, I’m not getting too far ahead of myself. It will definitely eat into the majority of next year’s club season anyway.

“The aim would be to get back and put myself in a position where I’m capable of playing club football and Gaelic football to a level that I’d be happy with. If all goes well, it would be nice to get back to club.”