From All-Ireland glory to World Cup history — Niamh Fahey's still going strong
STILL GOING STRONG: Niamh Fahey during Ireland training. Pic: INPHO/Ryan Byrne
At 35 years, nine months, and six days, Niamh Fahey is the elder stateswoman of the Irish squad. At the other end of the calendar and the far end of the pitch is Abbie Larkin. Just the 17 and a half years separate the pair.
Larkin and her 18 spins around the sun are a convenient crutch to lean on when attempting to capture Fahey’s top-shelf longevity.
You see, Larkin wasn’t even born when Fahey first entered the local sporting consciousness. Or, as PJ Fahy put it this week, when Fahey first descended on Tuam Stadium in an apparition to rival what played out further up the N17 in Knock some 124 years earlier.
Not even religious manifestations are off limits when it comes to the constant Galway and Mayo efforts to outdo one another.
Anyway, we digress. Back to the woman at hand, or kid as she was then.
Child welfare rules mean the Niamh Fahey’s of today can’t do what Niamh Fahey did 19 and 20 years ago. And given the library full of burnout studies compiled in the meantime, that’s probably for the better.
Not that PJ Fahy or the people of Galway would ever rewrite a single sentence of the underdog script that took the county to its first - and only - All-Ireland senior ladies football crown in 2004.
Five days before their 2003 All-Ireland semi-final against the rivals from up the road, 15-year-old Fahey landed into her first training session with the senior panel.
PJ Fahy was Galway manager at the time. They’d won the All-Ireland junior title the previous September. Mayo had won the senior the same day, their third in four years.
If the newcomers were going to overthrow the establishment, Fahy needed to find a hat and he needed to pull a large rabbit from it.
“Lorna Joyce [half-forward on the team] told me about Niamh, and so I said of course bring her in,” recalls Fahy.
“Lorna ended up marrying Niamh’s older brother, Richie, so I think Lorna was probably looking for brownie points, you know!”
Brownie points or no brownie points, 15-year-old Fahey arrived into training the Tuesday evening before the semi-final and there changed the dynamic of a burgeoning Galway-Mayo ladies rivalry.
“The first night she appeared in Tuam for training it was like our Lady appearing in Knock. That's the only way I can describe it,” says Fahy.
“At 15 years of age, she just blew us away. We played the All-Ireland semi-final the following Saturday and not one person in the panel complained at Niamh being parachuted straight into the team because they knew we were after finding someone special.”
Galway lost, after extra time, a game they should have won. The child debutant top-scored with 1-2 from play.
Her performance also provided early notice of the road she would eventually travel down. Fahey kept the ball on the floor as much as she took it in her hand. Of the three goal chances that opened in front of her, all bar one was taken soccer style.
“We might have been beaten, but Niamh arrived that day - at only 15 years of age. Some outside the panel gave out to me for picking a child, but she turned out to be some child.”
Skip ahead 12 months. Another Galway-Mayo All-Ireland semi-final. The 16-year-old is now the team’s established centre-forward.
There’s three minutes left on the countdown clock and Galway are three in arrears. Fahey is fouled 23 metres from goal. The Mayo defenders hadn’t yet set themselves for the subsequent free when Fahey had the ball stuck in the net to force a replay.
It was a second instalment they edged by the minimum to dislodge the champions and secure a first senior final appearance.
Fahey’s final preparation was absent of cotton wool. It instead involved a week in Dublin lining out for the Ireland U19s in their successful three-game European Championship qualifying group. In their 1-0 win over Iceland, her 30-yard volley was the difference.
“Sue Ronan and I kept in touch because we didn't want Niamh to be under pressure. Niamh’s heart was in the soccer. Even at 16 or 17, she could see the bigger stage ahead and that's what she wanted.”
On October 4, 2004, the stage in front of her was a first outing at Croke Park.
Twenty-three minutes into the decider, corner-back Áine Gilmore departed injured. Dublin were dominating. They’d shortly after move 0-7 to 0-1 in front.
During the break in play to allow Gilmore make way, management reshuffled the Galway deck. The 16-year-old was redeployed to centre-back. From the 27th minute onward, the first-time finalists outgunned the favourites 3-8 to 0-4.
There were a myriad of factors in the Galway turnaround. The kid wonder from Killannin was absolutely one of them.
“She is just so confident on the ball and what she did with her distribution was just unreal,” said trainer Richard Bowles of Niamh’s performance from number six.
“It was a big ask of a 16-year-old to go back centre-back, but she was at her ease. When she went back there, the whole game changed,” Fahy adds.
A first All-Star joined the growing collection of accolades the following year, Fahey honoured in the same full-forward line as future sister-in-law Joyce.
All the while, her football graph was doing a fine job in keeping pace. Eventually one or the other would have to give.
After an Ireland friendly against Arsenal in February 2008, the Gunners got in touch with a contract offer. Katie Taylor was another in action that night at Dalymount. She too had a document put in front of her. Fahey signed the dotted line, Taylor opted against.
An inter-county championship career that had begun as a teenager finished as a teenager. Not that she completely stepped away, mind. During the 2012 off-season, she was midfield for London club Parnells as they weaved a path to All-Ireland intermediate glory.
Neither did she ever lose contact with that history-making Galway bunch from 19 years ago.
On the afternoon of her 100th Ireland cap against Poland out in La Manga, Spain last year, there on the sideline to witness this milestone achievement was PJ and his wife Mary.
“I don't fly, but I had promised Niamh I’d be there for her 100th cap,” he continues.
“A gang of her old teammates travelled up to Tallaght for the Finland qualifier last year. We have a WhatsApp group from 19 years ago. She's deeply involved in that.”
And as Fahey said herself in a recent interview, once the professional and international career has run its course, there’s a desire to pull back on the blue and white of Killannin.
“If I go back home to Ireland, I’d love to play with my club again,” she remarked.
After all, that’s where it started as the standout player on the boys’ juvenile teams. Indeed, when it came to her World Cup send-off three Saturdays ago, what setting was more fitting than the local GAA field.
The same Killannin field was thronged 22 years earlier when older brother and All-Ireland winning captain Gary brought Sam Maguire west. Beside him in the full-back line was another brother, Richie.
The pair collected the first of their two All-Ireland medals in 1998. That team will be feted at Croke Park on Sunday week. Dad Richard will deputise for Gary, the latter has made for Australia to support his baby sister.
Croke Park was a stage Niamh Fahey graced and conquered six months before current teammate Abbie Larkin was born. On Thursday, their stage is Stadium Australia.
“To stay going as she has, she’s absolutely incredible,” her old boss signs off.
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