A FATHER/SON combination in sport is seldom, and notable, but when it comes to a mother and not one, but two daughters, the occasion is surely celebratory if not reason for entry in sporting records. It has happened in Myshall, Co. Carlow where long-time camogie veteran Nuala Quirke scooped her 27th county senior medal this year and in the company of daughters Niamh (18) and Ciara (15).

Not only was the family involvement of unusual note, but Nuala was (along with team colleague Sheila Ryan) setting what probably ranks as a national record, not only in camogie but in any other code for that matter.

And not be left out in the cold, hubby and building contractor father, former county hurler, Tom can chip in with medals of his own – five in senior hurling, all in the 80s, and the only senior double in Co. Carlow, that in '86 when the Naomh Eoin teams were trained by brother Paddy; Tom recalling with some pride defeating Eire Og in Kildavin en route to the football accolade.

However, the limelight presently is firmly on the Quirke females, and there's no reason to deny mum another handful of medals given her continuing zest for the game.

Both she and Sheila Ryan have backboned Myshall for a generation, and Sheila's daughter Amy was a reserve in the final; Myshall's tenth in succession, so little doubt that those family names will be at the heart of the game in Myshall, and the county, for many, many years to come.

The two mums won the first of their 27 championship in 1976, each missing out on only one, Sheila in '84 due to childbirth and Nuala three seasons later when in the US, but common to both ladies they played through family rearing when many others used it as reason to bow out.

The vitality of the two, and several others who have amassed an amazing number of medals, is the key to Myshall success; their only stumble when losing to Naomh Brid in the '99 and '00 finals, but then that club leaning on excellent players like Mary Smyth, Kathleen Brennan, Marie Sheehan, Valerie Crean et al to knock the aristocrats off their perch. 'We had very close battles with them for years,' she remembers. 'But there is a spirit and a determination in Myshall, and when it comes down to it we always have a leader on the field, and we never argue on the field where Olivia O'Neill has been a great leader; whatever she says we did, no matter who's on the pitch, even if a few of us would be older than her.'

Nuala felt Myshall lost the ' 99 and ' 00 deciders because: ' We lost a few players those years due to injuries and other reasons,' dismissing suggestions that Myshall had diminished the zeal of other clubs to challenge the black and gold. 'No, many of the final have been very, very close and we only a number of them in replays,' acknowledging the increase in the standard of the game over the last decade.

Myshall were nigh untouchable in the early years of the club. 'We has such a great group of players together at that time that just so strong no-one in Carlow could keep with us at all,' winning five Leinster Club titles as if to prove that point. 'We were the best junior team in Leinster then - we beat Avoca, Camross and several other prominent teams, winning also in '95 and '98, and possibly '97, I'm not too sure of that.

'We were lucky we held onto our good players where other clubs may have a lot a few of their better ones.'

Yet, despite Myshall's prominence over the last ten years club players only won the GAA award for the code twice – Olivia Maye and Ciara Mullins, something which irks many around Myshall.

Credit for more than a quarter of a century of camogie excellence falls, in Nuala's opinion, to Ger Foley, a founder of the club, 'at a time when there was very little else to do, he and Eamon Quirke formed the team. The club went on to represent Carlow in inter-county competition, defeating Kildare, Wicklow and Offaly, winning the South Leinster tournament and reaching the '81 National League final; Tyrone teamers staying in Myshall player's homes the day prior to the final.

Niamh and Ciara are the new faces of Myshall camogie, even if the older sister has already collected three successive senior medals, and recognised for her stick prowess when selected on the Leinster college team which won the inter-provincial championship last year (in company with Emma Brennan of Pres-DLS). She was also on the Borris Vocational School team which won the all-Ireland junior B title defeating Gort last year, while Ciara (who scored the vital goal in the senior final) has won Leinster 1st and 2nd year championships and provincial minor and junior B medals also.

The Quirkes have, and are setting standards in camogie but then the sisters were literally born into the sport. 'We were reared 'on the pitch,' adds Niamh. 'We went to every training session and spent our weekends going to matches,' with one of the most supportive of fans relative Paddy Quirke himself.

And the girls are quick also to acknowledge the influence of Borris staffer Orla Bunbery from Kildare (niece of Mary Smyth) who has coaxed the best out of VS teams in her three years in Co. Carlow, and who guided the school to provincial junior A and senior B finals recently.

Nuala reckons the game in the game in Carlow has grown in standard and depth with the improvement in Naomh Brid and Rangers while St. Mullins and Ballinkillen and now Ballon-Rathoe juveniles increasing the competition annually.

Sheila Ryan, Nuala and Mary Nolan would have amassed the lion's share of Myshall's medals; Mary missing a number with a serious knee injury for a number of years. Add Joanne Lawlor, Oliver O'Neill and Patricia Stacey and it would be difficult to find any six with such a range of medals in any sport.

Nuala concedes Myshall won at will in their early years, but not recently where the advance of the juveniles in clubs like Rangers has put a lot more pressure on Myshall to maintain their supremacy in the county. 'We've been lucky enough to have won ten years in a row for clubs in Carlow have become very strong, and last year we've won the Leinster under 14 B championship for the first time in about 20 years and I was involved with the 16s who won the B for two years in a row - there's a very good juvenile structure at the moment which began a few years ago with an under 13 development squad and now that group has developed and is very strong,' adding that Carlow are the next strongest county in the province after the three 'A' counties, Kilkenny, Wexford and Dublin. 'We're hoping to keep those girls together and blend a number of them into the seniors.'

If Carlow can keep their 14s and 16s together Nuala is convinced they will challenge the 'A' strata shortly. 'There are definitely players in Carlow who could win a junior all-Ireland,' she contends, 'but at the minute the best senior players in Carlow are not playing for the county (where did we hear that before?) yet every one of the best 14s last year played for Carlow, and we made sure the best of the 16s for the last two years played for Carlow, and the same thing can happen at senior level if they all play - no doubt about it, we can win the Leinster Club and All-Ireland championship if they do.'

Myshall have been trained by the inimitable Denis 'Rackard' Coady for the last three years, and as Nuala says 'has been like a father to us - don't know if he'll do it this year because he's involved with Kilkenny and Graiguenamanagh intermediates, so we don't know what'll happen yet.'

Either way Myshall is still the team to beat in Carlow, and with 'soldiers' like Nuala in harness it will be very difficult to fashion a new order.