Ladies Gaelic Football

MANAGER FOCUS put my head where you wouldn't park your car. "I think that was just the country and farmer bit in me. Back then, you just didn't care. You got the ball and if there was a wall in front of you, you didn't care, you took the wall too." Kelly went on to represent Derry until 2012, when she transferred over to Antrim, while she also lined out for Ballinascreen in camogie, and Cliftonville in soccer. "There are people that walked away that are capable of coming back in and fighting for their place again. I am looking forward to trials and then we'll pick a squad for next year." Kelly is a former rock of the Antrim defence, having lined out at full-back as recently as last year. The Cooperstown native still plays club football for St Paul's but she refused to combine playing with management at inter- county level when she took over the reins. "I don't think it would have been fair. At the same time, it would have been different if I was five or six years younger," said Kelly. "Next year, then, you are searching for a full-back. You might as well make a fresh start. For the past eight or nine years, it was me doing the organising and communicating from full-back. Now I am trying to get the rest to take over. "It's just getting them to communicate themselves. They all have a mouth and when they come to a game, they seem to go quiet." Kelly got into football when former Derry star, Tony Scullion, visited her primary school, where he was a coach. And years later, she would link up with him again when she did work experience with him. Coming from Derry, it was always likely that an Oak Leaf All-Ireland winner would leave an impression. "Tony was out at my primary school. It was around the time Derry were doing well in 1993. Just from the buzz of that I was in the school yard and the boys were playing and I would get stuck in," said Kelly. "I was captain of the school team, it was all boys and there were only two girls. I had no fear, the girls at St Paul's will tell you I would "I HAD NO FEAR, THE GIRLS AT ST PAUL'S WILL TELL YOU I WOULD PUT MY HEAD WHERE YOU WOULDN'T PARK YOUR CARS." Clockwise From Top Left: 1 Antrim manager Emma Kelly speaks to her players. 2 Gráinne McLaughlin of Antrim celebrates after scoring her side's first goal. 3 Theresa Mellon of Antrim 4. Laurie Ahern of Wicklow in action against Áine Tubridy of Antrim. www.ladiesgaelic.ie | AUTUMN 2021 | 31 She has also travelled to Australia three times representing Ireland in International Rules, and even started refereeing GAA games in recent years. But she was to determined to follow up with her former Antrim team-mates, and next season should get them even closer to silverware. "Competition for places is class. It's not class when you are trying to pick a 30 or a 15 but that's something you should be envious of," said Kelly. "Before, you would try to keep your 15 on if their legs were hanging on because we didn't have the depth. But we have that and that's something that we can be proud of. "Hopefully we can keep building and progressing."

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