BY DÁIRE BONNAR
AS the first ever Republic of Ireland Women’s National Team are set to be commended at the end of the month, a missing piece of the puzzle has been found.
For when the FAI hosted a reunion in May of 2023 on the 50th anniversary of their inaugural game, there was one player that couldn’t be identified from the team photo and was absent from the celebrations.
And it was a Ballybofey woman, Josephine Stewart (née McHugh) that was eventually identified as the person who was part of that squad in 1973 as Ireland defeated Wales in their first international game.
It was fellow Donegal native Geraldine McGlinchey (née Molloy) that realised that Stewart was the missing player and soon the ball was rolling to get her the recognition she deserved.
“There was a get together in 2023 and I missed out on the whole thing,” Stewart told the Donegal News.
“There wasn’t a lot of information about the whole team and records weren’t kept so a message was put up on Facebook asking for those who played in 1973 to reach out.
“I’m not terribly interested in social media so I never saw it, Geraldine’s daughter spotted it and that’s how she came about it.
“But the FAI decided to acknowledge the first women’s team to play at International level on their 50th anniversary.
“There was an event then on the Late Late Show and I missed out on that too but Geraldine then realised that I was on that panel as well and she made contact last year.
“When I realised I had missed (the celebrations) I was so disappointed but when Geraldine reached out to me, I had to make contact with the FAI and Gareth Maher and let them know who I was.
“The only proof I had was a photograph and I could point out where I was, they knew there was one player missing and it was me!”
Stewart and McGlinchey were two of three Donegal players in that Irish team along with Teresa Holland and they were called up due to their performances for TT (Twin Town) Harps.
The club spent a year in the Ladies League of Ireland, which had just got up and running for the first time in 1973 set up by the FAI and WFAI, allowed them to showcase their talent throughout the country.
“Eddie McNulty was our manager and we played in the Ladies League of Ireland for a year, he supported us and encouraged us in that.
“But living in Donegal, we were paying our own way everywhere, travelling through the North at the time when the Troubles were bad, it was a lot so we didn’t continue playing in it after a year.
“But that was how the three of us got on that International team, Eddie told us there was a scout at a game in Kilkenny, then there were trials in Dublin and he came with us.”
Patrick Noone, Honorary Secretary of the Irish Ladies Football Association (ILFA) was the manager of what was a very youthful team that took on Wales, with the age ranging from as young as 14 up to just 22.
The game took place in Stebonheath Park in Llanelli and the Irish team won 3-2 over their Welsh counterparts with Paula Gorham from Dundalk scoring a hat-trick.
The team consisted of players from Donegal, Louth, Limerick, Waterford, Kilkenny, Dublin, Galway and Tipperary.
“We had to travel to Cork to get a ferry over to Port Talbot in Wales. “The locals were interested in supporting women’s soccer, but the admission for the game was 25 pence!
“My memory of it was there was a couple hundred at the match so there was a bit of a turnout.
“Linda Gorman (another member of the team) told me recently that the kit we wore was actually borrowed from what I would imagine was a Boys team from Dublin.”
That was the first International of two in their debut year as they went on to defeat Northern Ireland 4-1 in June, although the Donegal trio weren’t involved from then on for the previously mentioned reasons.
But it set the course for the rise in Women’s football in the country, culminating in the team reaching their first World Cup in 2023 in Australia and New Zealand.
“None of us were really available to continue and I went on to do Nursing a few months later and that was the end of it as financially it wasn’t viable. But the support now is mighty and it’s great to see it, there are some very talented young women and we have our own there with (Amber) Barrett and (Tyler) Toland as well and the team is going from strength to strength.”
The team will be celebrated again at the end of the month, as they received an invitation to meet President Michael D. Higgins at the Aras on January 28.
“It’s special to be able to tell my grandson and they can look at it in years to come and see that their granny was part of the original team! It’s nice to be acknowledged and it wouldn’t have been the be all and end all if Linda hadn’t made contact but it’s lovely to be able to show it to him.
“I’ll be getting my cap belatedly, and the girls all got a replica jersey so Linda is trying to sort that for me too!”
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