Young Gaels footballers are flourishing

IT'S JUST gone 8pm on a Friday night in mid-September at the Glasgow Hutchesons’ Aloysians’ (GHA) rugby club just south of Glasgow. We’re standing by a neatly fenced 3G training pitch ringed by tall floodlights fending off the encroaching darkness looming beyond the trees at one end of the field. The summer months are coming to a close, but here the youth Gaelic football training is in full swing.

If you had a drone’s-eye view, you’d see two-thirds of the pitch marked out into several training zones for ages ranging from eight to 15 years old, with kids wearing an assortment of jerseys including the counties of Cork and Donegal, Dublin and Kerry, along with a few soccer jerseys too. And a good number of the kids are wearing the freshly minted training kit of their club, Glasgow Gaels GFC.

A father looks out at the scene, and sounding almost incredulous he remarks: “Sure a year ago, there was hardly half-a-dozen souls out there.” He watches intently as groups of under-11, under-13, and under 15 kids are busy practicing their skills under the watchful gaze of their coaches.

The under-13s and under-15s have amalgamated to practice plays for the upcoming inaugural Under-15 Scottish Championship Final. There is a seriousness about their movement, water-breaks are used gratefully, and the squad listens closely to the instructions delivered by their coach, Gareth Doonan.

Mistakes are quickly pointed out, moves repeated until they are perfected, before the players move on to do some longer distance shooting practice. Every point is acclaimed by the coach as if it were the winning point in an All-Ireland Final.

On the adjoining area, there is a lighter mood among the under-11 boys with coaches Paul Maher, Danny Doherty and Martin McGinley split across sub-groups of varying abilities and experience, and they focus closely on each child, aiming to bring them all up to the same speed.

The last coned-off area seems to have been reserved for the loudest of laughter. Here the under-12 girls get energetic encouragement from their coaches Hilary Young, Pauline Murphy and Alice Bigley, who mix practical skill routines with fun activities designed to enhance the abilities of everyone.

Like their players, these three coaches come with a diverse range of experience in Gaelic football. While they have no playing history, Pauline and Alice seem key to the set-up, keeping the mood upbeat, motivating their young charges, and ensuring concentration levels remain high. The energy within the group almost crackles under the bright lights, but the overall focus remains learning through enjoyment.

Scottish-born Hilary has a long playing career to look back on, with a 2006 Scottish Championship medal in her pocket—in a team managed by her then boyfriend, now husband, Paul Maher—being an early highlight. The pair moved shortly afterwards to London where they were instrumental in setting up Holloway Ladies’ GFC, before returning north to Glasgow.

Beginnings

One week later, with the Gaels having won their big Under-15 Final in an entertaining contest against Dunedin Connollys of Edinburgh, The Irish Voice sat down in the GHA clubhouse with Conor Murphy, another of the coaches, to discuss the progress made by Glasgow Gaels over the last eight months or so.

“Gareth and I were talking there about how things were back in January. Paul Maher had been keeping the training here alive for a few years with very little support. But then he got in contact and said that he was ready to call a halt. Numbers were dropping and so was his motivation. Paul has been in the game a long time in many different roles, so if he was thinking of pulling down the shutters, we knew it was serious.

“So, along with Danny—from Downings in Donegal—we decided to get back into coaching and see what we could do to help him keep this going and maybe expand it a bit. Along with our own kids and some other children who’d more or less given up the game, we started training and recruiting new players.

“I used to coach kids’ soccer, and all our own children are in various soccer teams, so it was natural that our recruitment of new players initially focussed on those teams and clubs. Right beside GHA is Muirend, a large park where dozens of football games are played on Saturday mornings.

“To recruit new players, you have to make yourself into an extrovert, whatever your real nature. So, I’d be finding myself pitch-side at kids’ soccer matches there on a Saturday, and when I’d hear a coach call out an Irish name, I’d identify the parent and sidle up to them and start talking about Glasgow Gaels and what we were doing on the rugby club right next to where we were standing.”

“People are generally curious once they realise you’re a bona fide coach, but sometimes...” Conor breaks off laughing. “I was watching a game and heard this mother shouting ‘Well played, Seanie’ in an Irish accent to her own son, so I took that as a cue and made my way over and started chatting to her about maybe getting her young fella into Gaelic. I noticed the soccer coach was giving me a long look, and I asked the woman about him.” ‘Ah sure, that’s my husband. He’s just wondering who you are.’”

Conor shakes his head at the memory, but continues: “We’ve gotten a few players that way. It’s just sort of worked. And with Irish-born parents, there’s little explaining needed. It’s different with other backgrounds. You have to explain it a bit more. A dad asked me once if Gaelic football’ was simply soccer, except the players talk Gaelic to each other, but that man’s son is with us now and he is loving his new sport.

“So, it’s a learning curve. You get to meet people in new ways. I stopped a couple with two children on Fenwick Road, the high street in Giffnock, because the dad was wearing an Irish rugby shirt. We chatted about Gaelic football and his oldest boy will be joining us next year. So, you talk to parents. Some send their kids, some don’t. But it’s actually good fun, once you get out of your own mental bubble.”

Building

Gareth Doonan maybe doesn’t look old enough, but he has nearly three decades of experience playing and coaching Gaelic football in Scotland. I talked to him about his first year coaching youth football at the Gaels here in Giffnock, and when I asked him what he enjoyed most, his answer surprised me.

His first thought wasn’t the previous week’s Under-15 Scottish Championship victory, or how the under-15s and under-13s finished runners-up at the GAA’s prestigious Northern Games in Manchester. Instead, he described the environment of the locality.

“Look, when we decided to jump onboard with Paul, the ambition was to fulfil as many fixtures as possible, simply to field teams in each of our age groups,” he says. “But, in truth, we could not have expected such a great start. We were competitive from the very beginning, with new players able to transfer their skills from soccer, rugby and basketball to this new sport of Gaelic football. And they seem to love it. There’s scarcely a gap in ability between some kids who’ve been playing just a few months and other accomplished players who’ve been at it for a few years, now.

“To be honest, what I really like here is the community feel. This is the place where I live and work. When I go shopping, I bump into parents I’ve come to know well, and when I drop my boys off at school, I see them running to play a quick game of football with boys that I’ll see at training on the coming Friday. Everybody knows everybody and that’s simply a lovely feeling.”

Family and community

Coach Hilary comes and joins us. Explaining her love of Gaelic football, she reflects on her time in London with Holloway Gaels.

“I didn’t just find a football team, but a community and lifelong friends,” she says. “That sense of belonging and camaraderie is what brought me back into the game as a coach. I want to inspire young girls and women to play Gaelic football, because the team spirit and sense of belonging to a community that comes with it is rare.

“I want to see more girls take up Gaelic football and keep playing it as teens and adults. I want them to have the same buzz and sense of belonging I got from the sport.”

She also has a dream for the club to become ‘a Centre of Excellence in Giffnock and East Renfrewshire—a real home for developing players, coaches, and a culture of Gaelic football in Scotland. To secure the future of the game here for decades to come, and give the kids today something to be proud of when their families come along.’

To her the benefits of a coaching base in Giffnock are obvious.

“It has all the ingredients of a parish—strong schools, supportive families, and a community spirit that’s already thriving. It’s the perfect base to welcome new players, whether they have Irish roots or none at all. The diversity of kids picking up the ball is exciting, and Giffnock gives us a chance to weave Gaelic football into the fabric of Scottish community sport.”

Conor Murphy listens and agrees: “Community and family. That’s what’s so striking here as Hilary says. And as Gareth mentioned, in GAA terms, this is the most Irish parish-like environment I ever experienced as a coach or player outside of Ireland itself.

“I felt it at last Saturday’s final. We had two boys who’d lost grandfathers a week or so prior to the final. I met one of the grandmothers and she said how much she was looking forward to seeing her grandson play Gaelic for the first time, and how proud she was of the boy’s many achievements to date in his short Gaelic football career.”

We are joined by Danny Doherty who agrees there is a great community feel here and sees only good things ahead for Gaelic football in the area and he firmly believes that a team from Scotland including kids coached by him will win a club All-Ireland one day.

“But there are challenges, too,” he says. “Our games in Edinburgh mean at least 75 minutes one-way in the car, and we have to offer these kids the best-possible product to keep them motivated and ready to give up their time.

“And while we are active here, we are also building up our activities in Clydebank under Martin McGinley. We have Clydebank boys coming over to us on a Friday and we’ll be supporting what Martin and his guys are doing over there on a Wednesday. More training, more opportunity, more kids playing Gaelic football.”

Paul Maher hovers in the background. “Pulls the strings, he does,” Danny grins, before adding: “Without Paul and his efforts over the years, there would be nothing here.”

Enjoying the journey

Paul lets the remark pass. I prompt him to explain how he feels about how things are going now.

“Look, it’s all a journey. I’ve coached university teams; I’ve coached men’s teams and ladies’ teams. Now it’s kids. Every situation has its similarities and its own unique aspects. But what we have here is a great opportunity to build something really special.

“Myself, Conor and Gareth kicked ball about a mile away from here for the Glasgow Gaels Senior Men’s team back in the day. And now we’re finding more and more Gaels coming back to the area to settle down and raise their families. And when they come here, we will be here for them. It’s a fabulous environment with great schools and parents who are really engaged in what their kids do.

“But it’s the kids who really make all of this so special,” he says. “When you hear about them in their primary schools, teaching other kids the skills of Gaelic football during lunch breaks and then bringing their friends along to see what the training is like. It’s simply fantastic. They are masters at recruitment and nearly everyone has brought at least one new player with them. We have it easy as coaches!”

Continuing the growth

The coaches start to make their way out the door. With one eye on the weekend, Conor Murphy concludes by saying: “This all looks great, what we are doing here. But it is fragile and needs to be nourished carefully. But we’ve established a community now and we are both proud and protective of it.

“As coaches and administrators here in Scotland, it’s fine to receive plaudits for keeping the game alive over here. The GAA President, Jarlath Burns, sent us one such message before the Under-15 Final.

“But in reality, we could be doing so much better. Looking at Greater Glasgow alone, we have approximately 150 players spread across the clubs, with maybe 70 of those playing regular competitive fixtures. But there is more than a million people in this area, 150,000 of whom are under 18. So, even considering that we will always be a minority sport, there is a great deal of ground to make up. And we need to broaden the appeal of our game even more to include all population sectors.

“Hilary talked there about us becoming a Centre of Excellence and one that can benefit the whole of Scotland. This is not an arrogant ambition. There’s different things we can bring to the table. I have the experience of training and playing at St Patrick’s College, Maghera under Adrian McGuckin, widely known as one of the best college coaches ever. And Gareth’s brother-in-law, Shane McDermott, former captain of Fermanagh, has himself coached up through all the age grades and is a good source of know-how.

“This is the knowledge and experience we want to pass on to others. And we will work with anyone who wants to grow the game in Scotland and improve the experience for players. A fellow youth coach from our neighbours Tír Conaill Harps, has an idea where Scottish clubs would travel down to Cumbria say, as a halfway point, and we’d play tournaments at a pre-arranged venue there against teams from Manchester, Liverpool or Leeds. It’s pro-active thinking like this that’s needed to lift the game out of its hand-to-mouth existence.”

“As far as recruitment is concerned, we have been largely left to our own devices, and so we’ve devised projects to allow us to access schools and tap into parent groups to identify potential new coaches and players,” he continues. “This is all stuff that we’re happy to share with anyone and everyone. We need strong clubs around us to make our own club stronger.”

“Amen to that,” Paul concludes.

Outside the clubhouse, if you had a drone’s-eye view you’d look down on a 3G pitch empty aside from the odd colourful water bottle.

But rest assured, come next Friday and the kids will arrive on foot, by bike, or be dropped off pitch-side, all ready for another night of intensive Gaelic football fun and training at Glasgow Gaels, Scotland’s fastest growing club.

Meet the players

I have only been playing Gaelic football for six months now," Jack Armstrong (above centre) says. "My friends played it before, and they asked to try it out. I did and I’m nearly as good as them!

"What ⁠I like about playing Gaelic football is the technical things you have to do and the competition. We train on a Friday night and the best thing about it is playing with my friends. It’s so much fun. I plan to play Gaelic football for at least 20 more years."

"What do I like about playing Gaelic football? I get to learn team work, and play and train with lots of people, and make loads of new friends," Oonagh Doherty (above left) adds. "What I like about the Gaels is we are a really good team, the standard is high, and the drills are great fun but you know you’re learning lots of important new skills.

"The best thing this year was playing on the Gaels first ever all-girls U12 team. This was something I’d always dreamed of and I thought we played really well given it was our first time. I think I’ll keep playing Gaelic football forever!"

"I’ve been playing Gaelic football, like Jack, for about six months now," Sam Cochrane (above right) enthuses. "A coach who used to take me for soccer asked me would I like to give it a go and I said yes. I’m really glad I did.

"What I really like about it is the speed. There’s always something happening. Of course, I enjoy scoring but making a great pass is fun, too. I love the training. We have to work hard, but the coaches always organise games at the end, and I always feel I am learning something new.

"I want to play the sport for a long time. I want to see just how good I can become, because Gaelic football is now one of my favourite sports."

It's not just the players who have been fulsome in their praise for their new found sport, many of their parents have also been delighted at their development and the growth of Gaels as a club.

"Both of my parents are from Donegal," Sam's mum says. "Sam was always interested in different sports and after a coach asked me to bring him along to a training session, he said he was impressed at how fast-paced and physical the game was.

"He’d never played the game before, but once he understood the rules, he became confident very quickly and now he looks forward to every training session and every match. It’s been a fast learning curve for him but he has loved every minute of it.

"After training he is tired, but buzzing. He talks about the training the whole way home in the car, and he loves playing with his new teammates. I think he has progressed very quickly. The coaches offer loads of encouragement and I think that Sam has even surprised himself."