By Daire Walsh

Considering how strongly connected her family is to the club, Niamh McIntosh has felt privileged to be captain of St Ergnat’s Moneyglass for their successful 2025 championship campaign.

Taking over from the vastly-experienced Cathy Carey – who remains an integral part of the side – McIntosh was skipper when Moneyglass secured their fifth Antrim senior championship title in succession with a final victory over St Paul’s on October 4 of this year.

This provided the Saffron outfit with the confidence to push on in the provincial series and last Sunday week saw them overcoming Tyrone’s Errigal Ciaran at Brewster Park in Enniskillen to claim the Ulster senior club championship crown for the very first time.

During her speech as winning captain for the latter showpiece, McIntosh mentioned that her mother Pauline McCoy had started ladies football in St Ergnat’s back in the 1990s. While she already had reason to be grateful, the above fact made Moneyglass’ Ulster triumph all the more special for the influential defender.

“I remember being younger and going to training with her at Moneyglass and hearing all the girls chat to me. Telling me how big a part she was in starting the whole thing. I think she was on the sideline, she was pregnant with my brother when they won their Ulster junior championship in 2003. She has always been a big part of Moneyglass ladies,” McIntosh explained.

“She started my footballing career, she was my first underage coach. So to stand and lift our first Ulster championship for the club with her starting the whole thing 30 years ago was really special for us. It was my first year as captain this year, stepping in with some very big shoes to fill.

“Cathy Carey had been our captain for the last number of years. She just made a decision, she wanted to step away from that role a bit and focus on her football. They put me forward and I was happy to stand in, but it’s not without her guidance and her support.”

As a result of lifting the Antrim and Ulster championship trophies, McIntosh and St Ergnat’s find themselves in ‘uncharted territory’ at Pairc de Burca in Stillorgan tomorrow afternoon (throw-in 2pm). Fresh from bagging their fourth Leinster title on the bounce, Kilmacud Crokes will welcome Moneyglass to their home patch for an AIB All-Ireland senior club championship semi-final.

Defeated by Galway’s Kilkerrin-Clonberne in last year’s decider, Crokes are aiming to book a return to a top-tier national showpiece at Croke Park on December 13. Moneyglass will enter their bout with the Dublin side as underdogs, but despite acknowledging how tough a challenge it is set to be, McIntosh is eagerly anticipating their visit to Crokes this weekend.

“It’s obviously uncharted territory. No Antrim team has ever been this far in a senior club championship. I think we’d be naïve to ever think about the final when we’ve got such a big game ahead of us with the semi-final and Kilmacud. That’s all we’re really focusing on at the minute.

“Even getting here has been a big achievement for us, but we’re relishing the opportunity. We’re training hard, we’re working hard and we’re really looking forward to it. Going down to Dublin at the weekend and just giving it our all really.”

McIntosh would be making a second trip to GAA HQ for 2025 if Moneyglass did manage to get past Crokes tomorrow as she featured for Antrim in their TG4 All-Ireland junior football championship final bout with Louth at the Jones’ Road venue on August 3.

Joining her in the Saffrons starting line-up for that game were her club colleagues Aine Devlin, Sarah O’Neill, Aoife Kelly, Maria O’Neill and Bronagh Devlin. The Ulster side had won a Lidl National Football League Division 4 title and a TG4 Ulster junior football championship crown earlier in the year, but they ultimately fell short to Louth in their All-Ireland JFC showdown on a final score of 0-13 to 1-8.

Nevertheless, when you take into consideration their relegations from the league and championship in 2024, McIntosh believes it will be remembered as a positive year for Antrim.

“We were able to take the first step in getting Antrim back to where it should in winning the league and we were very close to getting the All-Ireland. Louth unfortunately were the better team on the day and pipped us to the post.

“It’s something to aim for next year and with new management in this year, with those fresh eyes, it was a real good building year. We’ve a lot of strength coming up through the minors as well. Hopefully we can build on last year and everybody is feeling positive about it.”

A senior debutant for the Saffrons back in 2017, McIntosh actually missed out on the 2024 inter-county season owing to work commitments. A general medical doctor, she was based at the Altnagelvin Area Hospital in Derry during this period and didn’t think it was feasible to combine her daily life with that of a top level Gaelic footballer.

However, McIntosh has since found herself located much closer to home again and this led to her making a return to the Antrim panel for 2025. There is still a balance that needs to be struck, but having watched a number of stars – past and present – doing the same, she believes it is possible to be both a working doctor and an active inter-county footballer.

“Thankfully I’ve moved a bit closer to Belfast and to training for a lot of this year. A bit easier in terms of travel time. The hours still made it quite difficult, but we made it work,” McIntosh added.

“I always remember growing up and looking to the likes of Noelle Healy, who played for Dublin and Caroline O’Hanlon, and just thinking ‘God, they’re able to do it. Work as doctors and train as doctors. Be outstanding ladies footballers at the same time.’ It was always really inspiring.

“Niamh Reel, who plays for Armagh, we went to medical school together. To see her doing so well for Armagh is really inspiring as well. It’s possible and it’s great to see female athletes having big careers.”

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