By DAIRE WALSH
While injury has kept her out of action in recent weeks, former Republic of Ireland women’s soccer international Méabh De Búrca has enjoyed being part of the continued development of Salthill/Knocknacarra in the past couple of years.
Having previously lined out for St Michael’s and Salthill at underage level in Galway, De Búrca later found herself returning to the former due to the latter not having a team that catered for female adult players.
Yet Michael’s had a similar issue themselves in recent times and this led to De Búrca switching back to her former club two years ago – not long after their memorable march to an AIB All-Ireland junior football championship title in 2022.
Although she has unfortunately been sidelined since July, De Búrca will be keeping a watchful eye on Salthill's senior and junior ladies sides this weekend. Later this evening, the club’s second team will take on Annaghdown in a Junior ‘B’ championship semi-final, while their first 15 are set to face Claregalway in the last-four of the senior county championship tomorrow afternoon.
“I grew up playing with St Michael’s boys and I had played with Salthill/Knocknacarra girls as a teenager. St Michael’s didn’t have a girls team at the time, so I moved across. Then Salthill didn’t have a women’s team, so I moved back to St Michael’s,” explained De Búrca, who won three trophies with Salthill in 2024.
“Two years ago then, St Michael’s couldn’t field a team in the league, so then I made the short journey across back to Salthill again. I’ve watched their development from afar. Winning the junior All-Ireland and then now pushing on to senior level, it’s a great achievement really.
“To be up there and to have retained the Senior ‘A’ status this year was a big goal. To have achieved that, regardless of the results for the rest of the year, I think that will have been a successful year.”
Despite embarking on a career that would see her accumulating more than 50 senior caps for her country from 2006 to 2017, De Búrca continued to juggle soccer and ladies football moving into adulthood. Even though she made the journey to the United States in 2009 to undertake a soccer scholarship at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, the Galwegian soon linked up with the Fermanagh club in Yonkers – a city located in Westchester County, New York.
From there, De Búrca found herself representing the Big Apple on the inter-county stage and she started on the New York side that featured in drawn and replayed TG4 All-Ireland junior football championship finals against Wicklow at Croke Park in 2011. Their second bout with the Garden County ultimately ended in a 2-10 to 0-8 defeat, but this is a period in her sporting life that De Búrca still recalls with fondness.
“We came back to play a quarter-final and a semi-final in one trip. That was a great 10 days. Then we came home again for the All-Ireland final, which was just incredible. Unfortunately for us, the game ended in a draw.
“So we had to go the 3,000 miles back to New York and come back in two weeks’ time. Wicklow got the better of us that day, but all in all it was just really, really special to be there. To be able to be in Croke Park on All-Ireland final day.
“It really stands out as definitely one of the highlights of my sporting career. Even given all the soccer stuff I achieved, that one really stands out for me as such a special memory.”
Though stints in professional soccer over in Norway (Amazon Grimstad) and Sweden (Eskilstuna United) kept her away from Gaelic football for an extended spell, De Búrca returned to Ireland to sign for Galway WFC in December 2013 and proceeded to join the county’s senior panel for the following year.
She was also a member of the Galway set-up in 2019, but while it is a considerable claim to say she has togged out for the Tribeswomen and the Republic of Ireland soccer team, De Búrca is far from being alone in this regard.
At various stages in the past, De Búrca's former international team-mates Niamh Fahey (an All-Ireland senior winner with Galway in 2004), Julie-Ann Russell and Dora Gorman have also worn the maroon jersey at senior level with considerable distinction.
Remarkably, this quartet have all featured on the LGFA club scene this year with Fahey and Russell representing their native Killannin and Moycullen respectively, whereas Gorman is donning the colours of Clontarf in Dublin.
“Three former senior internationals playing in the Galway club championship. I think it was a really big part of the three of our developments growing up. A lot of that as well is down to the fact that we could juggle both, I think, as well. Even Dora Gorman too would have represented Galway and Ireland as well.
“There’s a lot of players that have played both sports and I know there’s a lot of discussion about whether players should focus on one sport or be able to try and spread themselves over a couple of sports. It definitely worked out for the three of us anyway.”
Although she works regularly as a soccer analyst with RTE and TG4 in addition to her day job as an accountant, De Búrca is also actively involved in a number of programmes that are currently being run by the LGFA.
As well as being part of the association’s ‘Learn to Lead’ female leadership programme in the PR/Media strand, she has also been an athlete mentor for the Lidl #SeriousSupport Players’ Programme since 2021.
This particular initiative is designed to educate teenage girls about the positive mental and physical health benefits of playing sport, but it also aims to increase participation and reduce drop-out rates for teenagers in sport – something De Búrca feels remains a big issue in today’s society.
“It’s definitely an area that can be improved on. I know it’s hard because it is a huge issue. It’s good to be involved with something like that, where the opportunities wouldn’t have been there when I was at that age. It’s enjoyable just to go into schools alongside other former inter-county players. Just to try to make an impact as much as we can,” De Búrca added.
