Cheryl Masterson recently had the opportunity to sit down with Joan Gilmore, who has just achieved the remarkable milestone of becoming only the second woman ever to be inducted into the Ballycran Hall of Fame. In this interview, Joan shares her journey, challenges and insights that have influenced her time at Ballycran.
- How did you get into camogie, and did you have an idol?
To be honest I didn’t have an idol at the time as I didn’t have any clue about the game and certainly no family background. The nearest background would have been my mum’s 2 brothers Pat & Seamus Bailie from Ballygalget. If I told the truth I started going to Ballycran at the age of 16 to see a young blonde-haired guy who seemed to be pretty handy with the stick.
- When did you join the club?
I joined the club in 1971 at the age of 16 and after a couple of weeks the game began to grow on me. My first camogie match was a few weeks later in Loughlinisland and then after I had to rush home to play a senior game in the evening. My first county match was about 6 months later, and I owe my county experience to Gerry Mullen (RIP) who introduced me to this level of camogie as in 1975 & 1976 I had the opportunity to represent my club in an All-Ireland final in Croke Park and especially in 1976 when I went on to play centre half back win an All-Ireland medal and win three ulster medals.
- Can you tell us how you managed your life back then, how you juggled your family life, work
and camogie?
I got married in 1980 and my first child was Amelda, who was born in 1981. I suppose camogie had to take a back seat for a while, as Stephen my second child came along in 1983. I went back to camogie including county in 1985. I still don’t know how I did it thinking back. But, then after Niall and Michael were born, family life really took over and county took a back seat, but I still managed to train as much as I could with Ballycran. I still managed to get to as much training as I could and also Eamon was playing hurley. It wasn’t easy with 4 children and Eamon doing nightshift at times, but we both worked together so we could both play the game that we were and still are so passionate about.
- Francie mentioned to me that you captained the team the year the camogs won the league and championship. How did you feel that day when the final whistle blew and the team had won the championship, also with Amelda playing alongside you?
1996 was a great year as we won the Junior League and Championship. It was exactly 25
years since I had joined Ballycran. Brendan Savage and Geraldine O’Prey were the
managers. I was captain, it was a year to remember. Yes, my daughter Amelda played on
the same team at the age of 16. We played Bryansford in Portaferry. It was a very tough
match, but we won by 3 points. I was 41 and still playing.
- When you retired from playing you joined the Executive Committees and to this day still help a lot through the club – did you enjoy being in the committee?
I retired possibly about 2 years later after having won the Championship and league.I enjoyed my time on the committee’s, I always love to help out around the club. When you are involved in something like this, you never really fully retire. You just find other ways to be involved in the club/community.
- So, the reason I’m here this evening – you were named in the Hall of Fame. How did you
feel when your name was called out, what did it mean to you?
I was totally taken back and shocked. When it was mentioned as the award, I was sitting back trying to think who it was or who it could be and for some reason I had a man in my head, so when my name was read out, I couldn’t quite take it in, and it was nice to see family members there.
- How do you see the club now compared to years ago?
Obviously, we have moved on with the times and that can only be a good thing. We have an abundance of young players both hurling and camogie. Just this week I watched the under 16 boys against Bredagh, a brilliant game of underage hurling. Monday night it was the under 12 camogs against Liatroim, a brilliant wee team with players as young as 9 playing. Tuesday it was the under 16 camogs playing Mayobridge. Ballycran scoring 8:08 and Mayobridge scoring 4:09 was a brilliant game to watch, the skill of the girls was amazing. The 3G facilities are second to none, there’s a good group of hard-working folk keeping the wheels turning. I wish both the Hurley and Camogie many years of success, keep up the good work. No pain, no gain.
Many thanks to Cheryl Masterson for providing this interview and the photographs.
