It is close to three years since Jenny Higgins last donned the primrose and blue in a competitive game.
However, as she continues to recover from her latest injury set-back, Higgins is hopeful of lining out for Roscommon again in the future.
After featuring for the Connacht side in their 2022 TG4 All-Ireland intermediate semi-final defeat to Wexford. Higgins missed out on the 2023 inter-county season to place her full focus on a new adventure in Australia with AFL Women’s outfit Sydney Swans.
Yet just a week before she was due to make her AFLW bow, Higgins suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in a match scrimmage (informal practice game) against Brisbane Lions.
Higgins eventually bounced back to play a part in Clann na nGael’s excellent senior club championship final success over St Brigid’s last September. Subsequently returning to the county set-up by the end of 2024.
However, having sustained a second ACL injury (on the opposite knee) at Roscommon training on Clann na nGael’s pitch in December; this unfortunately left her side-lined for another extended period.
“I still feel very much unfinished business with the sport” explained Higgins. “I was back in better shape than I ever was after the first ACL”.
“That’s the thing about ACL recovery in many ways. It gives you time to focus on things that, with the inter-county season being so condensed, you don’t actually get an off-season to work on areas of your game” Higgins explained.
“The great thing about having that time away, if you channel it and you’ve the right mindset going into it, you can actually come back better.
“Be a better athlete, a better person and a better player as a result of it. I’m just hoping to use this opportunity again to be better”.
Hopeful for a comceback
“It’s still a bit off yet. It won’t be this year, but you never know what next year will bring.”
Higgins hasn’t exactly been looking on from the outside at Roscommon’s season; ultimately deciding to remain with the squad during her ACL rehabilitation.
Rossies boss Finbar Egan (her former Clann na nGael manager; previously involved when Mayo won four All-Ireland senior titles from 1999 to 2003) was also quick to bring Higgins on board as part of his backroom set-up for the year. Helping make up in some way for her loss on the pitch.
“Initially I wanted probably to step away from it” Higgins explained. “You’re so disappointed. You had such expectations of the year and it’s hard to be on the side-line again”.
“It felt so raw because it felt like I was only back. I was back doing what I love and back to my best, and then to kind of think ‘oh God, I’m on the side-line again’ ”.
“Thankfully I’ve great support there with Finbar Egan and Marie Kelly” added Higgins on the Roscommon management team.
“They wouldn’t take no for an answer and they wanted me in on the management team. They felt I could offer a lot of experience and we’ve quite a young squad, so they weren’t letting me get away”.
“It was great to be involved and the girls are great. They celebrate all the little wins with me” explained Higgins.
“Whether it is my first jump there in the gym one day, they were all celebrating with me. Or my first run. It just makes it that bit easier, having that community and that support network around you.”
All-Ireland dreams
Higgins will certainly have a significant part to play behind the scenes as Roscommon aim to win a first TG4 All-Ireland intermediate football championship since 2005.
In order to reach the knockout rounds of this year’s competition, the Rossies – who were relegated from Division 2 of the Lidl National Football League back in March – will need to progress out of a Group 1 that also includes 2024 All-Ireland junior winners Fermanagh and the runners-up of tomorrow’s Leinster decider between Laois and Westmeath.
“There’s nothing easy about that group at all” explained Higgins. “Fermanagh did really well in their league campaign as well [reaching the Division 4 final].
“They’re a really good side. Laois and Westmeath, we have great history with them throughout the years. There’ll be huge games coming up”.
As well as her day job as a primary school teacher, Higgins is being kept busy in her role as an ambassador for the LGFA’s Glenveagh Homes Gaelic4Girls programme.
A 10-week initiative that incorporates coaching sessions with fun non-competitive blitzes aimed at increasing participation in Ladies Gaelic Football.
Higgins has been on board with this programme since Glenveagh became its main title sponsor in 2021.
“I’ve been involved with the Glenveagh Homes Gaelic4Girls programme for a number of years now. Each year I find it going from strength to strength. It’s particularly rewarding being a primary school teacher and being once a young girl myself, knowing the importance of sport,” Higgins added.
