Dunboyne Mothers and Others ready to conquer New York
A group of 30 players from Dunboyne Gaelic for Mothers and Others (G4MO) along with their manager jetted off to New York yesterday (Thursday) to take part in the Festival of Football.
The Dunboyne club is one of 35 Irish-based clubs who were selected to take part in the G4MO stateside blitz and are the only team from Meath participating this year.
The club applied for the Festival of Football earlier this year not thinking there was a chance of getting in and they couldn't believe it when they got a notification three weeks later to say that they had been chosen.
The group of 30 players along with their manager Sean Murphy flew out from Dublin on Thursday for a four night trip which centres around Saturday's Festival of Football where they will play against teams from both sides of the Atlantic.
Yesterday evening there was an opening celebration to welcome the teams to the city and today they will do a 5k run/walk and a HIIT class in Central Park.
All day tomorrow (Saturday) will be taken up with games among the 35 Irish teams and five teams from New York. Overall, there will be about 700 players involved and another 200-300 supporters are expected.
Deirdre McNicholas, one of the players travelling spoke of their excitment ahead of the trip. She said: "The work on and off the pitch over the last few months has been incredible and we are so excited to head off to New York on Thursday and represent our club and county. We truly believe that when women unite we are unstoppable and we can't wait to join all the other clubs from around Ireland and New York to celebrate the festival of football. We are proud to be an example to women and girls that if you believe it you can achieve it."
The players are covering the cost of their trip themselves but have been working hard fundraising over the last few months for all the associated hidden extras and are very grateful to all the businesses and sponsors who have supported them.
They would like to thank all their sponsors with special mention to Knightsbrook Hotel Spa & Golf Resort, Elite Woodworking Machinery Ireland, Walls Construction, The Joyce Public House and Carolan Coaches.