The women of Teemore Shamrocks’ Ladies Gaelic for Mothers and Others (G4MO) team are getting ready for what they’ve described as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” after they were selected to represent Fermanagh at next month’s Festival of Football in New York.
The festival takes place on Saturday, 12 October, with 700 players from 35 Irish clubs and five New York-based clubs coming together at the Rockland GAA complex for a full day of football.
It’s fun and games with lots of emphasis on fun!
On Friday, there’s a tour and a 5K run or walk in Central Park planned and after the G4MO Blitz on Saturday, there’s a party for everyone in Manhatton. On Sunday, there’s an opportunity for everyone to meet up again before flying home on Monday.
Teemore player Carole Breen, who has been involved in organising the self-funded trip with the help of contributions from Crust & Crumb, McNally-Mac Gloves, Mannok, Encirc and McCorry Agri, is excited about the prospect of heading across the Atlantic;
“We’re super excited, there are 18 of us going in total. It’s an amazing opportunity, we’re the only team in Fermanagh to go,” said Carole.
“We feel so jammy because we hadn’t been set up that long. We didn’t even have a set of jerseys between us and then we just submitted to New York because we’d seen other teams going years ago but never really passed any remarks and then applied for it and couldn’t believe our luck that we got in.”
Near neighbours, the St Mary’s Club from Swanlinbar have also been selected to go and will represent Cavan at the event.
Teemore set up their G4MO team last summer and while the club never had a ladies football team, they were a very proud camogie club before it folded over 25 years ago.
Carole was a former camog and to get the opportunity to play for the Shamrocks again is something she is relishing;
“To be able to put on a Teemore Shamrocks jersey, to me means absolutely everything. I’ve the kids in Shamrocks’ jerseys and I’ve never ever been able to wear one because it wasn’t an option and now I have my own.”
And the feel-good factor that G4MO has brought to the club and the entire community is immeasurable;
“Women who don’t have kids have an opportunity to come in and get involved in the community because stuff is so based via the school or kids, it actually gives them a great opportunity to be involved without having any kiddies, so that’s a really good mix for us as well.
“It’s non-competitive, the football is for fun – you might never have kicked a football in your life, you do not have to come with any skills or any commitment. You come and go as you please and the club is there for somewhere to go for women for an hour and have a bit of craic and we’re so lucky it’s working really really well.”
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