O'Mahonys' Mothers and Others' daring descent into Croker

The comfort zone. Not many people like stepping outside it but a group of women from Navan took a deep breath, summed up the necessary courage and did just that recently. 

They abseiled down from high up in the Croke Park stands, descending to the side of the pitch - and all for the cause of charity.
"I think some people had thought it was a little over the top but it was something we wanted to do," explained Eunice Murtagh who was typical of the intrepid group of women in that she had never abseiled before - but that wasn't going to stop her stepping up to the plate and going for it.
"It was something different, completely new to us all but we were all looking forward to it, the ticking of a box." 
Eunice - the wife of former Meath footballer and current selector Finian Murtagh - was joined by Aoife Brady, Edel Gallagher, Denise Jackson, Roisin Carolan, Kathleen Callan and Linda Rogers on the adventure. All are Navan-based women, all determined to do what they could for the cause. 
That cause was to raise funds for Plan International, a humanitarian organisation that seeks to improve the lives of children and young women throughout the world. 
Recently, the intrepid group of women gathered outside Navan O'Mahonys' clubhouse in Brews Hill before setting out for Croker with little more than their optimism and courage to sustain them. The choice of O'Mahonys as their meeting point was not a random one. 
All the women involved in the project are part of the O'Mahonys Mothers and Others Gaelic football group. Each Tuesday evening they gather in Brews Hill to play a game with up to 40 women showing up some evenings. When Eunice, who works as a special needs assistant 

 at Duleek Boys School, heard about the abseiling venture she made it known to the Mothers and Others.She and six others answered the call.  
"We wanted to do it partly because it was just after Women's International Day," explained Eunice.  For some of us abseiling from the sixth or seventh floor in Croke Park, or anything like that, would have been difficult if we didn't have the football, to help with our fitness," she said before adding that the age spectrum of her group ranged from "the early 20s to 50 plus."
While there were plenty of laughs as they gathered there was a touch of nervousness too - and who could blame them. They were doing something they had never done before; they were stepping outside their comfort zone. 
In doing just that could have been viewed as disciples of the writer Paulo Coelho. "If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine, it's lethal," is a line attributed to him. 
They would also, no doubt, agree with whoever came up with the saying: "A ship in a harbour is safe but that's not what ships are for." This was stepping out of the safe zone big time.
The women started to make their descent at around noon, with Eunice going first. It turned out to be a daunting yet memorable, empowering, uplifting experience that re-inforced the the views of those who feel that comfort is the enemy of achievement.
"We had to go up to the seventh floor, we had a safety briefing, we were brought out onto the skylon walk, we had to go down from there," Eunice after it was over. "It was fantastic even thought it was a raining and we were nervous. We had a great day and the seven of us had a bottle of champagne with us to celebrate afterwards."
Each of the Navan women who took part sought to generate at least €300 through sponsorship. Funds raised will go towards grappling with some of the injustices and difficulties children and young women have to overcome in many parts of the world. 
The stats, as pointed out in the Plan International website, are startling. Each day, some 19,000 children in the world die from malnutrition while 780 million suffer from the lack of clean drinking water.
Closer to home, Eunice is also involved in grappling with other issues that can undermine the lives of people. Two years ago she was appointed the first Health and Well-being officer with Navan O'Mahonys. The creation of such roles is all part of a drive by the GAA to deal with issues such as gambling, stress, alcoholism, drug-taking; problems that affect many in the Association. Every GAA club has been encouraged to appoint such an official. 

As part of her training for the role she recently attended a course in St John of God Hospital, Dublin which helped her become what is called a "mental health first aider." The course was aimed at showing qualified first-aiders how to deal with a scenario where-by someone who is struggling mentally can be talked out of it ; what words to use to soothe troubled minds. "It's about pointing people in the right direction," is how Eunice puts it.
"Every club should have a Health and Well-being officer by now. It's a major issue in communities. You have to have somebody who is there for others; somebody they can go to and say 'I'm not okay today.' 
“There is so much depression out there, suicide, gambling, drinking. People have to be helped in dealing with them. People have to be pointed in the direction where they can access help and guidance." 
Last Saturday Eunice and her intrepid colleagues from O'Mahonys went where they hadn't gone before. They willingly fell from high up in Croke Park - and all for the sake of helping others.
Stepping out of the comfort zone. Never easy but usually well worthwhile.