Ladies Gaelic

You’ll find our local Gfc club is only 3km from Johnstown Village and our area is within the Parish of Walterstown. The Gfc club has a great setup and is well supported within our community. Only 5 minutes away by car you’ll find fantastic facilities, pitches and a very warm welcome.

Photo: Fergal McCarthy of Drone Services Ireland

G4M Team

Catering to all age groups such as U10’s Girls, U16’s Boys and so on there are all the usual and understandable descriptions for teams but this particular one caught my eye and I was confused.

"Mothers N Others"

They have a Membership Group on Facebook with over 30 members and we tracked down some of the players and asked Caroline, Sharon and Laura to tell us more.

Who are Mothers N Others?

"It’s a genuine category and part of the Ladies Gaelic Football Association. It’s meant for Ladies who are over 18, it’s non-competitive and open to ladies who have not played competitive football for 3yrs."

"It’s a fun game, we don’t keep scores, it’s good exercise and a great craic mixing and socialising."

Who are the 'Others' ?

"You don't have to be a 'Mother' to join us. I guess most of us are parents and we’re always here watching our kids play so that’s how most of us know each other. 'Others' are very welcome."

How did you form this new group?

"Alan Brown coaches U16’s Girls and he’s been suggesting for quite a while that we parents get together to play ourselves. In January we decided that there was enough of us interested so we decided to give it a go. Alan’s very good and as a former Meath Player and All Ireland Medal winner he’s well able to manage a group of enthusiastic ‘Mums N Others’."

Do you need to have played before?

"No experience is needed and actually Laura is Lithuanian so she didn’t know anything about the sport before we roped her into coming along."

"Only 2 members have ever played competitive football, a few remember playing as children and the rest of us are beginners. Everyone goes at their own pace, or even slower if you can get away with it."

What ages are the members?

"Our youngest is in her 20’s and the eldest in her 50’s so we’ve energy with loads of enthusiasm to make up for no longer fitting into the U’s categories."

When do you meet for training?

"U14’s coach Kieran Kelly has also joined us to train at Tuesday evenings 8-9pm and Sunday mornings 10-11:30am to cater to those with different schedules."

"We consistently have the largest turnout of the entire club at for our training sessions averaging 24 on any one day so you’ll meet lots of us."

How many form the team?

"We’ve 32 members and we field between 13 to 15 players depending on the pitch size. It’s fairly flexible since their non-competitive games."

Do you have a line-up of games?

"Now we’re organising friendly local games and hope to have one a month. In June we’ll enter the Regional Leinster Blitz and then in October is the All Ireland where there’ll be around 1,500 ladies playing ….. and socializing too!"

How can Ladies Join?

"New members are always welcome and the season typically runs January to November."

What’s it cost to join in?

"We’re looking for sponsors and until then we have weekly subs of €5 which goes into our team fund.

Ladies Gaelic Association membership is €12

Insurance is €22

And players need to supply gum shields, boots and wear basic kit (shorts optional)

Martin Curran at the Tara Service Station Texaco garage on the Dublin Rd has sponsored a full set of training tops but we need to get a complete kit sorted out if any reader can help."

You recently came in late to Salina’s Musical Bingo?

"We had our very 1st friendly game at Dunshaughlin (Wed 14th March) and despite their team’s 5yrs more experience we gave them a hammering. They hosted the cheese and wine afters buffet and we were home in time to make it back to Salina’s Snowball game."