The mothers in the thick of All-Ireland action: ‘I felt guilty going out to training’

It will be many years before Caoimhe Harvey’s baby son Rían understands why his first birthday was so special.

He turns one on Sunday when he will be in his daddy Cormac Murphy’s arms in the stands in Croke Park while his mum captains the Clare footballers in the TG4 Intermediate final against arch-rivals Kildare.

Harvey will not be the only mother in the thick of All-Ireland action.

Louise Galvin, who’ll play midfield for Kerry in the senior final, had Florian only 16 months ago.

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Their swift return to top-level action mirrors global sport, where mothers are enabled to return to their sporting prime thanks to maternity leave and childcare provisions finally being included in professional contracts.

Almost a dozen mothers have played in the current Fifa World Cup, including three Americans, France’s Amel Majri, Jamaica’s Konya Plummer, Germany’s Melanie Leuopolz and Australia’s Katrina Gorry.

Yet to return so quickly at the elite end of a team sport played by amateurs, who also hold down full-time jobs off-pitch, is arguably even tougher.

Harvey and Galvin are not the first to do it.

Monaghan’s Brenda McAnespie and Therese McNally were among the trailblazers and Briege Corkery (Cork), Amy Connolly (Dublin) and Lorna Fusciardi (Wicklow) have done it more recently.

Jerome Quinn, the live-stream commentator and chief content provider for the LGFA, has seen a significant increase in the number of mothers returning to club action after giving birth.

He did a memorable interview in January with former Meath player Fiona O’Rourke (nee Mahon), a mother of five who had just helped Skyrne reach the Leinster IFC club final.

But he says it is still rare enough at the very top end of intercounty, due to the huge level of commitment and competition for places.

The speed at which this duo returned is exceptional. It doesn’t just reflect their physical durability and talent but their ambition and fiercely competitive natures.

Galvin did an interview after last year’s semi-finals in Croke Park with her 3½-month-old infant in her arms and then confirmed that she’d just breastfed him in the dressing-room.

Given that she’d already played rugby and basketball for Ireland it was easy to chalk her down as an outlier but Harvey’s return has been just as swift. She gave birth on All-Ireland final day last year and was back training with West Clare Gaels 12 days later.

In sport, you start out packing the gear bag. As you get older the gear bag gets bigger because you’re adding in resistance bands, foam rollers, snacks and gels

—  Louise Galvin

She played a championship game after 14 days and was back for Clare’s pre-season training within eight weeks. A petite half forward, she insists that being thrown in at full forward made that first club return untaxing.

Garvey actually had a blackout at 30 weeks, while out running, which forced her to stop training and working as a markets adviser with AIB until after the birth. Yet, throughout her pregnancy, she was secretly plotting her comeback.

“I was bottle-feeding straight away and my attitude was the baby’s out, he’s good, surely I’ll be okay,” she says. “I wouldn’t tell everyone to rush back. Everybody is different. Giving birth is a huge thing. It takes nine to 10 months to make a baby and the same for your body to completely recover from it.

“The weirdest feeling was running again,” she recalls. “Your legs just didn’t move quick enough at the start but all the time I had targeted that particular club game to come back.”

The challenge was actually harder in her head and heart than in her body.

“I really felt guilty leaving to go out to training at times but I also believe it’s so important for your mental health as a mother. You have to have that hour of your own time. When they get sick that’s very hard. He had a vomiting bug one night — the only county training I’ve missed — and I needed to be there, I’m his mam!

“I found that strange at first because football was always number one. Now it’s a pastime, Rían is number one,” she says.

Yet still she couldn’t quash her uber-competitive urges. She’s only 24 and when people kept asking, “will you get back at all?” she took it as a challenge.

“The big fear for me was where would I return?” Garvey admits. “Like, could I be happy to be filling jerseys 16 to 30? In my mindset that’s not me, I’m just not that person.”

Galvin’s return was less planned for multiple reasons.

She was 10 years older and hadn’t played intercounty for six years because of her Irish rugby career. After retiring from that she soon became pregnant and thought, “sure I’m on maternity leave anyway. I may as well [train]. It’s all been positive but when you’re going back in November you don’t know if you’re going to be number 30 or 32 and you’re asking someone to constantly babysit. You wonder, is it going to be worth it?” she says.

Caoimhe Harvey’s quick return was a great boost to Clare. Her late dad Kieran was a local LGFA legend and all four sisters played when the Lilywhites pipped them in the 2016 Intermediate decider

—  Louise Galvin

Both praise their partners (former intercounty seniors themselves) and extended families for great support but, in truth, playing “county” already equips them to be the sort of logistical ninjas that athlete-mothers must be.

“In sport, you start out packing the gear bag. As you get older the gear bag gets bigger because you’re adding in resistance bands, foam rollers, snacks and gels,” Galvin observes.

“Now I also pack the baby bag. I make sure the food is ready and that wherever the dog is going that bag is packed as well. Then I leave them behind and go out the door,” she grins.

Having a baby, she says, can also help at times as a source of distraction and perspective.

“Mentally, you’re not overly focussing on the game beforehand because you have to feed him and change him. That keeps me kind of grounded. He’s also gonna treat me the exact same whether I won or lost, played terribly or got sent off. He doesn’t know any difference.”

But she is adamant that elite female players need more education and resources to help them return postpartum and has already canvassed the Gaelic Players Association for it.

“I’m a physio but not a specialist in women’s health. I probably know what I don’t know so I went and got a [specialist] women’s health physio and made 100 per cent sure, before I started running again, that I was ready to do it. To get back to [high] performance level took until early this year. If we’re paying for physio from injury then we need to also help an intercounty player if she needs a private women’s health physio,” Galvin notes.

Harvey’s phenomenally quick return was a great boost to Clare. Her late dad Kieran was a local LGFA legend and all four sisters played when the Lilywhites pipped them in the 2016 Intermediate decider.

Ciara, now a mum of two, has retired from intercounty but still plays club football while Shauna (28), Gráinne (26) and Caoimhe will all play on Sunday.

“It’s about having a mindset that you want to do this and you love doing this. That it’s not a chore, it’s good for you,” says Harvey. “My eldest sister has had two kids. I knew how hard it is to have kids and manage everything but I just think it’s so, so important, especially for your mental health.”