NOLLAIG Cleary jokes that if you want to see where her clan gets their competitive nature, just watch her mom Kathleen at a GAA match!
Granny, as her 28 grandkids call her, never misses a game or an event – and Kathleen was at the Celtic Ross Hotel in Rosscarbery on Saturday night to watch her youngest daughter, Nollaig, be inducted into the Hall of Fame at the West Cork Ladies Awards night. Another proud moment for Kathleen, and the Cleary dynasty from Castlehaven.
‘Everyone would have associated dad with football but mom played a lot of badminton and different things growing up. When you see her at a match you’ll learn where we got our competitive edge from!’ Nollaig quipped after she swelled her incredible collection of medals with another accolade.
The youngest of Kathleen and Ned’s eight children, Nollaig’s football exploits make her stand out from the crowd – the most decorated West Cork ladies footballer of all time has won a staggering nine All-Ireland titles (2005 to ’14), eight national leagues, nine Munster titles, three All-Stars (2006, ’08 and ’09), 2006 All-Ireland final MVP and countless fans. Yet there’s an endearing modesty and humbleness there, too; she’s not the type to post a photo of her award into the Cleary family WhatsApp group.
‘I thought my dinner dances were behind me,’ she laughed, but the Castlehaven legend’s induction into the Hall of Fame is a fitting tribute to one of the county’s best-ever forwards.
Nollaig was part of that core group, under the guidance of Eamonn Ryan, that made Cork the most feared team in the country. They were irresistibly dominant for over a decade. Relentless in their pursuit of brilliance. Great times, incredible memories and friendships that will endure. Like with fellow Cork football legend Juliet Murphy who was the special guest at the awards night. Nollaig and Juliet still play together with the Glanmire team that won the Women’s Over-40’s Masters National Cup earlier this year.
‘It has given us a new lease of life and we love it,’ Nollaig said,’ and Juliet is as good as she always was.’
Cork football legend Nollaig Cleary won nine All-Ireland senior football titles.
Even now, Nollaig is adding to her medal collection, but perhaps that’s no surprise given basketball was her first sporting love. She was a late starter in football; it was first year of college in Mary Immaculate College in Limerick before she laced her boots with intent.
‘I really played no football underage, it was all basketball,’ she said.
‘I might have played the odd school game and played a couple of games with Ilen Rovers underage before they folded, and it was really at adult level, with Gabriel Rangers junior team, before I started.
‘Being from Castlehaven you were always going to end up kicking a ball, and I did around home. There was no team locally. My sister Emer was working in Schull, she had been playing with Ilen who folded, but Gabriel Rangers started a team. Emer dragged me over to training, and at the start I hated it! She kept dragging me along. I started playing in college at Mary I, went to America for a summer and played there, and that was it, I had more interest. Once I got hooked, I loved it.’
And while the rest is history, with Nollaig starring on the Gabriels team that won the 2003 All-Ireland junior final, it’s notable how different the local ladies’ football landscape was for her starting out. While Castlehaven LGFA has achieved great success at all levels in recent years, the club was only formed in 2012, while Nollaig retired from football two years later.
‘You take it for granted now when you see so many clubs in West Cork and every club has an underage set-up whereas in my time there was no underage ladies’ football. There wasn’t the opportunity there to play football,’ Nollaig explained.
‘Every club now has underage teams and young girls now have fantastic opportunities. Maybe that follows on from the success of our Cork team, and the interest in ladies football has grown so much.
‘Someone asked me once if I dreamt of playing in Croke Park when I was young? I never did because it was so unattainable. It was something that wasn’t even possible, that I never thought of. Then to think I was part of a special group and was lucky enough to be part of nine All-Irelands that we won.’
Special guest Juliet Murphy and West Cork LGFA Chairperson John McCarthy present the Hall of Fame Award to Nollaig Cleary.
Her love for football can be traced back to home in Castlehaven, that’s where the seed was sown.
‘It was GAA-mad, but without any pressure to achieve anything,’ Nollaig explained. Her three brothers all played football with Cork, John and Denis at senior level, Edmund at minor and U21.
‘A lot of my nephews and nieces have gone on to do really well, but there is never any pressure; it’s something we all love and they all love.
‘When I say I didn’t play a lot when I was younger, I still grew up on the side of a pitch because we were always going to games, whether it was dad training teams or my brothers playing. We were always learning, that does help.’
It was fitting that her mom Kathleen was there to watch Nollaig’s career celebrated and put back under the spotlight at the West Cork Ladies Awards. The trailblazer who put ladies’ football on the map – that would be worthy of a message into the family WhatsApp group.
