Rekindling Kindlon’s glory days

By Shaun Casey

WHAT’S the easiest metric of judging a GAA legend? Taking a scroll through the extensive list of personalities that have featured on TG4’s outstanding Laochra Gael series is a good place to start. Back in 2015, Niamh Kindlon sat down to tell her tale.

It’s one of success, heartache, injuries and much, much more. Eighteen years is a lifetime to commit to the highest level and Kindlon would do it forever if she had her way. Unfortunately, Father Time waits for no one.

There are very few players in the Oriel County that could match her record. An All-Ireland winner. A three-time All-Star recipient. Countless memories and medals along the way.

Her father Maurice was a huge inspiration growing up. He got ladies football off the ground in Magheracloone.

“He always felt that I had the ability, and he always said that he’d love to see me play in Croke Park.

“He gets very sentimental now that he’s a bit older and he always says that I did what he imagined I could achieve. I would feel that I could have achieved a lot more!”

As a 15-year-old, Kindlon made the breakthrough at county level and within a couple of months, she was an All-Ireland winner.

“I started young,” she said, looking back on her 18-year career.

“I made my league debut at 15 in February ’97 and I would probably have played on longer only I couldn’t really, the knees just started to get the better of me.

“If they weren’t at me, I probably would have stayed on. It didn’t feel like a long time, it’s only when I stopped and looked back that I realised it all added up, it went by very fast.

“We were a football mad family. Mum and Dad were very into football, Mum’s a Sligo woman and most of her family were into the football but Dad is the only one in his family that’s really into it.

“When ladies football started in Monaghan, our club was one of the first formed in the county in 1990. We would have played at home, but Dad didn’t think there was a such an interest in the club until 20 odd players showed up at the first training session in October 1990.

“Me and Fiona, my sister, would always have had an interest along with my two brothers and Dad thought that girls and boys should have the same opportunities.”

The ‘90s were a terrific time to follow Monaghan ladies football. The county reached All-Ireland finals in ’94 and ’95, losing to Waterford on both occasions, before finally getting over the line against Laois, after a replay, in ’96.

“Monaghan were in the Junior All-Ireland in ’92 and we took a bus from the club,” Kindlon recalled. “For some people, it was the first time they were ever at Croke Park, for others, it was just a day out.

“I think myself and Edel Byrne were the only two that really watched the game, the rest were too busy asking when we were going to McDonald’s on the way home!

“There were some great years for Monaghan, and I was playing underage county and when I was watching the final in ’96, I didn’t think one year later I’d be back playing, you don’t really think like that.”

But that’s exactly what happened. Kindlon, Byrne and goalkeeper Martina Gray won an All-Ireland U-14 in 1995, played in an All-Ireland U-16 final in 1996 and were called up to represent the county at senior level in ’97, which turned out to be a year to remember.

Monaghan retained the All-Ireland title, and Kindlon took it all in her stride.

“I remember being shocked at how nervous the older players were in the changing rooms; they nearly couldn’t speak.

“We were just so young and didn’t know what to expect. We just wanted to get playing out there, it was our dream to play at Croke Park.

“I can specifically remember we weren’t nervous, but the older girls that we looked up to were so nervous.

“Obviously that was the famous game of the 11 minutes injury time, and the crowd thought the game was over and invaded the pitch before the referee actually blew the final whistle.

“He had to get the people off the pitch and continue the match but after the game, I was just completely mauled. Finals nowadays, with no crowd on the pitch, it’s great because you can be with your teammates but it’s lovely for the crowd to come out as well.”

Little did they realise that 1997 was as good as it got. As hard as they tried, Monaghan couldn’t replicate the success of the 90s ever again.

They reached five more All-Ireland finals, twice Kindlon was the captain, but they never held the Brendan Martin Cup aloft again.

“We were so young and I always say that. I lost so many after ’97 and I was fortunate to have won one, but when you look back, I didn’t realise what I had won until I got older. I was too young to appreciate it.

“We were the only senior team in Ulster so every year you were automatically in an All-Ireland semi-final and a game away from Croke Park. We lost obviously in ’98 to Waterford (after a replay) and then it was so sporadic.

“We were back in ’02, 2008, 2011 and 2013 so times changed then. Other teams emerged, Mayo came along and hurt us a few times and Waterford did too, Cork as well.”

Getting an All-Ireland medal is the pinnacle of anyone’s GAA career, but not getting a second still rankles with Kindlon.

“I captained Monaghan to finals in ’02 and ’08 and obviously that would be a big regret,” she continued.

“When I look back, ’08 not as much but in ’02 we only lost by a point, and we had Mayo on the rack. We probably should have won. Little inches here and there, ifs and buts, they’d be big regrets.

“Even ’98, I was young and thought we’d be back every year, but when we lost one, that feeling, I really wish we’d have won another one again after just to feel that difference. I won one straight away and lost five after that.

“It would have been really nice to climb the steps and lift the cup but there’s load of people that don’t get the opportunity to win an All-Ireland, so I’m still very thankful.”

While another All-Ireland medal alluded Kindlon and her team, she did receive some personal recognition during those years, picking up All-Stars in 1998, 2002 and 2008.

“My first two All-Stars, it was very different in those days,” she explained. “You travelled to the All-Ireland winners, as an All-Star team, and played the team that had just beaten you a week previous.

“It’s crazy. It could have been in a community centre or a bar, and you’d have food and got your reward but come ’08, you were up in the City West Hotel, and all the 45 nominated players are all there so it’s a completely different experience and super craic.

“We had the brilliant All-Star trips, and I was very fortunate to get on three different trips.

“I got to San Francisco (as a replacement), Dubai and then Hong Kong so I got to see the world because of ladies football.

“It’s an individual award but you can’t win it without your teammates. I’d give the three of them back for one more All-Ireland to be honest.”

Injuries are part and parcel of the game and Kindlon suffered her fair share of knocks as well. Two cruciate injuries, one in either knee, in 2003 and 2010 caught up with her in the end.

“My sister had done her knee the same year, but she’d actually done her cruciate five or six years previous.

“When it was sore, she would have built it back up, strap it and play. We won a club championship in ’97 and she had a torn cruciate for a good few years.

“In ’03 then, it came to a head so both of us actually ended up have the operation in the same year. Cruciates are the name of the game in our house because she’s done two, I’ve done my two and my brother has done one of his!”

On retirement, Kindlon continues: “I had to get cartilage removed in 2015 and the consultant said I needed to take a step back. My sister is a physiotherapist so she probably broke it to me that I should think about retiring.

“I could still play club football, and I played in ’15 and in ’16 we reached the Intermediate county final but every couple of weeks I couldn’t train because the knee was constantly sore. If I played a match, I couldn’t train for a week after so that was it.”

Kindlon, a plumber by trade, still fills her time on the football pitch. She’s moved onto the sidelines now and is in charge of her club team Magheracloone, an emerging force in the Farney County.

“We setup an underage structure so for six or seven years we were with the underage teams and had massive numbers and a good ethos in the club and it blossomed from there.

“As a result, the club is very healthy. We have two teams across all levels and two senior teams as well. In 2019, Fiona and I got involved with underage county teams as well and done that up until 2023.

“In 2024 we decided to take a year out, that was the plan, but the chairperson at the club asked us to take the senior team so that’s where we are now, we’re in year three.

“We probably prematurely got to a senior county final for the first time since 2002 in ’24 and beat Donaghmoyne on the way to it and stopped their 22 in-a-row but we got beat in the county final. Last year Donaghmoyne got revenge and beat us in the semi-final.

“Playing was easier than management because there’s so much organising and planning whereas when I played, you just turned up and I have gratitude now for the coaches I had in the past and the work that goes into it.”