Caoimhe O'Connor admits that winning a third All-Ireland title with Dublin this year came as somewhat of a surprise.

After winning four on the trot between 2017 and 2020, the Jackies had to watch Leinster rivals Meath take over for back-to-back success.

The likes of Lyndsey Davey, Noelle Healy, Siobhán McGrath and Niamh McEvoy retired. In 2023, Niamh Collins and Ciara Trant took the year out while Sinead Goldrick focused on Aussie Rules and Siobhán Killeen soccer.

Manager Mick Bohan brought in 16 new players and it looked like a rebuilding year was in store. But the Dubs finished third in the league and pipped Meath to the Leinster championship. They were beaten by two points by Kerry in the group stages of the All-Ireland championship but turned the tables to gain revenge in the final by five.

"To get back on top this year was great," O’Connor, who started a final for the first time this year, told RTÉ Sport, at the launch of Staycity as the new Dublin GAA sponsor.

"We had so many new players come in at the start of the year, we didn't really know how it was going to go. From the start of the year, we didn't really know what was going to happen. Mid-season maybe, everyone was driving each other on, driving the standards of each other and individually you think 'Oh, yeah, okay, we could be successful’.

"We took each game as it came and we seemed to be improving as a squad and as a team and in our performances. We probably peaked at the right time. We performed well in the All-Ireland final and we got Brendan Martin back.

"Not being successful the last two years really drove us on and put that hunger inside you and built the hunger as a group. We just drove on this year, we wanted to be successful and we got there."

A sign of the turnover in the group is that 23-year-old O’Connor refers to herself as 'a senior player’.

"It is funny," she admits. "Because I would have come in when I was 18 and the girls would have been a lot older than me. I think having the younger girls come in this year, it's made me feel older. I know I'm young in itself, but probably stepping up as a senior player and becoming a leader within the team, and I think that is also key and great for us to develop and move forward.

"We had such a burst of youth come into our squad this year. We don't have too many older players anymore, as such, the likes of Carla Rowe, Hannah Tyrrell and a lot of them would have been the younger girls and now they are the leaders and the older girls of our group."

Bohan, from the same Clontarf club as O’Connor, is now a five-time All-Ireland winning manager and she says his decision to stay in charge for an eighth season next year is "such a boost for us as a group".

"We're used to him, we're settled under him and everyone's delighted that he's staying on board for another year.

"He's just so knowledgeable of the game and his style of play and what he brings. I know he's been involved in other county set-ups and in successful club set-ups. I know he was down in Clare for a while and he was successful there. It's just great to have him."

O’Connor is in the final year of a degree in social care at TU Dublin, and has done placements with a women’s refuge and an after-school programme for children from disadvantaged areas, something she admits has helped to put football in perspective.

But Saturday night will be a chance to enjoy the fruits of her efforts on the field as the half-forward is one of 12 Dublin players nominated for an All-Star, in what is a first senior nod for O’Connor.

"Obviously, my family are so proud of me for getting nominated," she said. "They're excited for the day out, they'll all be there with me.

"As a player, you probably play it down a bit more because you're playing for so long and you've been involved in big days and big occasions. Once we're successful and we've won the All-Ireland, the individual things don't matter too much.

"We'll see how we get on and it'll be an enjoyable night either way."