Galway were rewarded for being brave in their famous victory over Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter-finals, Róisin Leonard believes.
A week after the county's men shook up the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship by knocking out Dublin, the women's team caused another upset when they defeated Dublin after extra-time in a thrilling game at Parnell Park.
Crucial to their win was Leonard, who scored 2-3 from corner forward.
"It is very hard to explain what it was like at the final whistle, it was like a blur. You watch the game back, you analyse Dublin's performance and your own performance, and you are absolutely delighted.
"A lot of people were shocked. I don't think the players involved or our management would use the word shocked, because we fully believed we could do it.
"We have played Dublin a lot in league games over the years. Their style and our style would be really similar and really open. We would nearly struggle against teams that are a little bit more defensive. Dublin are probably the bravest team in the country, they will go 1v1 if they have to.
"We just said if we can expose that and get some rewards from it, we will be able to match them."
While Dublin have shown how ruthless they can be this season, it didn't intimidate the Tribeswomen, who were determined to play their style of football, which won them a Connacht championship.
In a game where Galway refused to be beaten, Leonard says she took inspiration from the Cork hurlers in how they put it up to Limerick.
"It is like the Cork hurlers. They went after Limerick, not many teams are brave enough to do that.
"I would rather lose the game trying to take them down than sitting back and hoping they don't beat us.
"Our management were brave enough to go for it, and we were brave enough to give it our best effort, and we came out on top. That is our reward for being brave."
Having been part of the 2019 team defeated in the All-Ireland Final by Dublin, Leonard wants to get back to the decider with her county.
While stressing that the squad aren't getting ahead of themselves, Leonard recalls Galway's winning season in 2004, which remains the county's only All-Ireland Senior Ladies Football title to date, which they are clearly out to add to.
"For the younger girls, it probably feels like an eternity ago. They wouldn't have known the girls, they would not have seen it, they wouldn't remember it.
"But for anyone that was old enough to remember it, we are dreaming about it since it happened.
"Our U14 girls won the All-Ireland, and if they could see the likes of our team going all the way, it would definitely inspire them to keep playing.
"It is our dream and their dream, so hopefully some day it will come through."
Galway face Cork in the TG4 All-Ireland Senior Final at O'Connor Park on Saturday, with throw-in at 5pm.
