An Fear Rua’s attitude to the idea of women playing Gaelic football is a little bit like that of Dr Johnson when he was told by his amanuensis, Boswell, about the dog that had been trained to walk upright…. ’The wonder was not that ‘twere done well, but rather that ‘twere done at all’.

Now readers should not misunderstand An Fear Rua on this matter. There is no greater advocate of the involvement of girls and young women in gaelic games than the same Fear Rua. Indeed, whenever the Gownacalley-John Redmonds camogie teams through the years were in need of a good rub, no man was more quickly prepared to fill the breach than AFR himself. Indeed, for years after she retired from the game, Gownacalley’s star full back, Cora Cartwell, often wistfully remarked that ‘There was no one ever gave her a good neck massage like An Fear Rua’.

These thoughts are prompted by An Fear Rua’s attendance at the recent All Ireland ‘Junor’ and Senior Finals in Womens’ Gaelic football, or as the authorities of the game insist on calling it: ‘Ladies’ Gaelic football. As one of the go-be-the-walls watching the game on TV in Ma Molloy’s drinking emporium drily remarked to the mirth of his companions: ‘That was no lady I was with last night, that was a Waterford gaelic footballer… ‘

By any standards, the Senior final was a poor game – far too many missed chances, an abundance of pulling, dragging and punching, painfully slow build-ups and far too much passing of a basketball nature (particularly from the Waterford lassies when in sight of goal). Apparently, the game is catching on now in many counties, and the attendance of just over 15,000 at Croke Park – including the Taoiseach and President McAleese – underlines its growing popularity and status. But An Fear Rua must pose the question: ‘Why is so much time and effort – including sponsorship – going into the promotion of a bowdlerised version of the mens’ game, itself no great showcase at the moment, when there is a magnificent gaelic game already available for girls and young women ?’ Like its male counterpart hurling, the game of camogie is a stylish, athletic and challenging sport for any young woman to play. Surely, this is the game our teachers and GAA mentors should be promoting among the young females of the country ?

It is a strange thing to say that – with the exception of Kerry throughout the Eighties – the counties dominating womens’ Gaelic football are counties that have traditionally been very weak in the mens’ game – Laois, Monaghan and Waterford. It makes you wonder what real connection there is therefore, if any, between mens’ and womens’ gaelic football. Or is just that the female footballers of places like Waterford and Monaghan have some extra chromosome denied to their male counterparts ? Tis almost as big a mystery as the case of Larry Murphy, The Missing Postman, all those years ago, below in Stradbally, one of Waterford’s footballing strongholds.

As he always does, accompanied by a favourite grand nephew and grand niece, AFR enjoyed the afternoon in Croke Park. However, the behaviour of much of the crowd and stewards left a lot to be desired. The vast majority of spectators in the Hogan Stand insisted on standing throughout the preliminaries, thus the two seven year olds accompanying AFR, could not see the arrival of the teams, the presentation to the President nor the pre-match parade. Not until the ball was thrown in did these people take their seats. Obviously, many of them were taking the stand bit of the Hogan Stand quite seriously ! Of course, considering that many of them were teenagers from places in West Waterford like the Nire, Kilrossanty or Ballymacarbry, it’s not surprising they had never seen anyone sitting down at a GAA match before ! The lads and lassies of Wesht Waterford are hardy indeed and sitting down at a GAA match is only for sissies, in their view.

As I said, the Waterford girls threw this game away. That they did so in the manner of Cork in the Senior mens’ final and Kilkenny in the Senior hurling, will be of no consolation to them. In the opening ten minutes a policy of trying to walk the ball into the net, combined with blazing scoreable shots wide, ensured they never got sufficiently clear of Mayo. But, had they won, their captain Clare Ryan would have bracketed a remarkable forty years in the history of the GAA and of County Waterford. For Sunday was the last day of the old Hogan Stand, now to be demolished and replaced by a new state-of-the-art stand. An Fear Rua well remembers that the first All Ireland winning captain to ascend the steps of the Hogan Stand to receive a trophy – back in 1959 – was none other than the legendary Frankie Walsh, following the Decies stunning replay victory over Kilkenny.

In the end, however, a combination of over-confidence and poor shooting on the day, ensured that a glorious opportunity to write a colourful footnote in GAA history was lost by Waterford.