Adamstown’s much-travelled Mayo ace
Linking up with Wexford Youths a possibility for talented all-rounder Gilroy
THE DAY was Sunday, November 13, 2011, and it was time for new beginnings for women’s soccer in Ireland.
It was the opening afternoon of the inaugural Women’s National League season, the start of what would become a very special competition for sport in Wexford.
Youths, who would go on to win the league four times in the decade, making them the most successful club in the country, played their first game at Ferrycarrig Park against Castlebar Celtic. It finished in a 2-2 draw, with Fiona Bennett and Rianna Jarrett on the scoresheet for the hosts.
Two of the players who lined up for Castlebar that afternoon would go on to play for Wexford; both Ruth Fahy and Emma Hansberry won trophies in their time at Ferrycarrig Park, representing their adopted club with distinction.
However, the parallels didn’t end there. Heavily involved that day, and providing the assist for Emma Mullin’s second goal, was a young Mayo woman, Aileen Gilroy. Still a teenager, Gilroy had represented Mayo in ladies’ football at inter-county level by that stage.
She was also on the path to stardom on the soccer field, starting the 2010 European Under-17 championship final loss to Spain for her country, before being heavily involved in the subsequent World Cup campaign.
‘I suppose when I look back on it now I was naive to the whole lot,’ said the now Wexford-based Gilroy. ‘I was kind of like, “oh, it’s just another team, blah blah, I’m flying to this country and I’m flying to that country”. I wasn’t taking any heed.
‘But I suppose when I look back on it now, it’s absolutely amazing. Like, all the memories, getting to a World Cup, getting to a European final, getting to see places like that and sharing really good memories with really good friends.
‘Just looking at the girls and what they do now, like it’s amazing. I suppose all of that kind of came back to my club that I used to play with in Killala. Our age group was unbelievable, in secondary school we would have won three ‘A’ All-Irelands.
‘From a young age we would have found that love there so after that then it progressed to going to Gaynor Cup, representing Connacht, and it was on to playing for Ireland then like, amazing memories.
‘Noel King was an amazing manager, only for him I don’t think we would have got as far as we did, it was absolutely amazing. I still think of that European final that day against Spain and going to penalties and extra-time.
‘Then flying to Miami for our camp before going down to Trinidad and Tobago (for the World Cup), all those memories, they are the best memories of my childhood and I still have them. It’s so nice, it’s so, so nice.’
Of course, there were years with Castlebar after that, but for Gilroy a tough decision lay ahead. Being an elite under-age international soccer performer and being a future All Star Gaelic footballer do not go hand in hand.
‘When you ask younger me which did I love more, I was really torn in between [them], but when I look back on it now I was always a GAA person, that was my first love, no matter what I did it always came back to GAA.
‘I suppose Gaelic gets you set up for the hard tackles and
stuff like that so it was nothing. I was going in and doing the exact same thing, as in going in hard, going into tackles, I wouldn’t be the same player that I would have been if it wasn’t for Gaelic,’ she explained.
The opportunities for Aileen weren’t as plentiful in soccer back then as they are now. Naturally, coming from Mayo, there’s a big draw for any athletically gifted player who can kick ball, with an All-Ireland title the holy grail, regardless of personal preference.
Gilroy has come close with Mayo, losing the final in 2017, but has not managed to get that elusive crown. ‘I suppose the first real bad loss was against Dublin in 2016 where we lost [the semi-final] by the last kick of the game,’ she remembered.
‘That was just absolutely heartbreak. That’s what builds you up every single year. 2017 like we are getting back at it again and we really went at it because we knew what we want, and when you know that you really just want to achieve it. The losses make the wins more special and you just have to keep driving for that.’
However, the decade chasing that goal has given Gilroy far more than medals could. It has helped her grow as a person and to build friendships that will last the test of time and distance.
‘I’ve only ever won one Connacht title, the rest of them I’ve lost them all, let it be a point or four or five points against Galway. I suppose it’s memories made off the pitch, getting around the girls and training and stuff like that, just car journeys, is a highlight, it’s been good craic.’
While the team ended 2017 with a heartbreaking defeat, Gilroy had managed to play the entire season with a damaged ACL and picked up an All Star in the process. However,
the second full tear of her sporting career did come the following season.
‘It could be fine and next thing I’d turn funny and I could be out for the next two weeks, it could just swell up, it was just trying to balance that for the next two years. I suppose with 2016 getting so close to getting to the All-Ireland, I was like if it goes it goes next year.
‘Then in 2017, [we] got to the All-Ireland, was doing really well and then 2018 I was like, listen, give it another go, if it goes it goes. Then against Galway in the quarter-finals I took a turn and heard something again; when I heard that I knew it was gone.
‘[I] Went up to Santry, got it done, the second time was the hardest time because football was finished, I wasn’t around the girls, it’s a whole different story when you have to do it yourself. I probably wasn’t getting out of the house as much as I’d like to, just to get up around the girls,’ she recalled.
‘I suppose in 2018 then it was kind of decision time. I was with Peter (Finn) for two years before that and we were trying to do the whole long distance thing. Now was the perfect time to move down to Wexford, see if I like it.
‘I’m not playing football, I’ve no responsibilities really, I’ll just move down to Wexford and see how it goes. I suppose the move down here kind of helped me as well, I was getting a new job [in The Apex, New Ross], around new people making new friends, so that definitely did help moving down to Wexford.
‘We actually met up at the Mayo and Dublin All-Ireland in the men’s, so yeah, we just met on the night out. It was a replay that year so two weeks’ time we said we’d meet up again so just kind of met up, after that the rest is history.’
As well as being a star performer himself for Adamstown, Peter Finn has helped gift wrap his club one of the most talented athletes in the county. Her impact was critical in giving them a first county final appearance in 29 years this season.
While the campaign didn’t end as planned, for either Peter or Aileen, they will both be back to go again next season. For Aileen, things are going to be busy for a while yet, as she’s still on the road with Mayo and will play for them in the upcoming All-Ireland series against Tyrone and Armagh.
Gilroy and her team will again be aiming for that All-Ireland title, a slightly early Christmas present if it does come, and then she’s heading back down to Australia for her second season as a professional athlete in the AFL with North Melbourne.
She has found it challenging. ‘The ball itself, trying to kick with an oval ball, oh my
God I don’t know how long I was trying to kick it and I still couldn’t get the hang of it, it was just so weird. The ball drop and stuff was just so different.
‘The coaches used to spend extra time with me trying to get the hack of it all but no, it was definitely the kicking, then the tackling was a bit off as well. You know like,as in Gaelic you’re not allowed to do contact.
‘When you are thrown into something that you are allowed to do contact, you are nearly afraid to do it because you don’t know any other [way]. Apart from that it was grand, what they want to do is what
we do here in Gaelic. If it’s happening out down at the sideline, that you come back around and try go out the space the other side.
‘Its kind of nearly the same education they do over there that we do here, so I wasn’t totally blinded. Gaelic has definitely helped me understand what they want to do over there, so it was just kind of the kicking and tackling was the hardest part.
‘Overall then an amazing experi- ence, to be living like a professional is great, if you have an injury the physio is there and then. I didn’t get into contact...
I went over in mid-October last year and wasn’t allowed to get into contact until December because of my knee.
‘I was just thinking I’m after playing an All-Ireland semi-final at home in August, but when I went over there I couldn’t do any tackling because, non-contact be- cause of my knee, like the protocol over there if you do your second ACL is like a year and a half.
‘That’s probably the difference over
It’s an amazing experience, to be living like a professional is great... it’s a class environment to be around
there, everything is like very professional, if they see any weakness at all they will pull you out. Even wearing the GPS and your recovery and nutrition, the talks and the video analysis, everything like that, it’s a class environment to be around.’
The future is a little more fuzzy for Gilroy, but she said she’ll make the winter trip to Australia for as long as they will take her back, certainly for the foreseeable. However, the trips to Mayo are becoming more and more difficult, which could open the door for a huge opportunity here in Wexford.
‘At the minute county probably is really tough for me,’ she explained, ‘trying to balance work and then you are trying to get up there and you are missing training sessions during the week as well, so you are not around the girls all the time.
‘The driving alone is really, really tough, I don’t know how long I can keep it going, the body is definitely kind of feeling its toll, like making the journeys and stuff like that, so I probably do county, finish off this year and take it step by step.
‘If I feel like the body is not able to make the journeys and only maybe be able to give 70 per cent to Mayo because the driving is affecting me, and I know I can give one hundred per cent down here to Wexford Youths, absolutely it’s definitely something the door is open to.
‘I would love to go back into it [soccer], it would probably take me a good while to get the feel of it again but definitely, it’s definitely not something that I’m closing the door on, I think I’d love to get in again and get around the girls and see what it’s like to be playing at that high level with soccer again.
‘Definitely, it’s something that’s in the back of my mind, maybe in a year or two. Whatever the case may be, I would like to go back there. The hunger is still a little bit there, so you’ll have to wait and see.’
Just Kylie Murphy and Edel Kennedy remain for Wexford Youths from that first match-day squad in 2011, but with a little respectful recruiting, who knows, maybe a third present that day will line up in Ferrycarrig Park in 2021.