BY MICHAEL O’LEARY
Dunnamaggin Ladies Football Club was formed in 2015 and over the last eight years, The Club has gone from strength to strength thanks to the tireless work of the many wonderful volunteers and parents involved that now has teams competing at every age group right up to adult level.
The Club was formed on the back of the Dunnamaggin National Schools Team winning the Girls Primary Schools Roinn D Final in 2014, and from that moment on interest in forming a Ladies Football Club increased.
A committee was put in place, and in 2015 Dunnamaggin Ladies Football Club held their first training session with membership quickly taking off.
They acheived Silverware in their first year by winning The U-12 Roinn D County Final, and a lot of those girls would subsequently go on to win further County Finals as they progressed through the age ranks.
Dunnamaggin Ladies Football Club thrives on a wonderful community spirit, and a central feature to the success within the club has been The Gaelic 4 Mothers and Others that has brought huge numbers participating in a fun, social and non-competitive environment.
The increasing amount of numbers particularly at Juvenile led to teams competing at every age group at underage, and their progession was rewarded especially during the dark days of COVID in 2020.
They won a clean sweep of underage titles at Juvenile Level at U-12, U-14, U-16 and Minor which was an amazing acheivement for a club that at the time was only 5 years old.
The U-12s won The Roinn C Final, The U-14 Roinn A Final was claimed against Kilkenny City, while Roinn B County Title Final wins were won at U-16 against John Lockes Callan and at Minor against Railyard.
Further success came their way last year in 2022 as they defeated John Lockes Callan 7-6 to 2-8 in The U-16 Roinn A Final, with the same group of girls adding to their Roinn A title two years earlier in 2020.
Also last year, Dunnamaggin won The U-14 Roinn B Final against Tullogher, while further silverware was won with success with The U-15 Feile Team.
They won The U-15 County Shield Feile Final to progress to The John West Regional Finals where they won The Division 2 Plate in which a number of those girls featured in those two County Final wins.
They also have a Team competing at Adult Level now with several of the girls having come through the underage ranks.
As mentioned, a major part in the success is the wonderful trojan work done by the huge amount of volunteers and parents who help greatly with their time and effort.
One of those volunteers who deserves a special mention is Elena Byrne who has been deservedly rewarded for her wonderful efforts at National Level.
Elena was named LGFA PRO of The Year for 2021 at The National Volunteers Award Evening in Croke Park, while earlier this year she was the recipient of The GAA Presidents Award for her Voluntary work in Ladies Football with both Club and County.
Dunnamaggin Ladies Football Club has thrived and continues to thrive since emerging 8 years ago with over 200 members involved, and with the wonderful enthusiasm shown both on and off The playing field, they can soar onto even greater heights.
