GAILLIMH ABÚ

by Tom Kenny

It was inevitable in a county which was a stronghold of hurling that women would eventually want to play the game like their male counterparts. The game of camogie has been played in Galway since the early 1900’s. Experimental rules for the female game were drawn up in 1903 and the first public match took place that year, and so the game of camogie was officially launched.

It grew very quickly in popularity. When the Galway County Camogie Board was set up in the 1920’s it accelerated the expansion of the game even more here. In 1928, Galway participated in the Tailteann Games.  The first ever All-Ireland Camogie final for the O’Duffy Cup took place in the Sportsground in 1932 between Galway and Dublin in very wet and windy conditions. Dublin must have been very trusting as the referee was a Galway T.D., Stephen Jordan. He must have been partial because Dublin won by a score of 3-2 to 0-2. This was the only All-Ireland final ever to have been played outside Dublin, about one thousand spectators attended the game.

U.C.G. were one of the strong clubs early on and they won one of the first Inter-Varsity competitions for the Ashbourne Cup, a feat they have repeated some fourteen times since.

Galway competed in many finals at a national level without success until Presentation College, Oranmore won the All Ireland Colleges title in 1972, the first time the trophy crossed the Shannon. Later that year, the Galway junior team became the first Connacht team to win an All-Ireland title. They were coached by the outstanding hurler Jimmy Duggan and captained by Nono McHugh. Five years later, the Galway minor team captured the title for the first time.

Finally, in 1996, the senior team did us proud by defeating Cork by 4-8 to 1-15 and gave the game a terrific boost in the County. Galway now has 34 clubs and competes at every level, schools, club and county. Since Oranmore won the title in 1973, Athenry 1977; Mullagh 1991; Pearses 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001 2002: Killimor, 2010; and Sarsfields 2019, have all been victorious in the Club Championship.

On Sunday, 25 years after winning their first title against Cork, Galway travel to Croke Park to face the same opponents again in the All-Ireland final so to honour the current panel, to honour those who have previously won medals and especially to honour those Galway women and girls who have never won trophies, we have for you today the team that represented the county in the All-Ireland Final of 1933, when unfortunately, they were defeated by Dublin again.

They are, back row, left to right; Tommy Flanagan , Nora Conroy, Annie Ellwood, Madge Tonery, Sabina Belton, M. Ellwood, Nora O'Connell, Michael Kennedy.

In front are Monica Duggan, Helga Conboy, B. Kilkelly, Bridie Murray, Nellie Ellwood, Jo Melvin and Nora Kavanagh.

Gaillimh Abú!