Bláithín Bogue: Answering Ireland’s call

Bláithín Bogue has won titles on both sides of the world but will represent Ireland in next month’s NAB AFLW game against Australia. She spoke with Michael McMullan

It will be a proud moment next month when Bláithín Bogue steps out as part of the Ireland team against Australia.

From the early days playing for her club Tempo, to breaking into the Fermanagh team, to winning All-Ireland titles, football has always been at the forefront of her life.

When Fermanagh drew with Antrim in the 2022 All-Ireland final in Croke Park, Bogue’s talents grabbed the attention of AFLW scouts in attendance.

When the phone rang days later, she weighed up her options but finishing off her pharmacy studies came first.

It was a polite thanks but no thanks. The calls continued and once her student days in Queen’s were over, the answer changed to yes.

As Fermanagh’s 2024 All-Ireland celebrations morphed into a second day with the offer of a third, Bogue’s thoughts switched to packing for life in Australia.

It took time to settle into a new sport. Having missed pre-season in her first year, 2025 would prove an unforgettable journey that yielded a premiership medal, a place on the All-Australian team and finishing top of the scoring charts.

Bogue is heading into her third season with North Melbourne as they eye a third successive title.

Before that, she’ll be part of history as Ireland and Australia lock horns in the first ever game between the two countries.

“Growing up, I probably never thought I’d ever get the chance to represent Ireland,” Bogue said.

“I used to love watching the Ireland men play the Australian men in the International Rules.”

It irked her that the same avenue hadn’t been available to Ireland’s top female players.

The fact that she’ll be part of the first ever game adds another layer to her pride.

“There are nine North Melbourne girls playing (for Australia) so we are joking about it in the club.

“Our Head Coach in the club, ‘Crock’ (Darren Croker) is the Australian Head Coach.

“Obviously we’re going to be competitive and we want to go out and win, but there’ll be no bad blood between us.”

When the concept of the game was floated a few months ago, Bogue mentioned it to her parents Kevin, Caroline and the family back home.

When the news came through recently of her inclusion in the squad, there was an immense feeling of pride.

“They’re proud that I’ll be representing Ireland,” she said. “They’re probably just feeling the same as me, the honour that it is to represent your country.

“I suppose being from the North, it’s an even bigger honour I’d say. Sometimes we have to fight a bit more to show our Irishness. I’ll be wearing the Irish jersey with pride.”

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When Kevin Bogue was coaching the Tempo U10 teams that included his sons Caoimhin and Tiarnan, Bláithín was never far away.

“I was pretty much football obsessed from five years up and it’s been a big part of my whole life really,” she said of the early days.

There was a bit of netball and athletics when she joined Mount Lourdes Grammar School in Enniskillen but football always ruled the roost.

“When I got out of U12, I started training with the U14 boys,” she recalls.

“The U14 girls and U16 girls were training at the time and I think my brother just told me it was time I moved over.”

The rough and tumble of playing alongside the boys helped her learn to look after herself on the pitch. It also forced her to polish up on her technical skills.

“They’re (boys) always out learning skills when they’re younger, so have more of a skill set at a younger age compared to the girls.

“That’s probably changed now because of things like the Gaelic for Girls, which I’m actually an ambassador for with the LGFA,” Bogue points out.

Girls starting out now have more players to look up to with the improved media coverage of the Ladies’ game.

However, Bláithín’s father Kevin stands at the top of her list of influences.

“Even just before I’d gone to Australia, I still would have asked Dad to come up to the field,” she recalls.

“If I was kicking the balls over the bar, he’d throw them back out to me.”

She looks back on a summer when some extra sessions were needed to improve her finishing. After missing goal chances in five games in a row, it was time to swap power for precision.

“Dad brought me up to the pitch. He put two cones either end of the goalposts,” Bláithín recalls of the need to aim for the bottom corner.

“He put wheelie bins out for me to use, like a side step, and I was to aim to hit the cones.”

That was a change of mindset from blasting shots and invariably making a hero out of the goalkeeper.

ALL SMILES…Bláithín Bogue pictured with her parents Kevin and Caroline and her North Melbourne teammate Vicki Wall. Picture: North Melbourne

“The first game, fair enough,” Bláithín continues with a giggle. “The second game, I was saying ‘right come on’ and the third game Dad was like ‘Jesus Christ, come on, you need to stop blasting at the ‘keeper’.

“Nearly any time I was coming in on goal I was saying ‘don’t kick it at the ‘keeper, don’t kick it at the ‘keeper’ and then I ended up kicking it at the ‘keeper.”

In time, those extra sessions helped Bláithín improve her game and she is indebted to her father for helping shape her career.

Praise was there if it was deserved but there were car journeys after games hadn’t gone so well where home truths were dished out.

“In fairness to him, he’d give you credit when credit’s due,” she said. “I couldn’t say there’s anyone else that would have had as big of an influence than Dad has.”

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Numbers were never overly plentiful on Tempo’s underage teams and after U14, Bláithín was among those to step straight into the senior team.

They have won junior and intermediate titles with hope of pushing on towards a senior championship. The intermediate success came when she was in Australia. That hit hard.

While missing family and friends is the toughest part of being in Australia, the thought of missing out on the football team back home is always a factor when now considering contracts.

“I played Queen’s football every year. That was one of my favourite teams I’ve ever played with, just the craic we had with the girls.

“If I didn’t play football in Queen’s, I probably wouldn’t have had the same enjoyment out of uni.”

Making the breakthrough into the Fermanagh senior team was also down to necessity and dwindling numbers.

The minors and seniors were training together on evening ahead of the seniors’ away trip to Kilkenny.

“I just got asked did I want to go along,” she said of the first call. “I ended up getting minutes. I was just going for the trip because we were getting the night away and there was a whole novelty.”

After a night chittering away with teammates up in the room, sleep wasn’t very plentiful. There was an assumption that they were only down to make up numbers on the bench.

There was disbelief when asked to warm up but Bogue made an impression. With a couple of players down with illness the following week, she was handed a first start against Wicklow.

SETTING THE TEMPO…Bláithín Bogue in action for her club Tempo against Brookeborough

She was part of the 2017 All-Ireland winning team, seeing off Derry in a replay after digging out a draw in Croke Park.

Fermanagh lost the final two years later and Bogue had stepped away for the 2020 success before a return to the fold for the 2022 run to an All-Ireland final replay defeat to Antrim.

“We obviously didn’t get that success in 2022 but we actually had a very enjoyable year and we all became very close,” Bogue added.

She pointed out how her cohort of players were forced to lead the charge after some experienced heads had stepped away.

“Once we finally won it (in 2024) it was nearly as if the group of players hadn’t won it before because it was a lot of us younger ones.

“Even a lot of the girls that won it in 2024 maybe weren’t actually playing in 2020.

“My sister Cadhla-Cara was very young in 2020, so for a lot of them it was their first time experiencing winning while playing.

“We also had never won it in Croke Park before because in 2020 it was Parnell Park and then in 2017 it was the replay in Clones. We thought that there was a bit of a curse on Croke Park for us.”

Having put off the move to Australia two years earlier, Bogue had her pharmacy degree tucked away, allowing her to work as a locum in the times when she is back home after the North Melbourne season.

On the field, her AFLW move has been a successful one but it wasn’t without the need to work at a new game.

The scouts are on the lookout for skilful players with the athletic profile that will suit a professional approach.

However, it was still a different sport. Aside from the obvious homesickness, perfecting the kick was Bláithín’s toughest opponent in the beginning.

“When we kick a Gaelic ball, we roll the ball off our foot,” she points out.

“Whereas, if you roll the AFL ball, it will go anywhere. It is all about your ball drop. It took me a while to get used to that.”

SISTER ACT…Bláithín and Cadhla-Cara Bogue celebrate Fermanagh’s 2024 All-Ireland success

After sustaining a dislocated shoulder training with Fermanagh, she jetted back to Australia early for an operation. With contact training parked during her recovery, it offered time to practice the skills.

It was something she had also tapped into back home in Fermanagh – spending time dropping the oval ball and kicking into her father’s trailer to work on the accuracy.

It was like the wheelie bins and the cones again. Repetition and habit that paid off.

AFLW also entails a different outlook towards positioning. Bogue’s game with Tempo and Fermanagh was about evasion into the open spaces. It’s different in Australia.

“You don’t want to be too far away from your teammates,” Bogue explains.

“You want to be able to pass to them because if you get tackled holding the ball, then it’s a free to the other team.”

There’s also the mark and catching the ball with opponents allowed to push in the back, another major difference from the game back home.

“I think that’s one of the biggest things I’m struggling with this year, trying to run and jump for the ball,” she adds.

“You don’t always get the chance to do that, so it’s being able to push off players and use your strength a bit more which wouldn’t be part of my game.”

After sitting out the 2024 season and watching her North Melbourne teammates play, win and celebrate games, it lit a fire to want the same.

There was also the challenge of breaking into a team that hadn’t lost a game since the 2023 Grand Final.

It only added to the thrill Bogue felt when she won on her debut last year. As the season continued and the finals’ phase approached it was all about keeping her spot.

“When I got the text that I was going to be playing the (2025) Grand Final I was just so excited,” she recalls.

There was a nervousness that is natural but a buzz and togetherness that comes with spending almost 40 hours every week in the team environment.

“You build a bond with the girls, so I just knew how much fun it would be the next couple of days after, if we won it,” she added.

After her latest stint back home, Bogue has her eyes locked on the clash with Australia and the season to follow with North Melbourne.

There is still the love of Fermanagh and the thoughts of returning to Tempo and dreams of a senior title at some point.

“I’m such a homebird,” she admits. “Each year I come back out, I settle in a lot quicker but each year I leave (home), it’s a lot harder to leave.

“I’m glad it is only eight or nine months that I have to do. I don’t know if I’d be able to do it if I had to stay out here all year round.”

Life in Australia is enjoyable and there has been the sporting success to back it all up.

While there was always a family summer holiday abroad growing up, football often saw Bogue miss out on time in America with her friends.

In some ways, so much was put on hold. That’s what made the Australia enquiry so attractive. But it’s not home.

“A woman (in Australia) had asked me last year why the Irish always go home and that they’d miss the good weather,” Bogue recalls.

“It’s so hard to explain the community aspect that we have at home that is probably missing out here.

“Going into your local shop, not leaving it for half an hour because you’re just bumping into different people.

“Going up to the football pitch, watching a game and just chatting to everyone you know.

“It’s that sort of thing that you miss and obviously your family and friends.”

They’ll all be tuned in when Bogue and her Ireland teammates step out into the international arena for the first time.

It’s a long way from Tempo to Sydney but stepping around wheelie bins and kicking balls into a trailer, under her father’s watch, has served her well. Bláithín Bogue was born to play.

The full interview with Bláithín features on this week’s Gaelic Lives podcast. Check us out on YouTube or Spotify for more.