Amber Barrett, Niamh Fahey and many more of the Ireland squad come from a Gaelic football background
“I basically had to decide when Colin Bell became our international coach,” she says. “I was playing for Donegal under Michael Naughton at the time. Colin basically said to me, ‘You have a choice – do you want to play for Ireland or do you want to play for Donegal?’
Some played as kids, the way kids do. Denise O’Sullivan played football and camogie underage but neither of them sang to her in the key that soccer could. Abbie Larkin played for Clanna Gael Fontenoys in Ringsend. Louise Quinn stood in goals for the Blessington senior team at the age of 12 – she was tall even then. “But that put the fear in me,” she told The Star last year.
“I think I was just obsessed with soccer, in the end. I loved it. I could see myself going a lot further with soccer. I could go worldwide with it. Obviously with the Gah, it is an Irish sport that is lived and breathed in Ireland, which is absolutely amazing. But for me, what enticed me more towards soccer was the travelling, playing at a professional club, getting a professional wage, actually making a living and having that as your sole job.
Some of them still found a way, as they got older. Niamh Fahey’s first ever Irish Times Sportswoman of the Month Award came in 2005, when she scored two goals in Galway’s All-Ireland semi-final win over Dublin. She was only 17 at the time and combined her GAA gaiscí with scoring the winner for the Ireland under-19s in a Euro qualifier against Iceland.and is about to get its fitting capstone in Australia. But no more than Barrett, the game she grew up with is still coursing through her.
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