‘I Hope They Know How Much They Lifted Our Spirits’ – Reaction to Kerry Ladies

Kerry team members, Aishling O’Connell and Lorraine Scanlon with the Brendan Martin Cup at Castleisland Day Care Centre where they met: Teresa Commins, Neilie Cronin, Marcella Finn, centre maneger and John O’Gorman. ©Photograph: john Reidy

Kerry Ladies team members: Lorraine Scanlon, Aishling O’Connell, Eilís Lynch, Amy Curtin and Julia Curtin with an enthusiastic welcoming mob of Cúl Campers at Castleisland Desmonds GAA Club on Tuesday. ©Photograph: John Reidy

Castleisland Day Care management and staff members with the Brendan Martin Cup during the visit of the Kerry Ladies All-Ireland Senior Football Champions to the centre on Tuesday. Included are, from left: Kay Fitzmaurice, Helen Barrett, Doreen Moore, Leonorah Ncube, Marcelle Finn, centre manager and Sarah Kingston. ©Photograoh: John Reidy

Mick Fitzgerald is reacquainted with the Brendan Martin Cup courtesy of the current team of Kerry Ladies All-Ireland winning team members, Aishling O’Connell (left) and Eilís Lynch and former Kerry player and multi sport award winner, Mary Geaney when they crashed the Cúl Camp at Desmonds Castleisland GAA Club on Tuesday. ©Photograph: John Reidy

Ten year old Áine Enright pictured with her Nana, Nancy Enright and the obliging Kerry All-Ireland winning team members, from left: Julie and Amy Curtin, Eilís Lynch and Aishling O’Connell during their visit to Castleisland Day Care Centre with the Brendan Martin Cup on Tuesday. ©Photograph: John Reidy

Five year old Isla Black was among the welcoming party with her mom Denise for the Kerry Ladies at Castleisland Desmonds GAA Club on Tuesday. Included are players: Julia Curtin, Lorraine Scanlon and Amy Curtin. ©Photograph: John Reidy

The Kerry Ladies, All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, winning team members throughout the county must know by now the impressions they made on people of all ages through their achievements in 2024.

They are welcomed enthusiastically at every pillar and post they are visiting since that great day in Croke Park a couple of Sundays ago.

Cúl Camp in Full Flow

Just this week local members of the team called into the Castleisland Desmonds GAA Club where a Cúl Camp was in full flow and the cheering and the whooping which greeted them, on their arrival with the all important Brendan Martin Cup, was absolutely and deservedly up-lifting.

The players signed autograph books, jerseys and anything that could carry a signature.

There too to greet them was Mick Fitzgerald – one of the main men to encourage the fledgeling ladies football movement in Castleisland half a century ago now and later throughout Kerry and the country as a whole.

Unrivaled Dedication to Ladies Football

He was also manager / selector during the Kerry ladies remarkable All Ireland senior championship run of almost a decade of consecutive titles.

Mick’s unrivaled dedication to ladies football was recognised and honoured when he was inducted into the Ladies Football Hall of Fame in the early 2000s and later in the same decade he was honoured with the GAA President’s Award.

The multi honoured Mary Geaney was a member of that all conquering team steered to so much glory in their era by Mick Fitzgerald.

Mary, now a coach with the club’s ladies teams, was also on hand on Tuesday to welcome the current crop of heroines to the local grounds in Moanmore. But that wasn’t all.

Beating the Bell at the Day Centre

The ladies and the cup were transported to several businesses through the town on the day and they made it to Castleisland Day Care Centre on the nick of time before the bell for the end of the day’s activities.

There too, there was unbridled applause and cheering. The voices were deeper but no less appreciative or enthusiastic as the players posed for photographs with the clients and with the all important cup.

“I hope they know how much they lifted all our spirits with what they’ve done – and they’re all so young and handsome,” was one lady’s remark as the dining area of the centre buzzed with the excitement of the occasion.

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