THIS TIME LAST year, girls and women’s football was non-existent in one rural part of Donegal.
As is the case in most other parts of the Irish countryside, Gaelic football was the dominant sport. And the focus was on The Lads. There was a soccer club locally, Dunfanaghy Youths, but it never housed a female section.
Until now.
Before Christmas, a training session was organised to gauge the interest in the small seaside villages of Dunfanaghy and Creeslough, and the surrounding areas. A trial run, of sorts. It had been on the cards for a while, but the timing was perfect between Ireland qualifying for the Women’s World Cup, the FAI pushing female coaches, and the rise of grassroots football.
Marie Duffy was one of three women to get involved for the first time. They hoped for a few dozen girls and a couple more sessions, but all expectations were surpassed. They could never have anticipated the interest levels.
“When we were at that first session and the cars kept coming, we were like, ‘Oh my God, I’m not quite sure what’s going on here,’” Creeslough native Duffy tells The 42.
Fast forward a couple of months and they now have over 60 underage players in regular attendance.
For reference, the population of Creeslough is 393. Dunfanaghy’s is around the same.
“To be honest, we’re overwhelmed. It’s just unbelievable. We can’t keep up with the number of girls turning up each week. I think the highest number we’ve had so far on a week’s training is 65 — over two training sessions, U12s and U16s.
“It’s just fantastic to be able to offer the local girls a club that’s in their community, with coaches and their friends and people that they know and that they don’t have to travel far for training. We just wanted to provide somewhere that they can come and have a bit of fun; it just happens to be through sport.
“We’re really fortunate that the club will be opening up a new football pitch this summer. Delighted that we have the opportunity to give the girls a chance to play on a brand new pitch and to give them the same opportunities that the lads have been getting for forever basically, in our area.”
After the number hit 65 in March, Duffy posted a tweet about the incredible growth.
We trialled a girls' only football training session in Creeslough before Christmas. We hoped there would be some interest. On Monday night over 2 training sessions, 65 girls aged between 5 and 15 turned up. This is week in week out. W're a tiny village! @HerSportDotIE @FAIWomen
— Marie Duffy mastodon.ie/@Donegalabu (@Donegalabu) March 14, 2023
It was liked hundreds of times and shared across the country and beyond. It was viewed by over 42,000 people, with Ireland manager Vera Pauw and FAI Head of Women’s Football Eileen Gleeson among those to reply.
Several members of the international team also interacted with the tweet, including Donegal’s own Amber Barrett, the Hero of Hampden whose goal secured World Cup qualification, just days after last year’s tragic explosion in Creeslough.
“I don’t think words really do it justice, how important something like that is, for what has happened in that town, in that village and the impact that everything has had on people there can never be undermined,” Barrett, who’s from the neighbouring town of Miford and has relatives in Creeslough, said shortly after seeing the tweet herself.
“To see such a growth of people coming together, and also the volunteers who came out and tried to organise this, to get the girls out to do something, playing together and enjoying it. I know from growing up there, soccer wouldn’t be a huge thing down that way, it would be mostly Gaelic football, the fact that you have nearly 70 young girls coming out a couple of nights a week, is just brilliant.
“I think we have to take a lot from that. I definitely think our success has been part of that development of football in Ireland and the encouragement of getting more girls out to play. I just hope it goes from strength to strength and I hope that we can see more villages and towns having the same impact as well.”
Sadly, unthinkable tragedy is the reason behind an everlasting connection between the Ireland women’s national team and Creeslough.
Eight months on, the devastation is still incomprehensible. As locals try to rebuild their lives, it’s difficult to be associated with — and known for — such an awful event.
But Barrett’s poignant tribute that night in Glasgow provided a flicker of light in a time of the most harrowing darkness, and for that and all she has done since, Duffy and the people of her hometown are forever grateful.
“When Amber dedicated that goal to Creeslough, especially when it was so close to the explosion and everything that had happened, it just meant so much. She was just so emotional and it was such an emotional time for women’s football, but it was emotional time for our town, our people and our villages, and even surrounding villages.
“Everyone was impacted by what happened. Just to have a local girl on the world stage, thinking about us during one of the highlights of her life, it was very touching. This is something that is forever associated with our town, but when someone talks about something like that sensitively and with such emotion and care, it makes such a difference.”
Now, Duffy and co. are doing just that through football. Fun is the number one focus, she stresses, with enjoyment and encouragement key. The teams aren’t playing any competitive games this year, focusing instead on building confidence and teamwork through friendlies.
While some now play both Gaelic and soccer, others had never been involved in sport before. It’s a new outlet, and so much more: from helping slow the alarming drop-off rate of teenage girls in sport to, perhaps even unknowingly, inspire them.
“Although many of our girls are aware the Women’s World Cup is coming up and they might have seen the video of Amber dedicating her goal to Creeslough, the number one reason why they’re coming week in week out is for a place to meet up with their friends,” Duffy, who played herself when she was younger but was forced to do so further afield, says.
“The Women’s World Cup just happens to be a very happy coincidence. But I definitely think that if the women hadn’t qualified for the World Cup, we wouldn’t have maybe got as much support grassroots from the FAI. So it all plays a part and it’s all connected.”
Today, 45 of the teams’ players will travel to Tolka Park to watch the Women’s Premier Division meeting of Shelbourne and Peamount United. Not only will they be there as fans, but they’ll be taking to the pitch themselves for half-time games.
Shels extended the invitation after seeing Duffy’s tweet in March, and preparations began almost immediately. The area is usually served by just one bus a day to Dublin, but there’ll be at least one more pointed towards the capital as players, parents, coaches and fans alike embark on an unforgettable journey.
Build it, and they will come 😀 @FAIWomen pic.twitter.com/Fr4dqdjhy1
— Marie Duffy mastodon.ie/@Donegalabu (@Donegalabu) March 28, 2023
“It’s huge,” Duffy beams, her passion for the game shining through with each word she utters.
“A lot of our girls would never have been at a match where they’ve had other females playing. They might have seen it on TV, they might have seen their peers play different games, but they would never seen a soccer match with professional female athletes.
“The fact that some of them will get the chance to play on the pitch at half time in front of a crowd, I can’t really describe what a big opportunity that is for the girls: from not having a club before Christmas and now having the chance to see athletes at the highest level in this country play, but also to have an opportunity to meet those athletes and to play alongside them at half time, that is just unbelievable. They’re so excited.
“Things like this don’t happen to a small club like ours. Even for a lot of these girls to get to a match in Dublin, that’s a big deal.”
One of the kids at the heart of it all is Duffy’s nine-year-old niece, a huge Arsenal and Katie McCabe fan. She perfectly encapsulates the growth and development of the game.
“She is convinced she’s gonna be a footballer when she’s older. Whereas once upon a time you would have said that’s a pipe dream,” her proud aunty and coach concludes, as she marvels at the improvements and growth of the game since her time.
“But when you’ve got people like Seamus Coleman, Amber Barrett, Ciara Grant and other really successful sportspeople from Donegal, you can’t tell young people anymore that’s not an option, because it is an option. And it’s only when they see those role models, they want to be those role models. All you can do is encourage them and just tell them, ‘If you work hard, if you play hard, anything’s possible.’”
