Tara Ladies Tara Ladies GFC
1978 - 2008
Sponsored by Bar Lula's, Willesden High Road, Willesden Green, London
Tara ladies are the longest running club in Britain. We are 30 glorious years old this year. We are the only current club in London to have competed annually in Championship and league competitions since the birth of the London Ladies County Board. Tara ladies are a London based club who last year won the London Junior Championship, the Provincial Championship of Britain, (we are the first London based to club to have won this accolade), and competed in the semi-final of the All-Ireland Junior Club Championships in Ireland.
Tara Ladies, A History
There are many roots to the Tara Ladies 29-year-old tree and here the story begins.
Once upon a time in 1976 in St Agnes Church, Cricklewood Lane, London, spearheaded by a Tipperary man, Fr Ryan, Ladies Gaelic Football in County Cricklewood was to take it first breath. Fr Ryan realised how immigration had grown in London and how the majority of his parishioners were Irish or London-Irish. There was a huge Irish culture erupting in London and he decided he would like to make his parish be a part of this. He called on any girls or ladies in the parish who together with his guidance could acquire qualities in teamwork, sharing and giving and sportsmanship through the native Irish game Gaelic Football. Anna Clarke nee McHugh, Roz Hill, Brenda Harte nee smythe and Siobhan Faughnan nee Redican, Fiona O'Connor nee Redican and Grainne O'Sullivan nee Redican were among the first girls to join. When Fr Ryan departed with the help of Proinnsias Redican the girls went on to become the Tara Ladies in 1978.
The Tara Ladies of 1978
The formation of the new club brought some healthy competition for the other two existing clubs in London, and it was now possible to have a play off before the final! The three clubs were reliant on the Annual Irish Festivals, such as Roundwood Park, and Harrow Irish Festival to provide an opportunity for a competitive match and silverware. At the time the young Tara ladies trained in Gladstone Park and managed to keep themselves together with seven to eleven players. Then one bright evening a group of girls playing Camogie approached the Tara's, Magella O'Neill and Josie Connolly came up with a proposition, if you come and play Camogie with us we'll come and play football with you! The deal was done; half the session was spent with a hurl and the other with hands!
Aidon Heron, Co. Leitrim was one of the first brave men to take on the Tara Ladies as manager and went on to manage the first London Ladies team and proceeded to take them on they're first trip to Co. Leitrim Ireland. Tara Ladies on the team included, Anna McHugh, Kathleen Mackessy, Kate Harte nee Clarke (RIP), Jackie Quinn and Sharon Edgecombe. Sharon Edgecombe, also made a special mark in the History Books being the first west Indian girl to play Gaelic Football in Leitrim and possibly the rest of Ireland. I remember kitting out at the tender age of eleven to train with the Tara Ladies, (I'd had enough of playing on the boy's team), and I remember, we had to leap frog our way up the pitch, I had no problem with this exercise until I came to Sharon, her legs were probably as long as I was tall, so I ran round her, to be honest I think that was the fate of most of the team! An unbelievable natural talent, who went on to dominant the head lines in the National and local papers in England, Ireland and America.
In 1986 the Tara Ladies were instigative in forming the first London Ladies County Board, Aidon Heron, Liz Gibbons and Fiona O'Connor nee Redican all held positions on the Board. 1985, 1986, and 1987 were extremely successful years for the Tara Ladies, we won more or less all of the tournament games and competitions we entered but the championship seemed to elude us by miniscule scoreboards, until 1987, under the remarkable managerial skills of Tom Mohan, Co. Donegal, when we beat the Wembley Gaels at Ruislip. As I climbed up the fence at the back of the opponent's posts to free the trapped ball for the last point of the game, the whistle blew; I was down on the green, green grass of Ruislip before the ball was. That day Ruislip saw some of the best displays of Ladies Gaelic Football to date; there was an abundance of talented and skilled players, Irish, London-Irish and West Indian who played on both teams. Along side some of the afore mentioned players for the Tara Ladies were Olive Joyce, Mary Moran, Paula Noone, Ann Lister nee Brady, Ann O'Hara, Paula Fitzspatrick, Bernie Corrigan nee cornian, Barbara Colgan, Gabrielle Cronin, Therese Mc Kiernan and Christine O'Malley.
Tara Ladies team of 1989
The nineties saw an influx of new faces, as former players started to immigrate back to Ireland and procreate; they were gradually replaced by another band of dedicated players, Club and County Board members. Anne Lesley nee Biggins, Bridie McCarthy Nee Maxwell, Alice Vonk nee Madden, Anne Murphy the 1st, Marie Kelly, Fiona Ni Chellaigh, Rosie Lahiff, Carmel Reid, Sharon Carr nee Lennon, Denise Enright, Lorraine Devin, Clare Conroy, Caroline Mc Garry, Elaine Negi, and still playing to this day Marie Joyce, Geraldine Leonard, Marcella and Yvonne Doyle, Marie Scanlon, Emma Higgins, Karen Togher, Jenny Reape, Lorraine Moran and London Stalwart and Captain 2005, Ann Murphy the 2nd. I recall the day when we managed to recruit this remarkable player and Gael. I was on my way into a house party in West Hendon, Ann would have been fifteen years old, and she was hanging out of the back of a car window dropping her brother off, being seasoned with an eagle eye to spot potential players, I called out - would you like to come and play Gaelic Football for the Tara Ladies?? And that was the start of the legend we call 'Murph'.
Tara Ladies team 1991
The turn of the century and a new decade has blessed us again with an accomplished lineage of skilled players, club and county board members. We currently hold four dominant positions on the London Ladies County Board: Nuala McLoughlin - Chairperson, Jenny Reape - Secretary, Marie Scanlon - Treasurer, and Louise Roberts - Fixtures committee.Tara ladies are committed to developing underage girls football. Our resident Youth Officer Grainne O'Sullivan nee Redican (All-Ireland County Championship winner) works tirelessly and vocationally, as a qualified coach in the London Primary schools, where our native sport is now on the curriculum. We also coach secondary school age groups in the evenings. And have developed numerous home grown talents into our Senior Ladies team and County London team.
2005 was a extremely sucessful year, lead by trainer manager Conor Mone the team won all round them, not only coming out London Junior Champions but also being the first London team to win the All Britain Junior Title, which then entered them into a place of the All Ireland Junior Club Championship. We came up against Mourneabbey, Cork who after a brave battle came out the deserved winners and continued on to win the All Ireland Junior Club at Croke Park that year.
Tara Ladies wining British Championship 2005
2006 found us finding feet in the Senior Championship after being promoted from Junior. A well rounded year was finished by winning the Shield in the Provincial Championship.
This year under the managerial skills of Johnny Wilson (Cork) and Marie Scanlon, Tara Ladies will develop the club to even greater heights and hope to bring home even more silver ware.
2007 was a great year for Tara Ladies' Club, we seen record numbers out at training and as a result we entered a junior team into the junior competition. This is the first team in London to have two teams entered into both junior and senior competitions in the same year.
In addition to this our senior team also made us extremely proud, after a nerve wrecking match against parnells, they reached there first senior final in over 10 years (having previously played Junior and winning that title in 2005 to be promoted to senior).
We had the great pleasure of seeing Tara Ladies Captain Bree White, also go on to captain London in Croke Park in the Junior All Ireland in September 2007. Led by London Manager, Johnny Wilson who also manages Tara Ladies, Bree and 10 of the Tara Ladies were in the panel which took to the field at Croke Park, after an extremely exciting and close match London were unlucky to lose to Kilkenny by 3 points.
After a successful campaign in the junior and senior competitions Tara Ladies are back raring to go in 2008!!!! This year we have a goal and we hoping to achieve it with the support of the players, our Manager (Johnny Wilson) and of course our new sponsor Flynn's West Ealing, who has come on board this year and generously sponsoring Tara Ladies and who provide a lively venue to celebrate our victorious wins. . We want to see continued development of your junior team, hoping to give every girl who joins our club the opertunity to play Gaelic football, no matter how experienced or what level they are at.
Our senior development means one thing.... and that is to win the senior championship and league. Go Tara's!!!!
