Born: November 25th, 1944
Died: May 21st, 2026
Liz Howard, a pioneer for female representation in Irish sport, has died at the age of 81.
The 27th president of the Camogie Association, she was also the first woman elected as a member of the Tipperary GAA County Board and was the first female analyst to appear on RTÉ’s The Sunday Game programme.
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Howard was named Tipperary Person of the Year by the Tipperary Association in Dublin in 2007. Often referred to over the years as “a force of nature”, she left a lasting legacy across the Gaelic games family.
“Liz was so passionate about the GAA and of course her beloved Tipperary,” commented former Tipp manager Liam Sheedy. “She helped out so many over the years and made a telling contribution in senior positions across the GAA and camogie communities and of course her role on The Sunday Game.”
Born in Carrick-on-Suir, her father, Garrett, won five All-Ireland senior hurling medals – three with his native Limerick and two with Dublin. The family later moved to Clare, where Howard’s parents set up the Feakle camogie club.
As a camogie player, Howard wore the colours of Feakle (Clare), Roscrea and Knockshegowna (both Tipperary), Celtic and Phoenix (both Dublin).
She won a senior National League medal with Tipperary and an All-Ireland junior medal with Dublin but it was as an administrator where Howard really made her mark.
In 1980, she was elected as Tipperary GAA PRO – becoming the first female board member of the county where the association had been founded in 1884. Howard remained in that role until 2003 and by the time she stepped away the Tipperary trailblazer had become one of the most recognisable public relation officers in the GAA.
Howard was already a familiar face to the GAA fraternity anyhow after spending three years as a hurling and Gaelic football analyst on The Sunday Game – which launched in 1979.
Outside of sport, Howard had a long and successful career with Aer Lingus, working in several roles from ground and cabin crew to human resources and eventually manager of the airline’s cabin crew for Europe.
And it was through her HR role that Howard ended up as a sports pundit. Having appeared on RTÉ Radio to promote a recruitment drive for Aer Lingus, broadcaster Mick Dunne heard the interview and recommended Howard try her hand at GAA punditry. She was many years ahead of her time for it would be decades before television sports coverage would regularly feature female analysts.
Howard was president of the Camogie Association from 2006-09, the first Tipperary person to be elected to the organisation’s top position. She strived to modernise the association during her time in office and pushed for greater promotion of the sport.
A former PRO of the organisation too, she served the Camogie Association with distinction across several decades and continued to work for the betterment of the game after her presidency.
“On behalf of the Camogie Association, I would like to share my sympathies with Liz’s family, her many friends, former colleagues and the wider Gaelic games community on her passing,” said current Camogie Association president, Brian Molloy.
“Liz Howard was one of the great servants of our Association, someone who dedicated decades of her life to the promotion and development of camogie at club, county and national level. Her contribution to our sport was immense.
“Liz brought passion, intelligence and enormous energy to every role she held. She was a proud advocate for camogie and for women in sport, and her leadership helped strengthen and modernise the Association during an important period in its history.
“She will also be remembered as a deeply respected figure within Gaelic games, whose love for camogie and hurling shone through in everything she did.”
A highly skilled administrator, Howard was asked to serve on several national committees by the GAA. She was a strong advocate for integration of the three Gaelic games organisations – GAA, Camogie Association and Women’s Gaelic Football Association.
Above all else, Liz will be remembered as a proud Tipperary woman, a trailblazer, a mentor and a loyal friend
— Tipperary GAA
Speaking to The Irish Times three years ago, she said: “I grew up in a household where equality was never mentioned, it just existed.
“We never thought we were any better or worse than our male counterparts. I think that was a great bonus, but in other ways it was also a big impediment because I believed everybody thought the same.
“If integration is entered with an open attitude, acceptance, respect, and in the true meaning of the word equality, then it can be the most powerful amateur sporting organisation in the world.”
In 2012, she was appointed to Sport Ireland’s anti-doping disciplinary panel and remained a keen and informed commentator of sport on social media until recently.
Howard was also a massive tennis fan and travelled across the globe to watch the best players in the world – though primarily to catch her beloved Rafael Nadal in action. It was joked at her funeral mass in the Church of the Holy Spirit, Youghalarra, on Monday that in Howard’s mind the only blot against Nadal was that he never hurled for Tipperary.
For despite living in Dublin for many years, it was Tipp where her heart always remained.
On April 19th this year, while an in-patient at the Mater hospital, Howard convinced doctors she had to leave for the day to visit a very sick elderly aunt. Later that afternoon, she was to be found in Semple Stadium watching Tipperary play Cork in the Munster senior hurling championship.
“Above all else, Liz will be remembered as a proud Tipperary woman, a trailblazer, a mentor and a loyal friend to so many throughout the GAA and camogie communities. Her passion for the Premier County never wavered,” stated Tipperary GAA.
On the morning after last year’s All-Ireland SHC decider, she sent this writer a picture message of a blue and gold flower perched upon a Tipperary themed bauble. It was accompanied by a simple dispatch: 2025 All-Ireland senior hurling champions, have a nice day.
Liz Howard died peacefully at the Mater hospital last Thursday.
She is survived by her sisters Pat O’Driscoll, Jo Needham and Ann O’Meara, her brother Gary, sister-in-law Aileen, brother-in-law Tommy and many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.
