International Women's Day

Feature: The Women of London GAA

To celebrate this year's International Women's Day, we have compiled profiles of the four women who contribute to the county committee here in London.

Colleen (centre) at the Irish Embassy with then GAA President Aogán Ó Fearghail and LGFA President Marie Hickey

Name: Colleen Lynott

Club: St Clarets GAA /Tir Chonaill Gaels LGFA

Home Town: Galway

Role (County): Coaching Officer GAA, Development Officer LGFA

How long have you been involved for? Moved to London in 1993 and started playing for Garryowen and London Ladies

How did you get involved? Meeting Brendie Brian (say no more!)

What does your role entail? Working with the Coaching & Games team who include the Youth Chair, Joel McInern and our CDA, Gavin Watchorn to supply coaching to the clubs and create fun & safe games, blitzes and tours for our underage here in London.

What was your relationship with the GAA before joining London? Not a lot of people know this but I am actually London-born into a GAA family, where my dad played for John Mitchells in East London. I spent my first five years of life in New Eltham most Sundays running around and watching GAA with my three brothers at the time. We moved to Renvyle in Connemara where all my family played GAA at some point.

Proudest GAA moment: This is a difficult question as I’ve had many proud GAA moments in my life. Some of these include watching my dad play his last game with my brothers, watching my husband Gerry in his career, and watching my children Holly and Shane both make the London Feile teams and doing so well in Ireland. I was also lucky enough to play for my county, Galway, before I left for London and I eventually retired from my playing days in 2016 at the World Games in Dublin playing for Fr. Murphys.

But the moment I am going to pick was a special moment, not just for me, but for 72 others and their families as well. 

Two years ago, we had 72 girls play in a development evening here in McGovern Park wearing the green and white of London. We made 4 teams; 2 U14 and 2 U18, there was no club top in sight, just the London jersey worn by all. They played for 2 hours and were watched by family and friends, as well as the North London Feile boys who had recently won the D.3 Cup in Ireland. It was the largest amount of London players in London tops ever seen in McGovern Park. It was a very special and emotional evening for everyone.

Advice to young women looking to get involved: If you’re reading this then you’re probably already involved! Being the backbone of your club, doing all the jobs no one sees, the jobs that need to be done to make sure the games commence.

Name: Sinead Griffin (Nee Twomey)

Club: Parnells GFC

Hometown: London

Role (county): Childrens Officer London

How long have you been involved with London (club and county)? Involved with Parnell's for over 14 years and London for approximately 9 years

How did you get involved with London GAA? My husband has been actively involved with the GAA in London for a number of years and kindly volunteered my services for the role of Children's officer when it became available

What does your role entail? The key role of the County Children’s Officer is to ensure that all London based clubs are fully compliant in ensuring that the safety and welfare of all young players is at the forefront of their coaching practices. This involves implementing the DBS process, safeguarding courses and certified training courses.

What are the biggest challenges / rewards? There is a lot of paperwork involved which can be time consuming especially at the start of the season. However, when you see our young players competing at event such as Feile it is all worthwhile. There is a great sense of pride at these events and when you see young people who generally play against each other competing for their county together you know that they are really reaping the rewards of all of the volunteers involved.

What was your relationship with GAA prior to joining London? I was fortunate enough to have been raised very much within the GAA community in London. My father played for St Gabriels hurling club and was also part of the London hurling team that beat Galway in 1973 so my earlies childhood memories largely feature the grounds in Ruislip and New Eltham. My brother also hurled for St Gabriels as well as playing football for the Kingdom and it is through the Kingdom that I met my husband, Tony.

Proudest GAA moment? Watching 2 of my 3 sons taking part in the exhibition games in Croke Park as well as watching all 3 of them represent London at various stages. My youngest son was also fortunate to be part of the Division 3 team that won Feile in 2019 and that is a moment that we will never forget.

Any advice to young women looking to get involved? My father always says that in joining the GAA in London when he came over was his saving grace, it introduced him to people that became friends for life, and I would have to agree that it is a great community to be part of.

Over the years that I have been involved I have been fortunate to meet so many people who will go above and beyond to help each other regardless of what clubs they are affiliated to and I would urge any young women who are new to London or are looking to meet new people to get involved.

Name: Marie Dillon

Club: Tir Chonaill Gaels

Hometown: Glenamaddy, Co. Galway

County role: Health & Wellbeing Committee Chair

How long have you been involved with London? Seven years, and this is my first year as Health and Wellbeing Officer.

How did you get involved with the GAA? Providing nutrition and health coaching to the London team under Paul Coggins management

What does your role entail? Working with the other officers and members to facilitate health and wellbeing training for all clubs including mental health first aid, defib & resus, gambling awareness and haemochromatosis awareness.

What was your relationship to the GAA prior to joining London? Organising club dinner-dances at the Claddagh Ring when I worked there!

Proudest GAA moment: Has to be winning the Glenamaddy u-12 county final!!

Advice to young women looking to get involved: The pandemic has shown us how important a sense of community is for our wellbeing and the vital role that the GAA plays in keeping us all connected, it was a lifeline for so many people in 2020. So whether or not you want to get involved as a player or volunteer or as a supporter, I'd encourage people to get involved with their local GAA club as a way to meet people and stay connected.

Name: Fiona O'Brien

Club: Brothers Pearse

Home Town: London

Role (County): PRO

Role (Club): Secretary

How long have you been involved for? This is my fourth year as London PRO, and I've been on the Pearses committee since 2016. 

How did you get involved? I started covering London club games for the Irish World when I was studying sports journalism, and upon completing the course Paddy Cowan offered me a full-time role there. When I started going out to games, Ruislip and Tir Chonaill Gaels became a home away from home, as there were so many faces I knew from growing up in Willesden, and everyone made me feel so welcome. I particularly remember a conversation with Tommy Harrell at half-time of my first treble header at the old Ruislip making me feel really at ease. I went on to become Sports Editor, and once I left the publication the PRO spot was open with the departure of the brilliant Declan Flanagan so I went forward to keep involved. The Pearses were the natural club for me, the manager at the time was PJ Kennedy who got me involved straight away and when I learnt that many of my pals from Willesden had worn the green and gold there was no other choice really!

What does your role entail? As simple as promoting our activity as much as possible, so liaising with new outlets when they need information, or access to Wi-Fi, desks, powerpoints on big matchdays. Managing the website and social media feeds. Helping with any literature that is required for special events. Helping to assist with sponsors' promotional requests. Producing matchday programmes and general ad hoc PR duties. As well as being that annoying voice on the tannoy at Ruislip! 

What was your relationship with the GAA before joining London? Even though I am London-born, I was never involved with a club here at underage. My mum is from Cloyne in East Cork, so summer holidays were naturally spent watching my uncles play or pucking around against the barn which cemented my love of hurling, as well as my grandmother Jane Lawton's fierce passion for the sport and, most importantly, the social aspect that goes with it! I played every sport going in school, but it wasn't until my sister, ten years younger, was going that Gaelic Games were introduced. So apart from long summers of travelling to games and coming back to watch the All-Ireland finals in Tony's Bar, I didn't get involved until my mid-20s.  

Proudest GAA moment: Hopefully the best is yet to come! The Pearses' All-Britain win in 2017 was a big year for the club, but it seemed as if everything started to start to click in 2020 after some tough times. We lost Declan Sexton to illness, and the pandemic put a halt on our centenary celebrations, but although bittersweet there was just a feeling that we were starting to move in the right direction and all the new arrivals to the club really bought into it. Winning the championship SF was a huge moment for us all, players, management and supporters so hopefully there are good times ahead for us as a club. 

Advice to young women looking to get involved: If you feel you can offer help in anyway, no matter how small please give your local club a shout. To echo Sinead, Colleen and Marie, the GAA is as much about community as the games and support is always welcomed, and you will make lifelong friendships... unless you try you'll never know just how much of an affect it will have on you.

----------------

Special mention also to our club secretaries Irene Sheridan (Parnells), Gina Holohan (Granuaile), Siobhan Reilly (Gael Londain), Kathleen Shortall (Round Towers) and Siobhan Talbot (Fr Murphys). Sheila Fernandes does more than most to voluntarily promote our games with her eye-catching action shots of games here, an avid Robert Emmetts supporter and massively involved with the continued success of Tara Camogie club. Similarly, Lucia Butler (Fr Murphys) who served as Youth PRO for many years and captured endless underage tournaments for the Irish World before going on to currently chair London LGFA. And St Brendans' Dee Malone, outgoing Health and Wellbeing officer in 2020, who had a significant contribution in raising awareness of player issues and resources as well as consistently helping out at Ruislip, the Sean Gael and helping with the scoreboard on match days.