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26 // Ladies Gaelic Football Association TG4 HALL OF FAME AWARD PEIL Winter | Issue No 4 | Volume 14 arie Crotty was at the heart of Waterford's most successful period in Ladies Football and the five All-Ireland inter-county senior titles annexed with her county – and ten club All-Irelands won with Ballymacarbry – put her at the very top of the game. To mark her dedication and service to the LGFA, Crotty was inducted into the Ladies Football Hall of Fame at the 2018 TG4 All Star Awards banquet, in association with Lidl, an accolade she was blown away by and honoured to accept. Surrounded by her friends, family, club mates and former teammates, Marie was absolutely thrilled to have this prestigious honour bestowed upon her. Having her mother and father, her 16-year-old son Dylan and husband Cathal there to see it made it all the more special. "It was unreal, probably the biggest honour I've ever got. I never expected it, and to have my family there and everyone there with me on the night was amazing. I couldn't put it into words or describe what it. It was out of this world," said Marie. "I have one son, Dylan, and he is 16 now, but he had never seen me playing when I By DECLAN ROONEY M was quite good. He knows how annoying it is when I'm coaching and having me dragging him around the place but he doesn't remember me as a player. "It was very special to have everyone there for the event." Marie is well known as being the first woman to score a point in Croke Park, when she was playing for the Waterford Junior team against Wexford in the 1986 All-Ireland Final, but it was her exploits with Ballymacarbry that really brought her to national attention. As we've seen of late, it takes a special club to win back-to-back All-Ireland club titles – only Donaghmoyne have done it in the last ten years – but nine All-Ireland final appearances in a row and ten wins over a 12-year span points to a very special club. "When we started there was no underage at all in Ballymac. There was one lady called Anne McCarthy and she had a few girls playing football. I was one of the first kids playing with them and I was 13, playing with the 'grown adults' as I called them. "I started off the underage with the club for the Community Games when I was 16, and then Michael Ryan came in and he brought real training and structure into it. It was probably around 1981 or 82 that I made my senior debut for the club. They picked you up at the house on the day of a match and that was it – there was no training then. "I think I was the only one who could solo the ball at that stage. I was the young one flying around the place. I started around wing-forward because I was tall for my age, but as the years went on I was From Kicking the First Point to Coaching the Kids - Waterford Legend Marie Crotty is honoured. Former Waterford star Marie Crotty, from Ballymacarbry, Waterford, speaking with MC Marty Morrissey during the TG4 Ladies Football All Stars Awards Marie Crotty, Ballymacarbry, Waterford, is presented with the Hall of Fame award by Ard Stiúrthóir TG4, Alan Esslemont and President LGFA, Marie Hickey