‘Small village, big dreams’: the Naul gets behind Dubs as local hero leads out Girls in Blue

Villages like Naul, in north Co Dublin, suit the Irish word sráidbhaile – literally, street-town – well. It’s got a shop, a hairdressers, a cafe, lots of hanging baskets, new-build estates, somewhere to drink, a GAA club – all on one short stretch of road, keeling towards the Meath border.

But this is Dublin. Blue-and-navy bunting and flags adorn the various businesses and homes in the village for this weekend’s All-Ireland Senior Ladies’ Football Championship final between Dublin and Kerry. A daughter of Naul, Carla Rowe will lead the Girls in Blue out on to Croke Park come 4pm on Sunday.

“The whole village has been talking about it,” Carly Reilly Flynn said on Friday afternoon, standing outside Reilly’s Daybreak in Naul.

Ms Reilly Flynn, a team-mate of Rowe’s at the local Clann Mhuire GAA club, was on-shift, pushing a milk trolley around the back of the shop.

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“Everybody just backs [Rowe] up. She’s just such a fantastic football player, and a team person, and we just hope she does the job on Sunday.

“She only started when she was 13, and to come this far and be the captain of the Dublin team, she’s unbelievable,” she added.

A placard further down the village carries a simple message: “Best of luck Carla.” Underneath, in smaller writing, it reads: “Small village, big dreams.”

“Someone came up with that a good few years ago, and it’s kind of stuck with everything we’ve had with the football,” Ms Reilly Flynn said. People might have doubts about the sporting prowess of this small pocket of the north county, but Rowe’s achievements fly in the face of that assertion.

“We just try so hard with our football, and it just seems to work out.”

[ Dublin v Kerry: Kingdom hope their day will finally come after 30-year wait ]

“There’s great pride in it,” said Anthony Whyte, chairman of Clann Mhuire. “The population of the village and the catchment area is 1,600, and we have 400 members.

“That’s really what sport is about. Whether you win on Sunday or you lose on Sunday, it’s about the parish, community.”

Muriel Tiernan was hoping for a Dublin win when she was walking out of the hairdressers on Friday afternoon.

“I was like that when the men were playing, I was a bit afraid of Kerry – I know they’re very strong. We’ll keep the fingers crossed,” she said.

The Kingdom’s push for an All-Ireland will no doubt rely on the efforts some of Castleisland Desmonds’ finest talent. Three players from the Kerry club are on Sunday’s panel: Lorraine Scanlon, and cousins Cáit Lynch and Eilís Lynch.

“Having the three girls [on the panel] adds a great buzz to the whole build-up,” Denis Kerin, secretary of Castleisland Desmonds Ladies, said on Friday morning. “There’s a big local interest.”

Kerry go to Croke Park armed with major scalps, including a quarterfinal win over 2022 champions Meath, Mr Kerin noted.

Forty juvenile members of Castleisland Desmonds will also make the trip to Dublin on Sunday.

The success of local players, elevated with the county panel, has translated directly to the growth of ladies’ football in the locality, per Mr Kerin.

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“It’s huge,” Mr Kerin said. “The girls are great to come to different events in the club. We’ve seen a huge interest [in ladies’ football] ... numbers have definitely increased.”

Seán Lane was finishing up a training session under the Dublin mountains on Friday evening, strolling back towards the Ballinteer St John’s clubhouse on the edge of Marlay Park, south Dublin.

A flag mounted on the clubhouse carries club and county colours, and sends best wishes to local players Orlagh Nolan and Grace Dent in advance of Sunday’s match.

“The excitement around the parish is unbelievable. There’s 320 kids going on six buses,” Mr Lane, a former Dublin minor and under-21s coach, said. “It’s really going to be a big day out, and let’s hope the result goes the way we want it.”

The younger players will be there to support a club “role model”, Mr Lane said of Nolan.

“You can see excitement, particularly in the young girls in the parish – eight, nine, 10, and all the way up to under-18.”

Na Fianna, Glasnevin’s local club, will be well represented in Croke Park on Sunday, with five players on the Dublin panel. There will be no shortage of Na Fianna support in the crowd, either.

“On Sunday, the Na Fianna juvenile groups, they’ll go down to Croke Park from the club on Mobhi Road – they’ll all go down together in their teams to shout on the Dubs,” Cormac O’Sullivan, chair of Na Fianna, said on Friday.

“It’s hugely important for our younger players ... They all aspire to be the Leah Caffreys and the Hannah Tyrells of tomorrow.”