Máire Gill

Máire Gill, Máire Ní Ghiolla
3rd President of Camogie Association
In office
1923–1941
Succeeded by Agnes O’Farrelly
Personal details
Born 24 March 1891
Murphystown, County Dublin
Died 25 May 1977 (aged 86)
Dublin, Ireland
Profession printer
Religion Catholic

Máire ‘Molly’ Gill (Máire Ní Ghiolla) (1891–1977) was a political activist who became third and longest-serving president of the Camogie Association and captained a Dublin team to an All Ireland championship while serving as president of the association.[1]

Cultural activism

Mollie went to work with the Dun Emer industries established by Evelyn Gleeson to promote Irish crafts and industries and then with Cuala Press. She befriended the sisters of William Butler Yeats, Elixabeth and Lily, started learning Irish, and joined Inghinidhe na hEireann and Cumann na mBan, serving on the executive committee of the Irish Republican Prisoners Dependant Fund. She took the anti-treaty side during the Civil War, and was arrested in May 1923 alongside the secretary of the Camogie Association Áine Ní Riain and was interned in Kilmainham for several months. She continued to work in Cuala Press until 1969.[2]

Camogie playing career

She joined Crokes football and hurling club where Harry Boland was a member and marched with the Dublin camogie delegation to the funeral of Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa. By 1922 she was one of Dublin’s most prominent referees and presided over meetings of the Dublin league.[3]

Camogie President

When Cualacht Luithchleas na mBan Gaedheal was revived in 1923 she was elected president. Rules were changed, alnd lighter sticks were used contributing to a revival in the game, particularly in Dublin and its schools. She served as camogie’s representative on the Tailteann committee and supported the controversial withdrawal of the sport from the Tailteann festival in 1924, having captained the Dublin team that played London in an alternative international match a few weeks earlier.

She continued to referee and play for both Crokes and Dublin and in 1925 was described as Dublin’s star player in a match against Kilkenny [4] In 1928 she played on the Leinster team which won the inter-provincial Tailteann competition and captained Dublin to victory in the first All Ireland final in 1932.

Camogie legacy

The first decade of her term of office saw considerable progress. The game, which had stagnated around 1910 after an initial period of growth, (“‘whether through lack of encouragement or enthusiasm she did not know,”‘ she told the 1933 camogie congress) increased its presence after meeting indifference outside of Dublin to a position of strength, with 80 clubs in Dublin and 320 clubs in all. This rapid growth was negated considerably by the imposition of a ban on hockey in 1934 and a split in the Association after thant ban was removed in 1939, briefly repaired in 1941-43 but which rumbled on until 1951. The association was renamed the National Camoguidheacht Association in 1939.

Death

She died in 1977 and was buried in Glencullen Cemetery Co Dublin.

References

  1. ↑ Moran, Mary (2011). A Game of Our Own: The History of Camogie. Dublin, Ireland: Cumann Camógaíochta. p. 460.
  2. ↑ Sinead McCoole: Molly Gill, A Woman of Ireland in Irish History magazine
  3. ↑ Freeman’s Journal Oct 13 1922
  4. ↑ Dubiin 4-0 Kilkenny 1-0 Irish Independent June 25

External links