Limerick Ladies Gaelic Football

Club History:

Around the time the GAA was formed in 1884, there was mention of a hurling team in Foynes called the “Father Murphy’s”. They were known locally as the “Shannon Sweepers”. A little later there was a hurling team formed in Barrigone by Ned Dundon, Larry McNamara, Paddy Fitzsimons and Tom Stack. This Barrigone side played under the title of “The Liberators” and they enjoyed great success. The first mention of a football team in the parish was in the late 1890’s the “Shanid Abu’s” were formed in Shanagolden. Names like Behan, Guinnane, Power, Sheehan, O Connor, Lardner, Cremins, Hayes, O Sullivan, Hartney, Ryan, Madigan and Fitzgibbon were very prominent in this football side. Then in 1904 a football team was formed in Foynes called “The Smith O Brien’s”. They were the first team from the parish to officially affiliate with the GAA. In 1906 the “Smith O Brien’s” won the West Senior championship when they defeated Templeglantine 1-9 to 1-6, but they lost the County final to Kilmallock. In 1907 the Smith O Brien’s won the West again by defeating Askeaton and in the County final they had a marvellous victory over the famed Commercials from Limerick City. There was also a mention of a football team in Shanagolden during the War of Independence and Civil War. They were known as the “O Rahillys” and Captain Tim Madigan would have trained and played on this team.

Ladies Football did not start in the parish till the 1980-90s when St Senans when a girls team competed in community games. These were very successful at that time. In 2008 & 2009 St Senans fielded a Junior team under the management of John Hanlon, Mike Behan and Maurice Moo Fitzgerald. There were great days during this time but it wasn’t until 2013 that we fielded an underage U14 team for the first time. Then in 2014, St Senans hosted Gaelic4Girls and got 104 girls to participate for the 8 week programme. This resulted in fielding of underage teams from U6s upwards since then. We now have teams in all age categories and are going from strength to strength. In 2016, we hosted Garycastle of Westmeath in Féile Peil na nOg, great weekend was had. In 2019, we re-entered the adult championship with our first Junior B team as the oldest of our girls from Gaelic4Girls were over the Minor Grade. In 2020, our U16 girls were the first team to win on the county stage, winning the D championship and U12 girls went undefeated in their non-competitive series so the future looks bright.