By Daire Walsh   

On a day when a number of her former club-mates will be in action for Donegal in the TG4 All-Ireland Senior Championship, Eimear Alcorn will be busy with her own inter-county assignment this afternoon.  

Hailing originally from the Termon club – with whom she won a Donegal SFC crown in 2019 – Alcorn has just ended her second year of an undergraduate degree in physiotherapy at the University of East London (UEL).   

She transferred to Tir Chonaill Gaels upon her arrival in the English capital a little under two years ago and subsequently made her debut for London in a six-point defeat to Limerick in the Lidl National League in February 2022.   

Alcorn is also a part of manager Patrick Bowles’ plans for the 2023 season and was selected at right half-back for their impressive TG4 All-Ireland Junior Football Championship Group B triumph over Derry at McGovern Park in Ruislip a fortnight ago.   

While she will begin her day in Navan, Alcorn and her London colleagues will then embark on a trek up to Donagh for a crucial group stage encounter with 2023 All-Ireland Junior finalists Fermanagh (throw-in 1pm).  

“Getting that Derry game back home in Ruislip was a nice treat for us. That you’re actually getting up in your own house, getting your own breakfast in you, going to the game a bit normal-ish,” Alcorn said of just the second home game London have had since she joined the panel.  

“For the Fermanagh game this weekend, we’re actually flying on Friday evening (yesterday). A good few of us are having to leave work early for a 7pm flight. Into Dublin on Friday night and then getting back down to Dublin on Saturday after the game to come back to London Saturday night.  

“We’re not even staying around the Fermanagh area. We’re staying in Navan and then travelling to Fermanagh on Saturday morning.”  

Had Alcorn stayed in Ireland, there is every chance she could have been a part of Maxi Curran’s Donegal senior set-up alongside a sizable Termon contingent that includes 2021 TG4 All Star Geraldine McLaughlin, Emer Gallagher, Nicole McLaughlin, Ciara McGarvey and Jodie McFadden. She represented the O’Donnell County from U13 up to U19 and also attended a few training sessions with the senior squad, without officially being a member of the panel.  

Throughout her time in the inter-county underage ranks, she trained in different locations around Donegal – such as Letterkenny, Killybegs, Moville and the GAA Centre of Excellence in Convoy. Whereas she normally travelled by car when she was back home, Alcorn’s commute to training in London is markedly different.  

“We train usually up in Greenford, West London or out that direction. At winter time we were training on a rugby pitch out that direction and we do the odd night in Ruislip. They’ve a small training pitch up there. I’m living more North-East, so travelling for me is about an hour and 20 or an hour and 30 minutes door-to-door with buses, the tube and walking!  

“It’s completely different to jumping in the car at home and driving maybe 25 minutes into Letterkenny to now having to organise your day. Have your bags with you in the morning because you’re kind of away for the night.”  

While she will finish up her course in UEL this time next year, Alcorn currently has her sights set on remaining in London on a more long-term basis. Just this week, she completed a community-based work placement which saw her dealing with a number of people who are suffering from neurological conditions.  

Having found herself at something of a loose end during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic back in Donegal, she jumped at the opportunity to take on a challenge across the water and is content with how things are progressing at the moment.  

“I wasn’t doing anything at home. I worked for a while, did different bits and then there was obviously Covid for a while. I didn’t go to university or college or anything in Ireland. It was something I had in my mind that I wanted to do. I looked into it more and I saw over here as an option.  

“I thought it would just be maybe a different experience from doing it in Dublin or Limerick or wherever it was available in Ireland. Definitely now that I’m here and I see it, you definitely see a lot more than maybe you’d see at home. There’s more opportunities here for placements and things like that."  

Nevertheless, Alcorn is aware that circumstances can change very quickly and she is therefore eager to make the very most of her time with the London ladies footballers. The same is true of her boyfriend Nathan McElwaine, who accompanied Alcorn when she left their native Termon in 2021 and has himself featured for the London men’s football team over the past two seasons.  

After losing out on a place in last year’s TG4 All-Ireland Junior Football Championship semi-finals on score difference, today’s game against Fermanagh and a forthcoming clash with Carlow at Netwatch Cullen Park tomorrow week (July 9) present the Exiles with the perfect chance to put things right.  

Should they make it into the last-four, Alcorn and her team-mates will be just 60 minutes away from a much-coveted trip to Croke Park for All-Ireland finals day. Given London have appeared in seven junior deciders at GAA HQ in the past, winning the top prize in 1993 and 2008, it is certainly within the realms of possibility that they could do so again.  

“I know some girls are there longer, but are unsure like myself how long they’re going to be here. I know it’s probably not going to be forever. It’s not going to be a five-year squad. It’s changing in and out every year. While you’re here you want to do as best you can,” Alcorn added.  

“Say ‘I was in Croke Park, I was playing for London!’ While you’re here, you’re here for only a limited time with this team. I’d love to do as best we could. To get to that level would just be amazing for us.”  

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