THE ADDITION OF Cora Staunton to the backroom team of the Mayo club Ballina Stephenites is a significant appointment in Gaelic Football.
Staunton is one of the most decorated players in the sport. Ballina Stephenites are the men’s county champions in Mayo. And in their quest to strengthen their forces for the upcoming season, they have recruited a four-time All-Ireland winner and 11-time All-Star.
Staunton, who worked as a performance coach with the Galway camogie team last year, will join Niall Heffernan’s backroom team as a coach, bringing all her knowledge from her years playing for Carnacon and Mayo along with her. She also has six seasons worth of playing time in the AFLW which she can inform her perspective.
But while this is a celebrated appointment, it remains rare for women to get roles with men’s teams. Former Dublin Ladies goalkeeper Clíodhna O’Connor is another high-profile exception. The All-Ireland winner has worked with the Cuala hurlers, the Dublin hurlers and the Dublin Ladies throughout a coaching career that is still expanding.
There are plenty of candidates who could make a difference to a team’s development but their insight and input continues to go unused.
Former Kilkenny camogie manager Ann Downey has walked a similar road to O’Connor and Staunton. After collecting 12 All-Ireland medals as a player, she managed her county to an All-Ireland camogie title in 2016, a first in 22 years. And in 2020, she was named as the new manager for the Ballyragget hurlers.
“It wasn’t alien to me because I had been with John Locke’s Callan hurling team in 2005-2006,” she says. “I gave a hand there for two years when they were intermediate and were facing relegation. In 2007 and 2011, I had Ballyragget minors and U21s. So, I suppose I had most of those guys who won an U21 championship when I went back to Ballyragget [in 2020].
“The coaching is the same skillet [as camogie]. You have to be able to strike, be able to lift, be able to catch, hook and block. I got great respect from both Callan and Ballyragget. The guys were eager to learn. It wasn’t a case of they were listening to a woman and weren’t interested. I had a positive experience with the minors and U21s as well. I can’t say I had a negative.”
Downey highlights the importance of women volunteering to coach at underage level in order to increase the number of female coaches at adult level. Working with male players as they grow strengthens the alliance and removes any sense of surprise when a female manager is appointed as they progress through the older grades.
“There are more female coaches at lower level, which is good because the boys get to see a woman involved and it’s not a culture shock to them when they get to senior and the next thing, a woman comes in.
“I would say there are more female coaches at underage level that we don’t know about. But on the bigger scale it seems, the bigger appointments like Cora and myself with Ballyragget, there’s not too many that we hear about.”
Downey didn’t encounter many differences between the male and female teams that came under tutelage. Her biggest challenge was navigating the change in commitment levels when switching from inter-county to club teams. The club player with the more demanding job has less hours to give compared to the county player who knows that absence from training is unthinkable.
“When I went to Ballyragget, a good few of the lads were farmers and it’s hard to get everyone to train. But with regard to the training itself, they were always eager to learn, as were the women. I would hope they would say they were treated with respect. We gave everyone the opportunity to do the same training.”
Downey knows that Ballina Stephenites will be getting a quality mentor in Staunton, but she wants to see more cases emerge as time goes on. The former Kilkenny boss was always confident in her own ability when tasked with managing a team and trusted the people she assembled in her backroom team for every appointment. She often attended the Kilkenny hurling training sessions as well to enhance her coaching knowledge.
“There’s plenty of scope for women to be involved and look for the help,” Downey says.
“There’s lots of great people that I could name off the top of my head that would bring something to a hurling team. One person who jumps out is [Former Cork camogie player] Fiona O’Driscoll. She’s gone back with Cork camogie which is really strengthen that [team] but I trained under her a long time ago, and even then she was ahead of her time.
“I think there’s a change on. There’s not as many men putting up their hands to give the commitment that it takes for any club. There’s a coaching pathway for anyone now who wants to get involved. I’m certain that there are plenty of great women out there that would be brilliant coaches and managers.”
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