Eadestown, and Kildare's, Ruth Sargent keeping up family tradition

Centre half-back can't wait for Sunday's LGFA Senior Club final

Although still only 20 years of age, Eadestown and Kildare centre half back, Ruth Sargent, has put a huge amount into the few short years that she has been involved with her club, with Kildare and with her college, DCU.
Her mam, Barbara, was the first captain of the Kildare LGFA team, her father, Sean, played in goals for the county while brother, Jack, is a member of the current Kildare senior panel. Youngest brother, 16 year old Daniel “is just kind of beginning.” Cousin, Shane, is the goalkeeper with the Eadestown team who were very impressive in this year’s Kildare SFC.
“My mom has been my coach and she's been my buddy the whole way up. I wouldn't really know football without her and obviously my family are very competitive. I never saw them (mom and dad) play, just pictures. Dad is always one to give me advice before I go out the door, which is always good,” Ruth said as she prepared for training for the Leinster SFC Final against Kilmacud Crokes on Sunday next in Tullamore.
Ruth Sargent, would have tried a number of sports before concentrating fully on ladies football. “I used to be big into horse riding and swimming and Jack would have been as well. So, we would have tried a lot of sports and rugby as well but I just went back to football,” she explained.
Sargent has been part of the Eadestown team which claimed five-in-a-row Kildare titles last month and she was also on that victorious Kildare senior team which won Division 2 and 3 League titles, as well as Leinster and All Ireland IFC titles in the last two years.
Now in her third year in DCU, where she is studying Primary Teaching, Ruth Sargent was also part of the College team which has claimed the O’Connor Cup for the past two years.
“Hopefully again, after Christmas, I'll be back with them (DCU),” she says with a smile.
What’s different about the Eadestown team in 2024?
“I think we've set higher standards for ourselves and we've pushed really hard,” Ruth Sargent contends.
“Even the players that were playing league when some of the county players wouldn't have been there and then when we came back into the squad, you could really see all the hard work they put in.
“When I joined my first year, girls like, Sully, (Siobhan O’Sullivan), Gráinne (Ken-
neally), Grace (Clifford), all made me feel welcome. And then I suppose for the younger girls joining now I'm kind of like I need to make them feel welcome, they’ve fitted in really well,” she says.
The centre half back believes that it was a mixture of experience and determination which brought them through difficult away assignments in Dunshaughlin and Tinahely in advance of Sunday’s Final.
“I think it was a mixture. We definitely have more experienced players and then kind of fresh legs that come on. It's a bit of everything, really. I don't think the matches away fazed us, we just got stuck in, we wanted to win. It didn't matter where we were, we just wanted to get over the line.”
Facing the current Leinster champions in Kilmacud Crokes, who are going for three-in-a-row, doesn’t faze Ruth Sargent either.
“For me, anyway, I don't really look at the opposition too much. We like to focus on ourselves and what we can do.”
Is there unfinished business?
“Yeah, definitely. It's just really big for the team and it would be huge to get the win. Not only for the team but for the community and just all our little fans and the little young ones that come to the matches and want to get your signature after, they're always supporting.”