DREAM FIRST YEAR FOR ROISIN MULLIGAN
Richard Bullick
Newly-crowned County Player of the Year Roisin Mulligan has revealed that she didn’t immediately snap Greg McGonigle’s hand off last December when her club boss invited her onto the Orchard panel in his capacity as the new Armagh manager.
But far from reflecting any disrespect or indifference on her part, the initial caution was because the young Clann Eireann defender was clear-headed enough to know the significant commitment involved and she wanted to be sure she could do it right.
Becoming a county footballer was something she had aspired to and the prospect of playing for Armagh was a huge honour but the then 20-year-old didn’t just giddily let her heart rule her head in saying ‘yes’ straight away.
The Queen’s University undergraduate had impressed McGonigle while helping Clann Eireann make history as the first female team from the Orchard county to be crowned Ulster Club champions last autumn and he wanted her in with Armagh.
Mulligan’s exceptional contribution to the Orchard’s outstanding season, culminating in that individual award win in the Carrickdale Hotel recently, certainly endorses McGonigle’s judgement and Roisin recalls that first phonecall which, thankfully, had a positive outcome.
“I was in my student house in Belfast when I got an unexpected call from Greg. He asked if I’d consider coming to county. I was shocked and said ‘ok I’ll think about it’ because I knew it was a lot of commitment. But he pushed hard for an answer and I said ‘I think I will go’.”
Likewise with this interview invitation, Roisin didn’t just glibly say yes but, after agreeing, just like on the pitch she took it in her stride, chatted comfortably and confidently for 80 minutes in reflecting on her meteoric rise and a remarkable year just gone.
A little livewire corner back who defends tenaciously and loves streaking forward from deep on blistering breaks, the youngest player in Armagh’s starting team this year talks in the same nimble, bright, spirited, positive way she plays.
The first time Mulligan really caught this writer’s eye was in last season’s county final when, despite being a little-known youngster in a Clann Eireann team packed with household names, she struck me as a credible Player-of-the-Match contender.
Some players earmarked for stardom from a very early age don’t necessarily reach the top whereas Mulligan didn’t really make major waves as a teenager but has shone at the elite level as Armagh’s breakout star of 2024.
“I went to Our Lady’s Grammar School in Newry and we got to an Ulster C final but lost it. I played on a few underage county teams but didn’t really enjoy it that much so ended up focusing on club football,” she explains.
“Obviously Clann Eireann are very strong and I didn’t get my spot on the team in my first two seasons up with the seniors under James Daly but it was a privilege just to be training with girls I looked up and learning from them.
“When Greg came in, it was an exciting new chapter and a fresh slate where everyone had their chance to impress. The training was nothing like I’d ever experienced before and he made me believe I could nail down a starting spot.
“I got a chance to showcase what I could do in league games with the county players absent, became a regular and, as you say, that county final last season was a good day. We won and the match went well for me personally, so I took confidence from that.
“Clann Eireann hadn’t made much impression provincially before but Greg really raised our sights and made us believe we could win the Ulster title. We won our quarter-final down in Cavan against Drumlane and then met Moneyglass at home in the semis.
“They’d knocked out Donaghmoyne in the previous round but we played out of our skins and I think that was the day we really began believing in ourselves as a team. The final against Bredagh in Healy Park was a tough game but we won and it was so special for the club.”
Roisin’s dad John actually comes from a place called Ballygawley in Sligo – “my nanny lives down there and we’d go to Strandhill in the summer” – while mum Elaine is an Aghagallon woman but, having attended Tannaghmore PS, joining Clann Eireann seemed logical.
“I always loved sport and, like many, did a bit of everything including cross-country. My dad was involved in soccer, so I played with a boy’s team. I liked netball too, and made development squads, but began focusing more on gaelic football through my teens.”
Hearing Roisin say her sporting heroes were mainly in her own club – admittedly she was spoilt for choice in Clann Eireann – is a striking reminder of how ladies gaelic’s exposure, in terms of more matches being available to view, is a relatively recent phenomenon.
Including Niamh Murray initially and teenager Aoibhin Donohue by the end, a total of 10 Clann Eireann representatives were around the county set-up last season with Mulligan becoming one of half a dozen regular starters.
Despite the Clann Eireann players returning late after their heroics at club level, and her being a county newcomer, she got the nod to start against Waterford in the first NFL fixture in mid-January as Armagh returned to Division One after a six-season absence.
“It’s daunting going into a new team environment, with people you haven’t even met before, but having so many clubmates made it easier on and off the field for I not only knew them but was used to playing with them.
“I was shocked to get a starting place for the opening game, but (clubmate) Clodagh (McCambridge, in her first match as new county captain) texted me that morning telling me just to do my best and that I’d nothing to fear.
“Conditions were terrible and it wasn’t my best game but thankfully we got off to a winning start and making my debut was a very proud day,” says Roisin, whose supportive parents travel everywhere to her matches.
She started all but one of the 13 Armagh matches this year, the last regular league game at home to Dublin when McGonigle fielded an experimental line-up with the Orchard’s place in the final already secured, and picked up an Ulster All Star nomination.
Nailing down a starting spot from the outset of your first season of senior inter-county football is quite something in itself, but bear in mind that Armagh were playing the country’s top teams one after the other with Mulligan coming up against famed forwards.
“When Clann Eireann played Bredagh, I was marking Down’s Laoise Duffy but then with Armagh you’re facing the likes of Dublin captain Carla Rowe, Kerry legend Louise Ni Mhuircheartaigh and so forth.
“We won a number of tight games and qualified for Armagh’s first ever Division One final with a round to spare. I felt very privileged getting to play in Croke Park in my first season and it was surreal sitting there in the changing-rooms beforehand.
“It was such a memorable experience. We were behind but then really hit our stride. I saw a clip of Aimee Mackin’s stunning goal again there recently. It just gives you butterflies and I hope we can get back to Croke Park for big games in the year ahead,” enthuses Roisin.
Having lost and won Division Two finals there the previous two seasons, Croke Park is becoming more familiar for Armagh but Mulligan is mindful that stalwarts like Lauren McConville and Aoife McCoy didn’t get there for many years after their Orchard debuts.
After that historic National League title triumph, Armagh’s next big goal was reclaiming the provincial crown from bitter rivals Donegal and they duly did so but it took extra-time in a scorching Clones to become Ulster champions for a fourth time in five seasons.
“I’ve never played in heat like that and the game went to extra-time in sapping conditions so we were incredibly relieved to come through in the end, especially after losing Aimee Mackin to a bad injury during the game.
“I was just at the final last year as a spectator but most of the girls had been playing then and were determined to make amends for that defeat. Greg had us well prepared but it was my first Ulster final for Armagh so nerve-wracking enough going in.”
Armagh’s general gameplan this year of defending in numbers and attacking at pace suited Mulligan’s strengths, though despite her regular forays forward, Roisin ruefully reminds me her only point came in the home win against Galway in February.
Just like last year’s county final being when Mulligan made her initial impression on me as a player, Roisin’s interview with LGFA videographer Jerome Quinn offered a first sense of her chirpy personality as she chatted cheerfully on camera.
“I’d actually spoken to Jerome before so wasn’t nervous about doing a quick interview. We’d won our third game out of three, I’d scored my first Armagh point and was really enjoying my football so I suppose the happiness came across.
“Looking back now, we had a really successful season and I feel fortunate to have come into the set-up in such a good year. It’s a privilege playing county football but also a serious commitment and you need to apply yourself properly for your own sake and everyone else’s.
“It’s about much more than turning up, for there’s no point travelling an hour to training just to be there. The harder you work, the more enjoyment you get. We were well rewarded for our efforts this year and the ambition is there to keep pushing on as a team.”
A few things went against Armagh in that semi-final against Kerry but they feel like credible contenders now for the sport’s top prize, though the focus for some of the Orchard heroes more recently has been on a separate push for All Ireland glory in their other orange jerseys.
Even after an intense first season with Armagh, Mulligan felt hungry for Clann Eireann’s new club championship campaign and it proved another rewarding autumn as they retained both their Orchard county and Ulster titles in emphatic fashion.
“Winning with the club last autumn helped pave the way for me to become a county footballer and then the experiences with Armagh built up my confidence further and probably benefited a number of us going back to Clann Eireann afterwards,” she reflects.
“Because of what happened last season, we knew we were good enough, though there was more expectation on us this time. The away win against Emyvale set the tone and we followed up by going to Kinawley and winning a rough game in terrible conditions.
“Beating Moneyglass again got us back into the final, in which we had an unreal start against Lurgan. I’m still relatively new into the team myself but it’s been good seeing even younger players pushing through in Clann Eireann and hopefully that augurs well for the future.”
She has been on the losing side in three All Ireland semi-finals in the spare of 12 months but Mulligan rightly isn’t downbeat because she feels that both Armagh and Clann Eireann can keep pushing on with each of these experiences standing to them moving forward.
Being crowned Armagh Player of the Year was something Mulligan never expected and she had to pinch herself as it became apparent that incoming county manager Joe Feeney’s warm words were about her.
“Joe really speaks from the heart and has so much passion for our team. Some of the biographical detail he went into maybe made it obvious who he was talking about but I still could barely believe it when my name was announced.
“You can’t get carried away with winning awards in a team sport but even being in the frame for Armagh Player of the Year would be a huge honour. I was standing there on the stage next to Caroline O’Hanlon, an absolute legend, just proud to be part of the county team.
“As I said, it was nice coming into a county set-up with so many clubmates but I’m also lucky to have such experienced players as Caroline and Kelly Mallon to learn from. They’re so knowledgeable and have been very supportive towards me.”
Having opted to play university football for the first time this season, third year Pharmacy student Mulligan should also benefit from working with another Armagh great, as 2006 All Star corner back and retired Orchard captain Caoimhe Morgan is now managing Queen’s.
By being a county footballer who plays for a very successful club, Mulligan has a busy schedule all year round already but the youngest starter in Armagh’s regular line-up this past season has the energy and enthusiasm needed to deliver for a third team too.
