The remarkable story of Nicky Dunne
A true Wicklow warrior on and off the football field
‘I am going to give you a bit of a laugh here, now,’ Nicky Dunne says with a chuckle, reflecting on her cancer diagnosis from 2017. ‘I was due to play in a semi-final against Newtown the day I went to get a biopsy. After I got the biopsy, I asked the consultant if I could go and play the match. She said: ‘are you serious, Nicola? No, you can’t.’ I went down to the game and the girls expected me to be togged out. I went into the dressing room and told them what was going on.
‘The first thing that I felt when I was diagnosed – I cannot explain it, it is kind of a blur, but I knew the kind of person that I am, that I wasn’t going to let it beat me.’
The kind of person and athlete that Nicky Dunne is could be best represented by her attitude in the aftermath of learning that she had developed stage-three breast cancer in 2017: the sense of humour to recall the experience in a light-hearted way; the dedication and competitive nature to yearn to take part in a semi-final after her diagnostic procedure, and the defiance to stubbornly refuse to lose in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
It is a bit of a shame that there is not much information publicly available about Nicky’s life and on-field career. Spawning from the early 1990s to this very day, she is one of most impressive characters in Wicklow sport, and one whose story of ups and downs and overcoming turmoil with an insatiable enthusiasm is so poignant. From captaining her county to an under-16 national title in 1993, to becoming the county’s first – and so far, only – starting female All-Star, in 1996, to overcoming the odds by beating cancer and returning to the sport she loves; Nicky’s is a story that deserves to have been told long before now.
Sport played an integral role in Nicky’s upbringing. The Wicklow Town-native’s father – Peter - was a St. Pat’s devotee, while Gail Dunne – her uncle – has been a central figure within that same club for decades. On the flip side, her mother – Marie - was from Rathnew, and Trevor and Mark Doyle – who are cousins of hers – both enjoyed storied careers with the Village club; Trevor famously captained Rathnew to a Leinster senior club football championship title in 2001.
‘The rivalry there is unbelievable, especially when the two teams got into a final,’ Nicky told the Wicklow People. ‘There would be two different flags hanging out of the window and you wouldn’t want to go into the house if there was a final between the two. It is definitely in the blood.’
Given her deep-seated familial links with sport, it should come as no surprise that Nicky, herself, became personally entrenched. She won senior camogie county titles with Avondale, as well as playing soccer for Wicklow Town AFC. It was in Gaelic football that she reached her apex. After joining up with St. Pat’s in the early 1990s, she made the move to An Tochar in 1994, when she was 16, after the Wicklow team with which she played disbanded. Once there, she was part of the great Roundwood team that won six consecutive county titles between ’94 and ’99, while also reaching two provincial finals in ’94 and ’95, both in which they came up short.
She also enjoyed great success at county level, including winning an under-14 All-Ireland medal over Mayo and - more significantly - captaining the 1993 Wicklow team to the under-16 All-Ireland football championship title.
‘The big win was the under-16 All-Ireland that we won. We played Kerry in Tipperary and Geraldine O’Shea was on the Kerry team, at the time. That was an amazing win, playing on a team that had players from all over the county.
‘I remember, when the final whistle blew, I went up to lift the cup. I remember being so emotional that, when I got the cup, I dropped it onto the ground and ran off crying. It is a funny moment to look back on; being so emotional and speechless that, instead of being able to give a speech to thank people, I put the cup down and run into the crowd.’
As is the case for any sportsperson, with every jubilant success came disappointment. While she was part of the Wicklow teams that won under-14 and under-16 All-Ireland titles, Nicky found herself on the receiving end of penalty shoot-out heartbreak against Timahoe in the under-14 All-Ireland 7s final for Roundwood. An Tochar won those six consecutive county championships, but were unable to push onto the next step of the provincial podium due to defeats to Rochfortbridge and Shelmaliers in the Leinster championship in 1994 and 1995, respectively.
Spurred on by the victories that populate commemorative scrapbooks that her mother, Marie, has religiously kept over the years, Nicky was able to learn from those failures and use them as motivation to continue to challenge for silverware alongside her teammates.
‘You always have that hunger to want to improve as a player, but I believe that you are only as good as the players around you. They are the ones who give the pinpoint pass. It definitely made me want to win more and progress into the senior level of the game.
‘Back then, that was all that you had; you loved football, you played it every single day. Nowadays, society is different. There are so many things that distract young people. When you were at that age, you had no computer games, no phones distracting you. You lived for going training twice a week and games at the weekend.
‘That was what made us such a good team. We all wanted to gel as a team and win championships in abundance.
‘My mum would have kept scrapbooks and pickings of all the things over the years, and looking back on it and everything that the county achieved – and An Tochar
– it is crazy.’
Those early days with Roundwood were admittedly tough for Nicky. She went from playing for a club that was a stone’s throw away, to having to travel further afield to meet up with her new club. That was where Anne Gaskin, a teammate of Nicky’s, stepped in. She is credited by Dunne as having been one of the people that helped her acclimate to her new surroundings, arranging for transport from Wicklow to Roundwood, as well as acting as a close confidante throughout their shared time at the club.
‘It was nerve-wrecking, I suppose because it is a totally new club, new people. I was nervous going into the dressing room, but the girls were amazing in Round
I knew the kind of person that I am, I knew I wasn’t going to let it beat me
wood. They were very friendly and made me feel comfortable and welcome, and it was really an amazing place to play football.
‘Obviously, being so young, from Wicklow, and travelling to Roundwood was quite difficult. (Anne Gaskin) used to have a friend who she would get to come and drop me outside of Roundwood. Anne used to bring me to her parents’ house. She did that for years. Her family home became like a second home for me because I was up there so much.’
After a brief, nervy start to her new club career. Nicky quickly blossomed and discovered her potential as a star, in quite the literal sense. In 1996, after helping Wicklow reach the National Football League play-offs at the tender age of 18, as well as winning yet another county title with An Tochar, she was named as right half-forward on that year’s All-Star XV, by the LGFA. Her fellow Garden native, Áine McGillycuddy, was named as a sub, while Geraldine O’Shea – who was part of the Kerry team that Wicklow beat in the under-16 final in 1993 – was named at centre-forward.
As was tradition, the All-Star XV met that year’s reigning-All-Ireland senior champions. On this occasion, it was Monaghan, who also had five representatives on the team themselves, which naturally presented its own logistical hurdles.
Through not anticipating the nomination, as well as some seemingly sketchy lines of communication, she did not find out until one night, at soccer training, she was informed by then-manager Tony ‘Butch’ Doran about her inclusion. It was only then that her parents got into touch with her to confirm it all. Almost as if she was making up for the speech that her emotions did not allow her to give back in 1993, Nicky painstakingly credits the likes of Gaskin, McGillycuddy, her parents, and others for her winning of an All-Star on which she concedes she has never really reflected.
‘It was very surreal, at the time,’ she says, acknowledging it all for what seems to be the first time. ‘Women’s football was in a really good place.
‘We had amazing teams across the county: Dunlavin, Coolkenno, Bray, Wicklow. There were so many teams that had formed. It was pushed by the likes of Margaret Allen, Paraic Corbet, Anne Gaskin, Bernie Byrne, Lucy Molloy. A lot of people wanted to, you know, bring attention and develop the game for ladies football in Wicklow.
‘I have to mention Áine McGillycuddy, as well; she was on the panel for the All-Star, as well. I don’t know why they chose me. When you are playing for county, that is where players get noticed. When you are travelling around the country, that is when they notice you.
‘I never thought that I would be at that level. You never believe that you are good enough to play at that level, I suppose. You just go out and play football with your teammates. To walk out on that pitch in Clones, at right half-forward, was one of the best experiences of my time playing football, I have to say.
‘I never really looked back. When you contacted me, my mum pulled out scrapbooks and everything. Looking back on everything that my teammates and I achieved is unbelievable. I don’t think that it will ever be done again. I hope that it will and that, in the modern game, we can win the All-Ireland and Leinster championships, like they did in 2011. That would be great.’
Nicky continued to play football for years afterwards. In 2007, she was part of the An Tochar team to win a Wicklow Junior county title.
Meanwhile, her personal life evolved over subsequent years. In 2016, she gave birth to her second daughter: Harper. The following year, she would embark on the fight of her life.
Her sister, who was living in Wales, discovered that she had a mutated BRCA2 gene, which increased chances of developing breast cancer. Once learning of this, Nicky, who wasn’t experiencing symptoms at the time and was living a very active lifestyle, went to the doctor for an inspection. That inspection led to a biopsy. The results of that procedure concluded that she had stage-three breast cancer.
In the face of such crushing news and looking into a journey that would be do-or-die in a very real sense, Nicky remained defiant and never once even considered conceding defeat to this new enemy. She was driven by the knowledge that there was a light at the end of the tunnel and a legacy she wanted to maintain.
‘The consultants told me that it was rare for a person to get that type of cancer and get an all-clear, which is what I got. I looked at life and realised that that was what I wanted to do: let my daughter watch me play on a pitch in a final.
‘When I was diagnosed, she was only 10 months old, so I had a reason to get out of bed in the morning. I had to look after her. Plus, I had a ball in my hand some days. When I had energy and feeling well, I would go out into the garden and kick the ball around.’
At the end of four months of chemotherapy and a further extended period of rehabilitation, she was thankfully given that blessed all-clear by doctors and, as if her story was prewritten, made her triumphant return to An Tochar in time for the club’s division three league final win on July 3, 2019 against Newtown – the same side who, two years prior, An Tochar were to play when Nicky first received her prognosis.
Not only did Roundwood come out on top on the day and not only did Nicky slot two scores off the substitutes bench for good measure, but the very objective she worked towards throughout her treatment while she was sick – to have her daughter there and watching the occasion unfold - came true, as well, which ranked that day right up there with the many, many past accomplishments of hers.
‘I looked at life and realised that that was what I wanted to do: let my daughter watch me play on a pitch in a final. I got to do that and it was a very special moment and a very emotional moment. It was emotional for the players, as well, because they knew what I had gone through.’
‘When I went through everything, I put my head down and fought to stay alive for myself and my kids. I knew that I would get through it and the first thing I would do was get back out onto the pitch, get back training, and let my daughter watch me in a final, and I did that.’
Having captained her county to an under-16 All-Ireland title in 1993, become Wicklow’s first – and so far only – starting female All-Star, been part of the great An Tochar team that won six consecutive county titles up to 1999, and took on cancer, won, and returned to win a league medal, the now-42year-old would have been forgiven if she had steered into the fairytale element of her story by calling time on her on-field exploits following the Newtown game last summer.
Instead, she is not resting on her laurels and is looking forward to taking to the field once Ireland’s coronavirus lockdown measures are lifted in their entirety. Her parting message is that she hopes that other women can look at her own health struggles and take from them a significant message.
‘I think that it is important for women to be aware of the possibility that it can happen to anybody, you know, and it is important to make women aware that they have to look after themselves. You don’t need to have symptoms; you can still have it.’
I looked at life and realised that that was what I wanted to do: let my daughter watch me play in a final