Started as an activity for ‘Mothers and Others’ aged over 25 to try out Gaelic football, The Meela Moos of Kilnameela ladies football club in Ahiohill, has since morphed into an impressive initiative. Matthew Hurley meets Rosaleen O’Brien, one of the mothers behind the team that met on the school run and now has 35 women signed up for the season.
Started as an activity for ‘Mothers and Others’ aged over 25 to try out Gaelic football, The Meela Moos of Kilnameela ladies football club in Ahiohill, has since morphed into an impressive initiative. Matthew Hurley meets Rosaleen O’Brien, one of the mothers behind the team that met on the school run and now has 35 women signed up for the season.
Started in August 2021, the Meela Moos are coached by Dwane Twomey, whose wife Diane came up with the name. It is non-competitive, a huge pull factor for any woman in the age bracket to try football for the first time.
“My own club had started one and I started coaching Kilnameela ladies football club when my own daughter started. I was talking to a few ladies one night about it and they went ‘yeah right’. We got in Dwane Twomey as coach, who’s fantastic. It’s gone from strength to strength from there to be honest,” O’Brien explains.
She is now PRO for Kilnameela ladies football and is delighted with the progress of this project, which ties in a lot of clubs in West Cork. The group even got a day out in Croke Park on LGFA All Ireland final day back in August.
“We have a catchment area, there’s girls coming from obviously Ahiohill and a gang coming from Enniskeane, Balineen, Ballinascarthy. It’s fantastic, we played at Croke Park last year at half time after winning a social media campaign. It started off as a joke. Getting to Croke Park was a fierce lift.”
The national media have even taken the time to give them coverage beyond their wildest dreams.
“Pascal Sheehy came down and did a piece on us and we were on the RTE News before the women’s All Ireland. When he came down, there was a great buzz around the place. There were kids, husbands, partners, grandparents, you name it,” O’Brien recalls.
There were six sides from Gaelic Mothers and Others across the country for the All Ireland final, as well as six U12 teams, giving great exposure to local clubs; the Meela Moos weren’t the only ones represented from West Cork.
“Clonakilty were one of the U12 sides there, which was lovely because some of the Ballinascarthy camogie girls would have been part of that team.
“I’m 41 this year and I played up to U16 and then dropped out, as so many girls do, but I was back playing football at 39 and I got to play in Croke Park. What an unbelievable experience,” O’Brien says.
Croke Park wasn’t the only stadium that the group played in. They also ran out in Pairc Ui Chaoimh in March at half time of an Allianz National Football League fixture between Cork and Derry.
“There was only 10 allowed to be picked to play in Croke Park so we did a raffle and whoever wanted to play put their name into the hat. I wanted to give everyone the experience of playing in a stadium but then a load of us got to play in Pairc Ui Chaoimh, which was great.”
The group are going stateside to play in Gaelic Park, New York on Sunday, November 12, which will be some experience for all involved. Despite the coverage this gets however, O’Brien still sees the social aspect as being important.
“Most people are new to football or haven’t played since Sciath na Scoil, a few would have played junior. The social media pages put it out there but the main thing we are trying to do anyway is to promote women’s sport and to encourage other teams to try it,” she explains.
“It’s such a community thing and all the kids are playing at the back of the goals too. It’s very good for our children to be able to see us. The chances of my boys playing longer is probably much higher than my girl, so we have to show our daughters that we can still play football in our 40s.”
Everyone involved enjoys the sport, seeing it as a sort of escapism from work or other commitments.
“The fun is what drives me there every week. I love football too though and the fact I was out of football for so long, when I was coaching, it made me realise that I missed it.
“Covid was awful for everybody’s mental health. There was a woman that was 50 who kicked her first football; she was on the sideline helping out for years and never would have imagined playing herself. This initiative has given so many women across the country a bit of purpose to their week. The football is still going on but this is to show you can have fun too. We’re getting fit, it’s fantastic on so many levels,” O’Brien says.
The group has great fun while promoting it too. “Women give up sport for so many reasons. You have junior teams across the country struggling for numbers. This is to keep women in sport whether you are a mom or a person constantly working, you can spare one hour of your day to have a bit of a laugh and forget the stress,” she says.
“It’s like a therapy session for women. If the ball drops 10 times, each time you go and pick it up again. It also brings you back to your childhood.”
The Meela Moos are here to stay and hope to keep doing what they’re doing to promote women’s football.
“You come and go as you please and there’s no pressure to go to training. It is the social side that pulls everyone in, the friends you make. At the start, some may not have known each other, but now we support one another. We’re all friends now which is brilliant. It’s lovely just to tune out for an hour during the week and we hope to stay around for another while hopefully,” O’Brien concludes.
