From Cavan to San Fran
December 30, 2010With the economic downturn continuing to squeeze the life out of Irish men and women at home, another wave of Irish emigrants is sure to pitch up in far-flung corners of the world in the coming years.
And when they do, it's almost certain they'll find a GAA club ready to welcome them with open arms. Gaelic games have been played in San Francisco for over 150 years - San Francisco holds the distinction of having the first recorded instance of a Gaelic game being played in the United States, played on the Marina Green in San Francisco on Saint Patrick's Day in 1854 - and recent years have brought celebrations after the ribbons on the city's impressive GAA facilities on Treasure Island, Pairc na Gael and Pairc na nOg, were cut by Association President Nickey Brennan and the President of Ireland Mary McAleese respectively.
Ann McKiernan, who represented Cavan in camogie at minor and junior level with distinction in the 1970s and '80s, left Templeport for the west coast of America 24 years ago. GAA was in her bones, however, and she's maintained close links with the Association through her work as a player, volunteer and coach in San Francisco.
Before all that American business, though, it was those early years in Cavan that shaped her. In 2010, both ladies football and camogie are booming all over the country, but the situation was markedly different when Ann was attending school 30 and more years ago.
She tells Breffni Blue: "Ciaran Maguire and Marian McGovern who were primary school teachers in Munlough School started off camogie in Templeport in 1974." Templeport won its first primary schools competition in '74, in '75 were beaten in the final and in '76 beat Crubany by 4-0 to 3-0. In '76 Templeport entered Community games competition and went on to win Cavan's first ever Gold medals in team athletic events by beating Marino (Dublin) in the final.
"Ciaran and Marian and the late Chris Maguire were the people who were driving force back then to get things going in Templeport, and Philomena Heery, who was from just across the Fermanagh border, looked after things in secondary school at Bawnboy. All were instrumental in getting camogie going, and keeping it going. There wasn't much GAA for girls in Cavan at that time. We had one or two girls from Ballyconnell in the club because there was no camogie there. There was no camogie in west Cavan. Castletara might have been the closest camogie team to us."
There were successes, too, with the secondary school in Bawnboy. In 1978, for the first time in the history of the All Ireland Junior colleges camogie competition, the Ulster title was won by a Cavan school, Bawnboy, who went on to meet Thomastown from Kilkenny in an All-Ireland semi-final, a game which sticks out in Ann's memory. On April 15th Bawnboy were beaten by Cashel from Co Tipperary in the All Ireland Final in Croke Park. "I think it was my first time in Croke Park. There weren't many people there but the utter size of the place was amazing." Templeport had great success as a club winning Novice, Junior, Intermediate, Minor and Senior Leagues and Championships in the first five years of existence. In the Ulster Senior Colleges Camogie 1982 Bawnboy beat St.Mary's Clady (Antrim), a game which saw Ann singled out for praise in the Anglo-Celt: "One player who shone was Bawnboy's goalkeeper Ann McKiernan. She more than anyone stamped her imprint on the game and her brilliant saves in the first half were an inspiration to the team."
Later, Ann donned the Cavan colours at minor and junior level, the high point being in an All-Ireland Junior final against Cork in Croke Park in 1984, which Cork won by 5-8 to 2-2. "That was a fabulous experience," she says. "It was a very proud moment, just to be part of the team. I made a lot of friends playing with Cavan, people I probably would never have been friends with, and I'm still in contact with many of them all these years on."
The move to San Francisco happened almost accidentally, she says. "I came out on vacation, liked it and stayed, and I'm still here 24 years later. My sister Noreen moved out here a few years after me. As well as that, the GAA is a family away from home, so I've a lot of friends here."
She played camogie and ladies football for much of her time in the US, only hanging up the boots in recent years, and she focuses much of her attention on the coaching end of things these days having been appointed as the first ever Camogie Development Officer for San Francisco's Irish Football and Hurling Youth League, which serves as the youth arm of all San Francisco's GAA clubs.
"There was a camogie association in North America a good few years ago but it sort of fell apart because there were so few teams," says Ann. "In the late '90s it started up again under the auspices of the North American County Board (NACB). We started up a team here again, and although it was the same story, with just one team in San Francisco, it was run in conjunction with the football so it was much better organised, and it's been on the go ever since.
"The youth league started here in San Francisco 16 years ago and they were looking to get people involved with coaching, so I got involved with training the U8s and U10 boys. I took a break then for a few years when I was concentrating on playing football and camogie and soccer, but got back involved five or six years ago. I coached U16 and U18 girls, we got back playing the North American finals and we won a couple of North American titles. In 2009 the Continental Youth Championship steering committee asked all the divisions to get camogie up and running again. We were catering for hurling and football, but there was no camogie, so I took on that responsibility here in San Francisco. We had the support of the Camogie association from Ireland, who were excited about getting Camogie going at a youth level."
The hardest part, she says, is getting her hands on equipment for the children. With helmets both mandatory and expensive - coming in at up to €100 apiece - an unremitting demand for new hurleys, not to mention the cost of attending the annual Continental Youth Championships, which took place in New York in 2010, the need for funding is constant. "We have many fund-raisers here throughout the year which helps defray the cost of travelling to the finals," she says.
In July Ann McKiernan and her invaluable assistant, Claire Treacy from Galway, brought an U12 camogie team to the Big Apple, a major development for the sport in North America. "When we were starting out a few of the girls were a bit reluctant to get involved. To a good few of them it was a completely foreign game but a few of them had brothers who played hurling, so they knew how to hold a hurley and were enthusiastic to learn.
"For the last six or seven weeks before we went to New York the girls were very committed, they were on time and we had 45 solid minutes of practice every training session. We played a 'county' game, with New York and Boston joining together as the east coast team and a girl from Chicago joined us to form the North American team which beat New York/Boston. We also played a club game against NY and beat them in that game too. Joan O'Flynn, President of the Camogie Association, presented the cups to San Francisco's Sarah O'Halloran (club captain) and to Kate Caddisy and Jennifer Lordan (county co-captains).
What about the origins of the girls involved? Is it primarily children from Irish families or is there an ethnic mix? "Probably 80 per cent of the girls are of Irish descent," says Ann, "but the rest are American girls. They're friends with some of the girls through basketball or volleyball from school, and they've come along to play Gaelic football because of that, and from there they've got interested in camogie too."
After her first year as Camogie Development Officer in San Francisco, Ann is optimistic about the future of the game on the west coast. "A couple of the clubs at the CYC this year entered U8 and U10 teams so we'll be aiming to put in teams at that level next year too," she says. "The San Francisco GAA committee is very helpful. Chairman of the IFHYL, Con Lyons is very supportive of camogie.
"GAA in general is going very well here. It caters for senior, intermediate and junior men's football, senior and junior hurling, senior and intermediate ladies football and now a senior camogie team as well. San Francisco won seven North American titles in Chicago in 2010. We hosted the CYC finals here in San Francisco last year, with over 100 teams coming in for the weekend, and next year we're hosting the North American adult championships, so it's thriving.
"The GAA is great for any Irish people travelling around the world. You can meet people from a couple of miles up the road who you might never have known at home, and you can become best of friends with people from all over the country, from Cork and Derry and Wexford and Galway. It's great to be part of the whole organisation."
Back to Templeport and Cavan, does Ann keep an eye on the fortunes of her native club and county on the GAA fields of Ireland? "I make it back every year and I definitely keep in touch with how things are going for Templeport," she says. "Adrian McGovern from Templeport has been doing a great job with the county ladies team; he's brought them on a lot over the last few years as he has also done with the Templeport ladies football team, so it's good to see ladies GAA is still going strong in Templeport all these years on." Tweet
