'It's worth it to stick with it because it can be great fun also'

Ladies football is the fastest growing sport in Ireland. There is startling, irrefutable, unimpeachable evidence to show that.

In 2018 the Ladies Gaelic Football Association had 1,200 clubs with more than 188,000 members participating in the sport - a big jump on what it was 10 years previously.

In 2017 a record attendance of 46,286 showed up at Croke Park for the All-Ireland finals in the junior, intermediate and senior grades - a world record that year for a standalone female sporting event.

In Meath in 2018 there were 34 clubs and 4,674 members. Six years later, in 2023, that figure had jumped to 44 clubs and a projected membership of over 11,000 members - and that number is clearly increasing.

Among the teams that was set up in the Royal County between 2018 and 2023 was Castletown who are now three years on the road. An even more recent addition is Kilmainhamwood. There, a ladies team was only established towards the end of last year.

A few weeks ago they played Castletown in a game in what was the first ever meeting between the clubs in a competitive ladies football game. Kilmainhamwood won what was a league tie but, in the wider context, that hardly mattered. What mattered most was that both teams were now established. They were now up and running - and on their way.

As well as in other parts of the country, ladies football is finding a firm foothold in north Meath - the establishment of Castletown and Kilmainhamwood demonstrates that. They have role models to look to within that football-mad region including St Michael's who have been fielding teams in ladies football competitions for decades.

We look at how Castletown and Kilmainhamwood set about constructing their teams and why they embarked on an adventure that is full of pitfalls and challenges but rich rewards also.

THE CASTLETOWN STORY

If Castletown player Chloe Cassidy was giving advice to any group of female footballers looking to set up a team it would be to "stick with it." Endure. There will be plenty of reasons to pack it in, including some hefty, early defeats that appear to be an inevitable part of any team's early development but, as the old saying goes, perseverance brings success.

"When you are losing every game early on it's hard to go again but that's what you have to do. You just have to keep going because you'll get there eventually," she says. "It's worth it to stick with it because it can be great fun also. There's a great social side to it, we are very close socially. We go on team bonding trips that are great craic."

Chloe's football story is like many others. As a youngster she loved the game and played underage with Castletown. "I played on the boys teams but once I got to 12 or 13 I couldn't play alongside the boys anymore. I just stopped playing. There were a lot of girls like that, they just stopped."

She points out how some years ago Castletown and Rathkenny joined forces to form a girls underage team but that particular project petered out. "Again a lot of the girls just stopped playing after that," adds Chloe.

A core group stayed as friends. They knew there was enough players around to form an adult team. There were talks about talks. Moves were made and calls made. In time Castletown ladies team were formed. "Some of us hadn't played for years, others hadn't played at all, young players just starting out. It was about bonding them all together into a team."

The early defeats came but Castletown's brave footballers persisted. They might lose one week but they would be back the next; commitment and enthusiasm undimmed.

Chloe Cassidy says that while the club will provide some funds the ladies team have to raise money themselves. If the will is there that too can be overcome. Last year Castletown ladies held a musical bingo fundraiser that was aimed towards generating funds - and it proved to be a great laugh - and a success.

She thinks the expected integration of the LGFA into the GAA (proposed for 2027) will be a good thing. Positive, especially in relation to the availability of pitches. It will help in bringing more order to a somewhat haphazard fixtures plan. "The lads have their matches pre-booked as it were, they have a detailed schedule. We are just told we have to play by dates and it's up to the two teams to agree a date to play the match and that's not always easy."

Not everything is ideal in the world of ladies football - but there's a lot right with it too. A view that's certainly echoed by Chloe Cassidy.

THE KILMAINHAMWOOD STORY

During the second-half of 2023 concerted efforts were set in motion that led to the setting of the Kilmainhamwood ladies team. There had been some research - perhaps more anecdotal than scientific - carried out that suggested there was the interest and, more importantly the personnel, in the area for such an venture.

"We could see there were a lot of girls in the area that had stopped playing football so we felt the players were there," recalls John Keogan who was involved in setting up the team. "We were also inspired by other local sides such as Castletown. They had proved successful in starting up a team. They, like us, are a rural club so we said we would give it a go."

One of the chief driving forces behind the whole idea was Kilmainhamwood man Damien Cunningham who had coached ladies teams at St Michael's. He approached John Keogan, a former chairman of Kilmainhamwood GFC, about the idea and the two moved on from there. It was about taking one step...then another... and another. The fact that there was already a LGFA constituency in the Kilmainhamwood club was another big factor in helping things along.

The preparatory process involved sending out notifications to potential players in the area about the formation of a team. A lot depended on what the response would be to that particular call to arms. It turned out to be very good.

"We got encouraging numbers who attended training sessions in September and October last year. We certainly thought there was enough to push the project along and move it on from there."

The first competitive game for Kilmainhamwood resulted, again, perhaps inevitably, in a defeat but it still felt like a victory of sorts. "The biggest success for us was that we fielded a team. That opening fixture probably came at us quicker than we had expected so the fact that we got our team out, with new jerseys and everything, was in our eyes a success but we knew we had a lot of training and work to do, that the challenge was, in a sense, only starting for us."

In their next game Kilmainhamwood again lost, this time to Moynalvey, but in their third outing they faced the team that had proved to be something of role models - Castletown. This time the 'Wood prevailed. They won their first game. Claiming the All-Ireland could hardly have been sweeter.

Many turns in the road have yet to be negotiated to ensure the new team is firmly established - and there's issues in the wider game too that clearly need to be addressed.

John Keogan agrees with Chloe Cassidy that the fixtures situation needs to be streamlined. "In the men's game you are sent out a fixture and you turn up. In ladies football you are given three or four days to get a game done and there's a lot of toing and froing on WhatsApp groups in order to suit everyone," he adds.

"That can be good but the downside is that it allows for an awful of people to have an input into the decision too. There are pros and cons to that system."

It hasn't been easy to get the Kilmainhamwood ladies team to where they are now but at least they are on the way - and perhaps others in north Meath might be inspired by what Kilmainhamwood and Castletown have achieved.

John Keoghan suggest the formation of the two teams has a central message that can be applied to football - and life generally. "I read somewhere recently that if you are going to do something you'll never be fully ready to do it. At some stage you have to bite the bullet, just get on with it. There will be plenty of hurdles but if you have good people around you you'll get there."

Castletown and Kilmainhamwood have got there. Now the future beckons.