Niamh Divilly opened up about what it’s like playing on the same team as her older sisters, Olivia and Siobhan.
While it might seem like a coincidence, her club Kilkerrin-Clonberne has two other sets of sisters too.
She comes from a big football family with their father Michael on their club management team alongside manager Willie Ward.
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Niamh explained that she grew up surrounded by football, between her father’s duties and her two sisters.
She told RSVP Live: “I’m a good bit younger than Olivia and Siobhan, so they would have always grown up playing together. It’s only since I’ve started playing with the seniors that I’ve actually played with them and now there’s three of us. There are three sets of three sisters on our team. There’s a big family element on the team.”
She started playing due to her father’s connection to the team, but she also ended up falling in love with the sport.
“My dad would have been involved all the way up with Willie Ward in managing the team, so I was dragged along with him to training and I was sitting in the dressing room. I think I had no other option, but to fall in love with it. That is definitely one of the main factors that got me playing.
“I do love the game and I do love playing it. I love the community element of it and how it brings everyone together.”
Gaelic sports have always been hugely popular within the same families, but Niamh is noticing a shift.
“We would have been playing in the garden together. You do learn that way and you have that love for it. It is becoming more that everyone is joining. There’s a big promotion for younger girls playing football.
Hopefully, it will become a thing that everyone is involved at some level. Right now though, it is hugely family based.”
Players develop an incredibly close bond with their teammates, with Lauren admitting that there nearly isn’t a difference between her sisters and her teammates.
“I think it’s an automatic thing. It can be easier to give out to them on the pitch or tell them if they are doing something wrong because you’ll be forgiven off the pitch.
“As a team though, we are very close so I do think there isn’t much difference between being sisters or being teammates. We spend so much time together that it’s nearly the same thing at this stage.”
Niamh is an ambassador for AIB and spoke about their support of the All- Ireland Ladies Football Club Championships finals.
She said: “This is the first year we’ve got to work with them. It’s a nice step towards equality that the ladies football is now in with the men’s game as well as camogie and hurling. It’s definitely a step in the right direction.”
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