Claremorris star misses wedding preparations to play in Connacht Final

SHE played a starring role to help her club win the Connacht title on Sunday afternoon but Síle Hughes should not have been in Boyle when Claremorris defeated St Brigid's of Leitrim in the provincial final. The wing-back should have been 2,349 kilometres away in a plush dining room in Krakow tasting food for her upcoming wedding.

Big decisions about starters, main courses, deserts, palate cleansers, aperitifs and wine lists were being made by all the couples booked in for 2024 weddings at the spectacular Polish venue but neither Síle nor her fíancé Lukasz were taking part.

“We were supposed to be at the wedding venue today at three-o-clock for meal tasting,” Síle told The Mayo News after Claremorris were crowned Connacht champions on Sunday afternoon. “This is the only day they're doing the meal-tasting for all the 2024 weddings so we missed out on it. They said they'd send us pictures of the food, but I'm not sure how much we can do with that,” she added as the champions celebrated in the middle of Abbey Park.

Síle and Lukasz had everything in place to travel to Krakow. Flights were booked, accommodation sourced and time booked off work. Then, the women in blue defeated CT Gaels from Sligo in the Connacht semi-final and Síle realised she needed to be in two places at the one time.

“Everything was arranged and when we won the semi-final and were told the date of the final I got very emotional because I knew the two things were clashing. I tried to rearrange the meal-tasting but they couldn't do it, so I had to just get on with it.

“As important as Krackow was there was no way I could miss the football. Lukasz was very supportive. He knows how much this means to me and all the girls. He was completely fine about it and anyway he doesn't get as worked up as me about the wedding arrangements. He was happy as long as I was happy and he knows that getting to play with the girls and winning the cup was very special to me.”

Was there any way around the impasse? Could Lukasz have attended the meal-tasting on his own? “O God, I couldn't have sent him on his own. That wouldn't have been safe. I couldn't trust his taste-buds. He was here watching the game instead, which was lovely.”

Finally, the talented defender had a special word for her team-mates who will be attending the wedding celebration in July.

“A lot of these women will be there at the wedding but none of them are allowed complain about the food. I missed the meal-tasting because of them and they'll have to be happy with whatever they get,” she laughed.