Ann Nolan pictured with the cup after winning the All-Star GAA state tournament.

Castlebar nurse an All-Star player in Australia

FORMER Mayo inter-county player Ann Nolan had to emigrate to Australia during the recession because she could not get a nursing position in Ireland. Today she works as a community psychiatric nurse in Melbourne and is a member of the All-Star GAA state team, writes Tom Gillespie.

Ann, from Milebush, Castlebar, is currently in training for the All-Star tournament, the biggest of its kind in Australia.

Growing up, she played for Castlebar Mitchels and was involved in basketball and athletics. After playing colleges football she played half-back for the Mayo ladies senior team in 2006 when they lost narrowly to Monaghan in the All-Ireland semi-final. She said: "We beat Galway in the Connaught final. I would have played with a lot of the players that are still playing today - Fiona McHale, Cora Staunton, Claire Egan and Marie Corbett."

Work forced her to give up playing but when she went to Australia in 2012 she picked it back up again. Said Ann: "I flew into Melbourne on a Tuesday, went to training on the Thursday and I got work out if it on the Friday.

"I’m a psychiatric nurse and it is very different than in Ireland. There are a lot more homeless and drugs problems in Melbourne. Working conditions, though, are much better. You get coverage for sick leave. If you call in sick in the morning they will get someone in for cover. It is a totally different world, with no 12-hour shifts, which makes it easier to play sport.

"I work out in the community. I was on the in-patient ward. I now work with complex care clients, basically people who have been in hospital who have had six admissions in the past year. We do outreach and see them every day and we do rehabilitation.

"There are a lot of emigrants from Mayo in Melbourne. I see more people there that I know than I would here," she admitted.

She went on: "In Australia we play club football. In Melbourne we have five teams and the best players get picked for the state team and we play in a state competition. It moves every years so I have played in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Wellington, New Zealand. All the other states play in the competition and this will be my third All-Star competition. The competition is like the All-Ireland in Australia. We won the tournament in 2016, the first time in 31 years."

Ann has several Mayo friends playing with her - Louise Callaghan from Charlestown, who played with Kilmovee Shamrocks, Anna Higgins from Westport, Gerry Brennan, Claremorris, and Sarah Dunleavy, Charlestown.

Ann, who was educated at St. Angela’s NS and St. Joseph’s Secondary School, Castlebar, attended college in Dundalk. She continued: "We were all in the same position having started from scratch after emigrating, and everyone helps one another.

"The GAA is a lot more comparative here clubs-wise that it is in Australia. At state level, though, it is more competitive. A lot of people join because they are abroad and they want to make friends. My club would be my adopted family. It is one of the reasons I stayed in Australia because I have made such good friends.

"We give up our Sundays. The pitch is an hour away. It is one of the only pitches owned by the GAA. We could be playing between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and everyone commits to it. The attendances at the games are getting bigger. A lot more of the people who have settled here are bringing their kids out.

"I really like the heat. I find it hard to climatise when I come home. I keep up to date with want is happening sports-wise on the internet and the apps, and GAA Beo shows all the games."

A delighted Ann added: "I was lucky enough to be picked for the world team in 2016. I represented Australia. We played in the world games in Croke Park. We got to the final but lost to Parnell’s of England. It was lovely to have played in Croke Park. Three girls from each state were picked.

"Gaelic football is a big part of my life. It is part of my identity now.

"At my work I ask for Sundays off and when I tell them it is for football they are totally supportive of it and I get evenings off for training."

She said they are always recruiting new players. "We even had a German girl join," she said, "because she worked with an Irish girl. We welcome anybody."

Ann went to Australia to find work after the recession dug in deep here in Ireland. She explained: "Our college has a link to Melbourne and they came and recruited us. It was a hard decision to make to go. Out of our class of 21, I have five in Australia and they haven’t come back.

"For the time-being I am happy in Australia, but home is home at the end of the day. It is lonely when you are so many miles away. Being over there I miss my family as well as the social aspect of life in Mayo. You are very far away from home and if anything happens it is a long way to go."