Monaghan footballer Jodie McQuillan, widely regarded as the sort of talent who will lead the Farney back to the top tier of ladies football, is certainly not short of inspiration or advice.
Her mum is from Limerick, a county her uncle Jason Stokes served with longevity and distinction. “He was a good strong midfielder so I like to get a few tips from him whenever I can.” says the rising 20-year-old from Castleblaney who also plays centre-field.
Yet it is even closer to home that she has found a real-life hero and ally. “Whenever I was growing up Monaghan were hugely successful and the likes of Amanda Casey, who also played in a similar position to me, would have been a major idol of mine.
“When I came into the panel first I ended up playing with her. You’re looking up to these people and suddenly you’re in with them!
Inter-county legend Casey wasn’t just helpful on the field of play, she used to bring her to training. “Amanda only lives five minutes away from me. She just took me under her wing and was so lovely to me. I’d have been one of the youngest coming in at the time so to be comfortable around someone of her experience was just brilliant.”
Casey not only starred for Monaghan but won five All-Ireland senior club titles with Donaghmoyne over a 10-year period.
The queens of the Farney club scene live, literally, in the next parish. Their long dominance probably helps explain why ‘Blaney Faughs didn’t have a girls team until Jodie was 12 and had to play with boys until then.
Blaney faughs moving football on
Yet age gaps and club rivalries were put aside as Casey generously mentored her and McQuillan’s own calm demeanour also helped her get through a frustrating injury in 2022.
“I broke my foot last May and it took me a long time to get back, it just wasn’t healing. I missed all of the championship with Monaghan. I finally got back in the club league final and haven’t looked back since,” she explained at the recent launch of the five-year extension to AIG’s insurance partnership with the LGFA.
Going on to win the Ulster junior club title proved an ideal comeback. The club, like the county, are now competing at intermediate level but McQuillan has no shortage of experience amongst and against some of the country’s top talents through third-level football.
Mayo’s Saoirse Lally has become a close friend as they’re also in the same physiotherapy class in UCD where their O’Connor Cup teammates also included quality like Lauren McVeety (Cavan) and Caitlin Kennedy (Tipperary).
“In first year I found myself marking (Dublin’s) Jennifer Dunne, which was very daunting but colleges’ does give you a different perspective. You realise these players are not that much different and maybe you can be where they have got to, that they’re just at a different stage of their careers,” McQuillan wisely observes.
Going back to Monaghan
She travels home twice a-week – Wednesdays and Fridays – for county training and games but says that living and playing with others who are juggling the same commitments helps manage the heavy student-athlete workload.
“When there’s other people around you trying to play and balance everything else it does make it easier because you can share your experiences.
“Monaghan are very much in a transitional period at the moment but we’re trying to build back. In my last year minor we finally beat Cavan in Cavan, which was a massive hurdle for us. We went on to win Ulster out but didn’t get a crack at the All-Ireland due to Covid.
“Our current minors have just won the Ulster title, we’ve had plenty of success at underage, so there’s no shortage of players and talent there. It’s just about building a platform and a system now that girls can excel in.”
Monaghan are grouped with Wexford and Roscommon in the TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Championship which begin on the weekend of June 10-11.
“We’re small but a proud county who always feel we can compete at the top level so it was a blow to go down but you have to embrace it too. Intermediate is not easy at all and we’ve seen what Meath did from winning it so it gives us a chance to blood players and hopefully get a bit of momentum now and push on.”
