St Pats Ladies team created their own little bit of history last Sunday at Centennial Park, Toronto by winning their first competitive game since they were formed last year. The St Pats club have been in existence since 1968 and have had a men's team compete at various levels since then, including Senior, where the men are currently competing in. Late 2012 and early 2013, conversations began about forming a ladies team. From those conversations on those cold and dark wintry evenings, usually over a pint of Guinness, interest spread quickly and within a few weeks, St Pats had commitments from around 15 ladies. It was then decided that there was sufficient interest to merit entering a St Pats Ladies team.
Training began in February of 2013, and instead of struggling for numbers, there were between 25-30 ladies training every Saturday evening. St Pats Ladies was viewed as much more than just a GAA club - it was a community where members could meet new people and find a sense of home away from home. Emigrating from Ireland to a large city like Toronto can be daunting, but many ladies (and men before them) found support, friendship and socializing (and the odd beverage or two) in St Pats.
The ladies trained week in, week out under the direction of Barry O Connor and Sean Morley, and competed in the Annual Toronto 7-a-side tournament on March 9th. On May 12th 2013, they took on Brampton in their first competitive game at Centennial Park. Numbers continued to grow at training and also at matches, and despite the lack of success, the ladies showed great commitment to the club and always kept optimistic for the future.
In March of this year, training resumed slightly later in the year, due to the very poor winter experienced here in Toronto. Some ladies had returned back to Ireland or maybe headed further west to Alberta, but at the same time, more ladies had left the poor economic climate of the Emerald Isle in the search of employment in Toronto. St Pats again welcomed new members with open arms and immediately got down to the hard work in search of that inaugural win.
That win finally came last Sunday, 20th July 2014, and it justified the long evenings in the gym and the cold dark evenings at Cedarvale Park. St Pats emerged victorious after a titanic battle with Brampton, ironically, the team St Pats started their campaign against last year, on a score-line of 3:07 to 1:04. On the day, everyone stood up to the plate and emphatically emerged as a force to be reckoned with in the Toronto Ladies Division.
St Pats will look to push on from this success last weekend as they take on St Mikes this weekend. This is the start of a new era in St Pat's history, and with a continued commitment to hard-work and effort, these ladies will continue to build on this initial success and grow into a team that any team will be wary of facing. Tweet

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