Member's statement: Moneyglass GAC: All-Ireland Final
Member's statement by Mr Declan Kearney on .
- MLA
- Mr Declan Kearney
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 9 December 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Moneyglass GAC: All-Ireland Final
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5295529
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Where is Moneyglass? That is the question on the lips of many sports journalists in the aftermath of the Moneyglass senior ladies footballers' winning their All-Ireland semi-final nine days ago. Well, Moneyglass is a cluster of townlands in the south-west of County Antrim, beside the River Bann and adjacent to Lough Beg. It is a small place with just a few hundred residents. There is Boyd's garage and shop; Tumbledown bar; one chapel; a small community centre; and a large number of small family businesses and farms. The beating heart of Moneyglass is St Ergnats GAC. Formed in 1948, the club has a strong tradition in an Cumann Lúthchleas Gael
That is reflected in the men's footballers' participation and score and in underage development for young boys and girls. However, ladies Gaelic football is one of the club's huge successes. The club has enjoyed great progress in recent times. New facilities have been opened on Loughbeg Road. The men won the 2025 Intermediate Club football final. Furthermore, the club has elected its first female chairperson, Sarah McCann. In a special, personal first for Sarah, in the past few weeks, she qualified with a doctorate in education, specialising in climate change and sustainability. The crowning glory of 2025, however, will be this weekend's All-Ireland Club final. Not surprisingly, local excitement is at fever pitch. Everybody is up to high doh. In my book, whatever happens this Saturday in Croke Park, the Moneyglass women are already winners. The footballers will travel to Croke Park as pride of the parish, queens of the county and champions of Ulster. Those girls are a credit to their families, their friends and all of us, and I wish them all the luck that they deserve in the All-Ireland final this Saturday. Give it your all, girls. Leave it all on the pitch. Ádh mór oraibh. Tapaigí an deis. An Muine Glas abú.
316 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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