Sinéad Reel is many things. She’s the chairperson of Armagh LGFA; a football enthusiast; she can tell you a lot of things about pitches; and she’s going into her final year running what can only be described as a well-oiled machine.
The Night of Champions dinner in Carrickdale Hotel and Spa celebrated four teams winning Ulster and the under-16s winning an All-Ireland. The night also marked the lights being turned on in McKeever Park, Killean – the first dedicated training facility for an intercounty ladies’ football team in the country. It was also a rare chance for Reel to take a mini-break... except she can’t sit very still for long.
“Well, look, we’ve been very successful, I suppose, on all levels, and you could say [that’s the case] on and off the field, with what has been going on behind the scenes [fundraisers for McKeever Park], and then obviously with our four teams winning Ulster this year at different levels and we also had the under-16s winning an All-Ireland. But you know, that only happens because of what goes on behind the scenes.
“These past few years, we’re trying to build. Covid obviously had a massive effect on us, and to be fair, on every county as well, with trying to get girls going to play football. But thankfully, our squads seem to have responded fairly well. And it’s probably down to the management as well, obviously. You know, it’s very hard to keep young girls playing football, especially at that higher level, and then for them to commit to it.”
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Armagh ladies footballers are incredibly fortunate to have role models for young girls. You have Aimee Mackin, who, it’s safe to say, is extremely good at football. Her sister Blaithin Mackin has dominated midfield and has now won an AFLW Premiership medal in her maiden year.
You also have captain Kelly Mallon, who encouraged the younger teams during her captain’s address at the night of champions to stick together and keep enjoying their football. But more importantly, the girls in Armagh football have a home.
A home that’ll eventually cost half a million pounds, but the price tag isn’t even close to the value for girls to have their own space and not have to pray that boys won’t need it for training and kick them out. On October 28th, Killean lit up, and with that so did multiple possibilities.
“The lights haven’t probably been turned off since. They’re on every night nearly now,” said Reel. “Between trials from underage and then the senior footballers and so it’s fairly active there. They are on practically every night, and honestly, we’d be lost without it. I actually don’t know how we coped without them.
“It’s a massive bonus, and it’s home. Everybody knows where they’re going, and that’s from under-14 to seniors. So it’s a real nice, positive, feelgood feeling. Everybody knows this is theirs. And, you know, these young girls that are on trials at the minute, they’re seeing the set-up, they’re maybe looking at the set-up going, ‘God, this is where I want to be.’”
The truth is, to get all this done, you probably need to be somewhat crazy – a good crazy. But this work instinct and refusal to see failure has been in Reel for a long time. She can recall doing a club fundraiser years ago and saying they could fit less than 1,000 people into a hall rather than booking a hotel. The club gave in to Reel on the basis that she’d take the blame if things went downhill. Reel had no problem with that, and the night in question was a resounding success.
“I’ve sort of always been like that a bit, probably from my younger days, probably what I picked up from my dad. Dad would be a bit of a risk taker. He’d be like, give it a go and see how it goes.” So, that’s how you build a pitch on a road that’s actually named the Bog Road.
A collaborative effort is also a big thing within Armagh football circles. At the Night of Champions, Jarlath Burns and outgoing Armagh county chairman Michael Savage spoke about collaboration, while Burns mentioned the petrifying A-word: amalgamation. Truth is, both parties and other members of Armagh GAA have been supporters of Armagh LGFA for a while.
Some pledged volunteers, while others pledged financially to get the pitch over the line. Those funds and a loan from Community Finance Ireland and LGFA support brought Killean to where it is today.
“For me, as a member of a club, you know, I always would have, when I organised fundraisers, done it for the club. They weren’t ladies’ football fundraisers or men’s football fundraisers. So I personally always thought about it as ‘we’re in this together’. The one thing that I wanted to do was build a good rapport and a good relationship with our men’s committee and show them that we’re not fighting against them and we want to work together.
“And it’s something that I think was probably building over time, but I wanted to personally just drive it. If Mickey Savage and Armagh GAA were to come to me tomorrow and ask for the pitch, we’ll do our best to make everybody welcome and help everybody out. The two priorities are the girls’ teams and the quality of the pitch, but I’m never going to say, ‘No, this is ours, and you’re not allowed in.’ I don’t think that’s right, either.
“At the end of the day, we never know when we could need a helping hand again. So you know, and that could be five, 10, 15 years from today, and maybe somebody remembers one day and goes, ‘You know what, they actually pulled us out of a hole a couple of times, so we’ll return the favour.’ In my opinion, you just have to.”
Right now, Reel is preparing for her final year. She’s launching another fundraiser, the 100km in 31 days throughout the month of January. If you enter, you could either win £1,000, a chance to train with the Armagh senior team or an Armagh ladies’ training kit. She’s also praying Armagh will get out of Division 2 this year.
But she’s looking forward to seeing what the future holds in an ever-changing landscape for women in sports. One thing is a constant: Sinéad Reel will be on a sideline somewhere around the country, cheering on Armagh and hoping another chapter will be written in their history books.
