Meath footballer and garda Megan Thynne promotes Garda Recruitment Campaign at Ploughing Championships

Meath football star and recently graduated garda Megan Thynne was one of a number of Garda sporting stars at the National Ploughing Championships today to promote An Garda Siochana's latest recruitment drive.

The fresh recruitment drive was launched by the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration Jim O’Callaghan TD and An Garda Síochána Commissioner Justin Kelly at the National Ploughing Championships on Tuesday and some of the the organisation’s best sporting talent are at An Garda Siochana's stand to chat to attendees about why they think a career in An Garda Síochána is a job worth doing.

Megan, who holds two senior All-Ireland medals, is joined by four other garda sporting stars: Garda Ronan Maher who captained the Tipperary Senior Hurling team to All-Ireland victory in 2025, Garda Shaun Patton goalkeeper on the Donegal Senior Football team who were runners-up in the 2025 All-Ireland Final, Detective Garda Fiona Reidy who has 20 caps on the Irish International Women’s Rugby team, Garda Aaron Masterson, member of the Kildare Senior Football team which won the Tailteann Cup in 2025

In August, Megan graduated as a garda after nine months training in Templemore College and is now based at Kevin Street station in Dublin City Centre. She in encouraging anyone thinking about a career in An Garda Siochana to go for it saying it is a great career with great opportunities.

Speaking to the Meath Chronicle from the Ploughing Championships, Megan said: "It's brilliant. Initially, it's quite daunting, and I still have a lot to learn but I'm really enjoying it. Everyone has been really helpful. It is a really supportive organisation where everyone is all for you doing well in the job. I'm looking forward to what's ahead in my career in An Garda Siochana."

She said the organisation had been very supportive of her football career and she is lucky that they have been very good when it comes to going to training and games.

"My colleagues have been really supportive. They stressed a lot that exercise is very important for this job and for your health. We are going to be dealing with a lot. You could be on the street one minute dealing with something not so good and then a half an hour later you could be on a pitch running around so definitely it is something that gives you a bit of relief and something to take your mind off something that might have happened that day."

The Dunsany star says she has really enjoyed meeting people and chatting to them at the Garda stand was delighted to be invited down. "It's been really enjoyable. A lot of people have been coming over to the stand to chat. A lot of females have been coming over to me as a female garda to ask about the career and what it is like."

Megan was part of the Meath Ladies team that got to the All-Ireland Final where they lost out to Dublin. Reflecting on the year that was, Megan said they had got a lot of confidence this year and would hopefully progress on that next year.

"When you get to Croke Park and you lose, it is very disappointing and it is a hard to lose but at the same time if you had told me at the start of the year that we would be in an All-Ireland Final and be in the top two teams in the country, I would have taken your hand off. It was always a goal-were we in a position to get that far at the start of the year, probably not but we worked really hard during the year and progressed very quickly and it just shows that if you put it into it what you can get out of it."