THE CROKE PARK childhood memories are etched in Emma Cleary’s mind.
Her family, steeped in Gaelic games, would make the pilgrimage every September to support her aunt, Nollaig, and the Cork ladies footballers.
Her grandparents brought all the cousins, their faces painted half red and half white, flags flying high, Cork cowboy hats or whatever the latest merchandise of choice was topping off the outfit.
“Such good memories,” Cleary says, a smile breaking across her face as she looks out onto the hallowed turf.
“Coming up here and watching Nollaig play in All-Irelands was unreal.
“I just remember all the homecomings the next night in Cork, sure we’d be following her around the place. We were obsessed with her and I’d say she was like, ‘Get away from me so I can enjoy my night!’
“It was just so cool having an aunt out on the pitch winning All-Irelands.”
Now, the roles have reversed. Nollaig is the spectator, having retired in 2015 with nine All-Irelands and three All-Stars, while Emma is pursuing her childhood dream among the Cork forwards.
“It’s a bit weird now even when I’d get a ‘good luck’ text from her before games,” she tells The 42.
“She’s always there for advice and she’s always chatting to us about it and stuff. It was just so important for us having her as a role model growing up.
“I was lucky to have a female sportsperson so close, in the family and also seeing the Cork ladies win All-Irelands. I know that mightn’t be the case for every young girl.”
Her father is Cork senior men’s football manager John, and the cousins are now scattered across the various different Rebel set-ups.
Damien Cahalane was the first to grace Croke Park himself; Cleary recalls watching him playing in the All-Ireland minor football final.
He is now a mainstay with the hurlers, along with Conor; Jack is with the footballers; and Maeve, Orla and Grainne are on the camogie panel.
The Maguires, 2023 All-Star nominee Rory and Cathal, are also with John Cleary’s footballers, while Emma’s boyfriend is Cork hurler Luke Meade.
“We’re all kind of steeped in it,” the 23-year-old, who works for PwC and is doing her chartered accountant exams this summer, says.
“There’s no getting away from it, but it’s great, looking forward to the matches. There’s always someone out every weekend, whether it’s the hurlers or the footballers or the camogie or the ladies football. We all back each other.”
Growing up in the Cleary household in Ballincollig, Gaelic football was always the main draw for Emma and her older sister, Laura. There was also camogie, soccer, Irish dancing and gymnastics, but football superseded all else.
Their involvement in Cork underage panels rubber-stamped as much. Both siblings won All-Ireland minor titles, with John as manager, while he also coached them through the ranks at Éire Óg, and Emma at college level with UCC.
“I’d probably be a bit more vocal than my sister, I wouldn’t be afraid to bite back at him!
“Ah no, he was great. He’s never too hard on us or anything, he always just wants us to enjoy it. He’s really positive, he’s great in that way.
“90% of what we talk about at home is football.”
Their mother, Helga, had no background in the game until the Kildare native married into the famed Cleary family of Castlehaven.
“It’s nice having that balance as well. We could be after the worst game ever and she’ll still tell us we’re amazing.
“She’d be a bit like me, though, she’d get fierce nervous. I’m fine for my own matches, but I get very nervous for Dad’s matches. She’d be the same, but I’d say she hasn’t a clue what’s going on half the time but she’ll support us no matter what.”
The clashes are frequent — the weekend before we chat, Emma played her part in a big Munster championship win over Waterford after league relegation, while John’s side fell to Kerry — but that’s all part and parcel of it.
“It’s tough going to be fair, especially for my poor mother trying to follow it! She doesn’t even know how to work Twitter and trying to follow the lads’ game during my match. But that’s the nature of it.
“When we’re involved, there’s gonna be these clashes along the way. It’s kind of the norm now.”
So too is the noise. For better or for worse.
Cleary admits her father being an inter-county manager brings its own challenges at times, and she has to block out talk and online discourse.
“You definitely do. During the league there with us as well, I had to get rid of Twitter off my phone. The men’s game has always gotten good media coverage, the ladies game is getting more and more, and maybe a few tough articles comes with that as well.
“It is tough, but when you’re involved with a group, you just block it out.”
Shane Ronayne’s young side have responded relatively well to the disappointment of relegation from Division 1.
After that Munster victory over Waterford, which stopped a losing streak of six consecutive games, they fell just short to back-to-back All-Ireland finalists Kerry.
On Saturday, they go head-to-head with Tipperary for a spot in the provincial final.
The All-Ireland series is “wide open” thereafter, Cleary agrees.
“I was kind of forgetting how it felt to actually win a match there for a while,” she concludes.
“At the end of the day, this is the business end of the season. Championship is really all that matters. Obviously the league was tough at the time, but if it means that this is the time we’re peaking, then that’s not a bad thing either.
“There’s no point dwelling on the league. It’s done. We need to keep positive and keep driving on.”
