Longwood women set for day out in Croke Park
Longwood Gaelic for Mothers and Others have said "dreams really do come true" after they were chosen as one of the six G4MO teams to play in mini-games at the LGFA All-Ireland Ladies Final in Croke Park on 4th August.
None of the Longwood G4MO played football before joining up and to have the chance to play on the hallowed turf of Croke Park is something they never could have imagined in their wildest dreams.
Coach Nuala Brangan explained that to enter they had to submit a video and share it across their socials. The theme was celebrating 50 years of LFGA so with Nuala due to turn 50 a few days after the final, they had the idea to base their entry around her celebrating her birthday along with the LGFA.
To the music of Cyndi Lauper's 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun', Nuala put together a video with old photos and articles about the history of the LGFA and wrote how she was celebrating her 50th on their 50th.
"LGFA help me celebrate my 50th birthday in the best way possible with my G4MO friends playing at Croke Park" the clip says as well as: "Get Longwood G4MO to Croke Park to celebrate both birthdays."
And it must have worked because the Longwood team were among just six G4MO teams chosen for the mini games. Six under-12 teams will also be part of the exhibition.
Longwood G4MO was set up about two and a half years ago by Rachel Howard, who coaches the team along with Nuala. Nuala played for the first year but after a bad injury was confined to the sidelines. She didn't want to give it up, knowing how hard it would be to get back into it if she stopped going and instead did a coaching course and started coaching to give Rachel a hand.
Nuala said that it is "purely a social outlet" for them and all about having fun.
They have regular matches and attend blitzes and hosted their first blitz last summer, which was a great success and are looking forward to hosting another on 14th September.
They have about 28-30 people registered altogether and an average of about 10 at their training sessions which take place twice a week. Nuala told how they had all made new friends who they never would have met if it wasn't for G4MO.
"There are women there that would have never known each other. Their kids were different ages and they didn’t meet through school or the usual ways of meeting people and they’ve all made friends that they would never have made otherwise.
"We don't have ex-players. None of us ever played football before other than maybe a bit in primary school. It’s all about fun.
The other five G4MOteams chosen are Wolfe Tones (Armagh), Beart (Donegal), Mungret St Pauls (Limerick), Aodh Ruadh (Tyrone) and Allen Gaels (Leitrim).
Ten players will make it on to the pitch and when asked how they will decide who gets to play, Nuala said it will be based purely on attendance and those that come week in, week out.
A bus is already booked and there are 60 people travelling from Longwood to Croke Park for the occasion.
"It’ll be a great day, an absolutely fabulous day regardless of being on the pitch or not," said Nuala.