Class of '73 reunited for 50th anniversary of first Ireland women's team

REUNION: The 1973 Republic of Ireland women's national team during a reunion at The Westin Hotel in Dublin. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

It took months of trawling but with days to spare all of the original Ireland women’s teams of 1973 were tracked down in time for Friday’s 50th anniversary reunion.

Women’s football is on a high with a first-ever major senior tournament, the World Cup, looming in summer, but the trailblazers had to pay their own way to Wales to become Ireland’s first-ever female internationals.

That 3-2 win was followed by a 4-1 triumph over Northern Ireland and efforts to reassemble them led to the official FAI function at the plush Westin Hotel.

Although Linda Gorman – who went on to become the first female manager of the team – kept in touch with the bulk of the squad, others understandably drifted from the circuit.

Eventually, through intense endeavours, they got there.

“Some were difficult to locate,” said Gorman. “Girls got married and their surname changed.

“We got Geraldine Grace at the 11th hour. She had moved to Kerry from Limerick and we managed to make contact through the football historian Gary Spain.” 

Not all could make it – one due to illness and the other because of travel difficulties. The late legend Anne O’Brien was represented by her sisters.

“People ask me if I still have my Irish jersey,” reminisced Nora ‘Nolo’ McGrath from Galway. “But we were lucky to get them for the match. They were nearly taken off our backs as soon as the match was over – that’s how bad it was. It took me 40 years to get a cap and it only happened when someone in the FAI spotted me receiving a Hall of Fame award for GAA.”