caNext in the series of interviews with ‘Kiladangan Abroad’, we have former Kiladangan camogie player Sarah Kelly who has been living in Canada since February 2018.

1. So, let’s wind the clock back to a time before you left Kiladangan and tell us what your connection was with the Club?

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been going to matches with my Dad (Joe Kelly). I always knew that hurling and football were a big part of my life as it was a huge part of my Dads and the poor man had no sons and so the minute any of us showed interest in sports, Dad jumped on the chance to get us trained up and involved. Also, growing up right across the road from Paraic Kelly helped as it meant that as we got older and he made friends with the lads and got too “cool” to play with me, I had to at least try to hurl so I could attempt to puck around with him, Bull (Ruairi) and Eanna Gleeson and the late Kian Hayes, so as not to be left out of all the fun. Then in 1st or 2nd class in school under the direction of Paul Dooley, a few of us girls jumped at the chance to go to the pitch to train with all the boys as soon as we were able. Then when I was 9 or 10, Olivia Hogan, Mags Minihan, Shelly Seymour and a few more came into the school to tell us that they were setting up the Kiladangan Camogie Club. I started playing straight away and played up until I moved to Maynooth for college. Even after I’d stopped playing, I still tried to never miss a game, even driving from Wexford to Tipp the morning after a mad wedding for the 2016 County Final. I still keep up with the games on Twitter and watched last year’s County Final on GAA Go.

Sarah receiving a medal from her uncle in law, Conor Ryan, with her father Joe also pictured

2. When did you move and what was it like getting settled in and established

I moved to Toronto in February 2018. I’d grown so tired of Dublin and had always wanted to travel. I set my sights on New Zealand and looked into getting a visa and work but there didn’t seem to be a huge amount of work in my area available. Two of my old housemates from Dublin had already moved to Toronto and seemed to love it and so I applied for a Canadian visa to have as a backup plan, was approved for the visa within a week or two, booked my flights a week later and abandoned the New Zealand idea.

Moving was tough. Toronto is notorious for being a difficult place to get housing and good employment, and I was very lucky to have those two friends already here (I still live with one of them to this day, she acts as my own private therapist if I’m ever feeling homesick or on Kiladangan or Tipp game days, except for when they play Wexford), and my mother's cousin had moved here when she was in her early 20’s and so her, and her family took me in as one of their own, helped me get sorted with furniture and things and have treated me to many an Irish family dinner. I worked temp jobs for 3 months until I found a job that suited me well and ended up working on some really cool projects with some amazing companies.

3. Can you briefly describe to us your life now, work, family (if any) and have you time to be involved in GAA activities?

I work as the Creative and Marketing Project Manager for a toy company called YuMe Toys so I get to help lead and develop design of toys for Warner Brothers movie releases, Kellogs cereal giveaways, My Little Pony and more. It’s a nightmare at the best of times but it’s an opportunity that I would have struggled to find or get into at home and so I’m very lucky. I love going to live gigs with my friends, spend heaps of time with my Canadian family (my mother's cousin and her family) and summers are still jam packed with GAA.

One of the first things I did when I moved was look into a camogie club as I’d heard making friends in Toronto could be tough,so I joined Toronto Camogie Club, or as they’re now known - Le Cheile Camogie. Through the camogie club I did a referee’s course and met some girls who played football. I got on really well with those girls and so before I knew it, I was a member of Durham Gaelic Football Club, a club of which I’m now the secretary. Joining these clubs changed my life for the better in Canada. I've made so many friends that I will have for life and I got to enjoy camogie all over again. I didn’t realise how much I’d missed it. In 2018, I was the only female player to win a Toronto Senior Camogie and Football Championship medal, having played full back for the camogie (a position that would have terrified me in my youth).

4. Looking back again at your time in Kiladangan, what would be your prominent memory of being around the GAA field in Puckane?

I have too many great memories, I don’t know where to start. As much as I used to annoy them, I always loved attempting to puck with the lads mentioned above and more lads and girls as we got older. I remember the GAA summer camps being the highlight of the summer. The Intermediates winning all around them and winning the All Ireland in 2004 / 2005 will always be remembered. At the time we were allowed to stay out late and I’ll never forget the celebrations that went on in Puckane and all of the people that came from all over to celebrate with us. It felt like Kiladangan was the centre of the universe on those nights.

Winning the 2008 North Senior final was another great one as I was of an age where I could really celebrate the win, most of the lads I’d grown up with were on the panel which made it extra sweet and all of my best friends from school were from Burgess (they wouldn’t even let me stand with them for the match) so I took great pride in slagging them for weeks after.

In 2009, my Dad managed us camogies and we won the Junior B title after years of hard work. My sister Paula broke her finger during the semi and didn’t tell us until after we won the final the week after (her fingers are still messed up to this day) and it was the icing on the cake to have my Dad guide us through it all. Lastly, my favorite memories of the pitch in Kiladangan are the memories of random Sunday afternoons when my Dad would take myself, Paula and Edel for pucks, or since myself and Edel have moved country and taken up football, Christmas evenings spent in the field kicking around with Dad and Edel, learning how to solo and to kick further (poor Dad has county football medals with Waterford, long story, and would only love if one of us became the next big Tipp football star, but I’m not sure that will happen any time soon)

5. We’ll assume you manage to get back ‘home’ for the odd family reunion, holiday etc, can we ask what do you look forward to the most?

Seeing the family, there is nothing like it after we have gone so long not seeing each other, seeing my friends, being back in the country air, seeing Niall McGrath for one of the best pints of Guinness, heading to Una Powells for more great Guinness, a dance in the Talbot, some amazing food at the Whiskey Still, a bottle of Club Rock Shandy, a Richard’s 3in1 and my mother's amazing sausage rolls! This year I even managed to get in a Tipp V Limerick game with Dad and I was so so lucky to have been home to watch the Under 21’s win the county final. It was the best Christmas present and I’d missed watching Kiladangan play so much!

Watching the Toronto Maple Leafs playing hockey

6. Tell us a little bit more about your life away from Kiladangan, for instance, what’s your weekly routine, how do you attack the weekend, and what’s a holiday from where you currently live?

Monday to Friday is pretty much the same, go to work, try to force myself to the gym, try go to see some live bands and on a Thursday, myself and my housemate go for a pint, it’s become tradition. From February to September I’d train for camogie or football at least 3 times a week, usually with league or championship on Saturdays. The summers here are roasting hot and so I go to the pool or lake and get outside as much as possible as the winters get pretty cold (can get as low as minus 30!!) and this past winter, I tried my hand at skiing for the first time, which I really enjoyed. In terms of holidays, I’ve tried to visit other cities in Canada such as Montreal and Ottawa and we go to the USA a lot. Last year we went to the North American GAA Championships in West Virginia and I met an old friend, Michael Sheedy from Portroe and some of the Silvermines lads which was great craic. For a break last year, myself and a friend went to Mexico and this year the plan is to go to Jamaica for the dreaded 30th birthday. South America is very accessible from Canada and so I’d love to see more of that!

Sarah with her parents, Joe & Margaret at Niagara Falls

Skiing at Blue Mountain, Ontario

7. Finally, do you have a message to send home to Kiladangan?

Just a big hello to everyone, I hope everyone is safe and well and I miss the place heaps. Being far away has only made me appreciate home more and the community we have in Kiladangan gives me so much pride that I bawled crying the whole way through the county final this year when watching it on GAA Go, but happy, prideful tears. It really is amazing to watch the club go from strength to strength every year.

8. Who is your favourite Kiladangan player, past and present?

I know my dad would say Martin Kennedy or Seamus Hogan, but I never got to see them play. Growing up, I remember chanting TC, TC at the games, the great Tommy Connors. But I have to give it to Joe Gallagher! Joe has been an amazing hurler ever since I’ve known him, and he’s shown so much consistency over the years, a really classy hurler he is! And also, Barry Hogan has come up along and proven to be one of the best goalies I’ve seen. I truly believe we’ll watch him in goal for Tipp for years to come.

I couldn’t leave out the camogie either! I’ve been lucky enough to play alongside some of my camogie role models over the years like Olivia Hogan, Mags Minihan, Celine Connors, Lol Nolan and more, but watching Regina O’Meara as a young girl was amazing. Regina played for years and never really retired, she just played a little less as the years went on and my god, was she a powerhouse until she did stop! Emma Mulqueen was also the best camogie goalie I’d ever known, still is, and my sister Paula made us Kelly’s fierce proud when she went on to win a couple of All Ireland medals underage with Tipp!

Durham Robert Emmets, 2018 Toronto Senior Football Champions

9. Have you any funny memories/stories from your time involved with Kiladangan, be it whilst playing, supporting etc.

Most of them involve nights out for various club fundraisers, we really know how to throw a good session in Kiladangan! I’ve had so many laughs at nights like the Strictly Come Dancing, Stars In Their Eyes and the Mock Wedding (Where my poor mother and sisters and I got to watch as my Dad married my old pal Tom Seymour - nothing completely new there as my Dad loves an aul fancy dress!) I also have great memories from the GAA Summer camps, we were always up to devilment. I remember getting in big trouble with the late Maura Hackett one year because myself and Maria Minihan had been trying to play tricks on the boys and we got caught trying to put a big jar of spiders and slime in their dressing room. Poor Maura had to help us clean it up, and made us apologise to the boys but lucky, we played camogie with all her girls so she didn’t stay mad at us for long.

The Happy Couple - Joe Kelly & Tom Seymour

And a few random questions to finish:

10. If there was a transfer market in hurling, who would you buy for Kiladangan?

Unless they bleed Blue and Gold, I’d rather not have them :P

11. Name any 4 people (dead or alive) that you would invite to dinner?

Sorry, I couldn’t leave out one,

Michael Collins

Gerry Conlan

Freddy Mercury

Stevie Nicks

Serena Williams

12. What’s your favourite sporting moment of all time?

The Intermediate Hurling final in 2005 will always be one. Watching Ireland beat England in the rugby in Croke Park in 2007 was amazing and would have put pride in the hearts of any Irish person! Lastly, I’m not a big basketball fan, but living in Toronto and watching the Toronto Raptors win the NBA for the first time ever in 2019 was something I’m not sure I’ll ever be lucky enough witness again! I had watched some of the games that season with some Canadian friends that were big basketball fans and so I was invested a little but even if I hadn’t been, witnessing the millions of people that thronged the main streets of downtown Toronto, climbing up traffic lights, trucks and more, celebrating until the very early hours was an amazing experience! We got the following day off work and the day after that, we all got to attend the Raptors parade where the players and Drake paraded through the streets to celebrate more! It was a celebration on a whole other level.

2018 La Cheile Camogie Awards - Toronto Senior League & Championship winners