By Cian O’Connell

“Being part of a club anywhere in the world, especially in a vibrant city like London, it becomes so much more than the football itself,” Sinéad Coyle explains.

The Round Towers Ladies Football adventure continues. Significant progress has been made since 2017, but the team remains eager to improve further.

Michael Maher, the current London senior football team manager, has been an influential figure in a tale that has featured triumphs, but most relevant of all, a sense of community.

“On paper, for a club that was set up in 2017, we've been in four county finals in that time,” Coyle says. “We have won two of those, we have been in two All-Britain finals, winning one of those for the first time in the club's history, and we reached an All-Ireland quarter-final last year.

“It was definitely a great year and the reasons behind it are we harness a squad approach. We are very close and tight as a group of people. The ethos has always been that everything we do, we do it as a group.”

Responding to setbacks and defeats, though, has been vital too according to Coyle. “At the start of last year's season you wouldn't have seen us get to an All-Britain final, we were a bit hit and miss with some good results and some bad results,” she says.

“Even when we took the losses the option was never to be who is at fault or who is to blame? It was how to fix it and I think that brought us closer together as a group.

“You have to say Michael Maher, the London manager, has been such a big driving force behind us. He doesn't expect anything in return other than a bit of commitment. To get the most out of anything, I think you have to commit a little. Our closeness as a group has driven us so far.”

That spirit is vital. Coyle, from Ballyroan in Laois, moved to London in 2010, working as a nurse, but rekindled her passion for football when Round Towers Ladies were formed.

“I joined in 2017 when we were setting up, I was coming down for a little bit of craic and a bit of fun, I didn't realise how much it would grip me,” she laughs.

“It is bigger than yourself. You want to win, you want to play well when you turn up to all of the training sessions. It is for your team mates, it is so much bigger than yourself. That spurs people on.

“In 2017 I heard about this, that they were setting up a new club and that they wanted people to get involved, to make it successful. I went down and took a chance, I've loved it ever since. I've not looked back, I can 100 per cent say that no matter how bad I felt going to a training session on a windy or wet evening, I've never regretted it.

“I've always felt better being part of that rather than not going or sitting in on an evening when it is wet and rainy. I'd say every year has been relatively successful.

“We've got to county finals and things, we've had disappointments, but we've taken them well and have retained a core group of people in the club. We've just continued to build on that really.”

The inclusive approach captured Coyle’s imagination. While the majority of the players live in the Tooting, Mitcham, Colliers Wood, and Clapham areas, everybody is welcome in the club.

“We get between 25 to 30, so we aren't a huge number, but the fact we are quite close with the mens club, you find a lot of the lads will watch our games, and vice versa,” she says.

“There is a real community feel, even though it is small. We welcome people from all abilities, the majority of football in London has always been based in the north west.

“A lot of the clubs and the catchment area has been there. When I was living in south London there wasn't that many football clubs to play for, it wasn't in my mindset to be travelling across London to play. So when one set up on my doorstep I snapped at it, to be honest.

“The majority of our players live local to the club. We have always promoted that because the community side of it is big. It is such a vital part of the GAA, everyone is welcome from anywhere across London.

“We have a girl, who is Canadian with no Irish roots whatsoever, she learned to play football in Korea. She lived in the area, joined us, and is an integral part of our club. There is an open door policy, you can come from anywhere across London.”

Coyle and a number of others from Round Towers featured for London at inter-county level in 2023 which was another source of encouragement. “This year a group of us just committed, do the travel, get playing with London,” Coyle says.

“It is such a great opportunity to be able to represent where you are living at county level. You can progress football itself because it is such an important part of life for so many people living in London. It has been great to do that.

“One of the barriers in previous years - because we've had footballers with so much talent come through our ranks - the distance to travel from south London to train with the county team which is usually based in Greenford area or Ruislip.

“It is an hour and a half away, nearly a three hour round journey after work. I think that has been a bit of a barrier for some of our players going to play with London previously.”

Growing up in Laois, Coyle enjoyed sport, fondly recalling happy times playing and training with her father. “He was a big advocate of women's sport actually,” she says.

“He did a lot of coaching with teams around the area, I grew up in a small village in county Laois, not the biggest stronghold of football, but we've had our moments.

“The ladies last year won the intermediate All-Ireland final and won a senior ladies back in 2001. So it is ingrained in the community in Laois. My club was Ballyroan, I played with them underage. I played in school too.

“When I finished I started studying nursing in Athlone so it became more difficult with travel and because of all the shift patterns when I was on placements.

“In 2006 or 2007 football took a back seat a little bit. When I got my 10 year break when I came back to football, I didn't know why it took me so long to get back involved.”

It meant that Coyle returned with a mixture of determination and enthusiasm. “I've no regrets at the same time, maybe it is the nurse in me, but you start to see things differently,” she says about going back to play football at a competitive level once more.

“You prioritise things differently, so when I went back I was a bit more mature and could see that being part of a club and a community is so much more than just football. The training, winning, and results - maybe when you're younger - you're very focused on that.

“Now I see it from a very different angle, I see being part of it all and the journey. Whether your season is good or bad, you have a journey with a group of like minded people. You are together, it is lovely, it is an instant social network. It is mentally and physically challenging, but you always come out of it better than you have gone into it.”

Round Towers ladies footballers have contributed on and off the field in London. “As a club we've had players feature for London, but we've also had players heavily involved in the set-up and the development of the county board in London and at provincial level,” Coyle responds.

“We do want that development and to make it more holistic and accessible for as many people as possible. It is nice to have both sides of the club, the ones that want development and then obviously the players representing at county level.

“One of our longest serving players, who was here when it was set up in 2017, Tara Keogh, she is the chairperson for London and has done a fantastic job getting London back involved in the league this year and last year and playing in the championship.

“That takes an incredible amount of work. We've also got other members, Joanne Long, I was involved temporarily myself with the county board and I help out now with the provincial board. We are all about developing women's football, in particular, but also in general the whole ethos of the GAA across London.”