By Daire Walsh

There aren’t many ladies footballers who get to make their competitive senior inter-county debuts in Croke Park, but that is exactly how it turned out for Dublin’s Kate Sullivan back in February 2019.

Having stood out on a minor team that reached the semi-final of the All-Ireland ‘A’ Championship in 2018, Sullivan was drafted into the Jackies set-up by then manager Mick Bohan ahead of their campaign in Division 1 of the Lidl National Football League. When the team was announced for an opening round fixture against Donegal in GAA HQ, Sullivan was listed amongst the substitutes.

Yet on the day of the game, she was officially added to a starting line-up that also included fellow debutant Sarah Fagan. Sullivan had been aware quite a few days in advance of this encounter that she was going to be selected in the Dublin attack and even though the game ended in a 1-11 to 1-7 defeat for her side, it was a day to remember for the St Sylvester’s attacker.

“It was a great one to get my debut in. Especially going into a stadium like that was brilliant. That was a day I’ll probably always remember starting off my Dublin career. I found out earlier that week that I was going to start. Obviously the team came out and I don’t think I was named on it, but obviously it was keeping that quiet and just telling family,” Sullivan explained.

“It probably helped a little bit as well that there was no noise outside or any expectations on it. Going into the match then, Mick approached me a few days before the game, just letting me know. I was obviously a little bit nervous, but delighted to get the start and especially so early on in the league.”

When Sullivan first arrived on the Dublin senior squad, she was surrounded by a wealth of playing experience – not least in the form of her Sylvester’s club-mates Sinead Aherne, Nicole Owens and Niamh McEvoy. After being an unused substitute when the Jackies defeated Galway in the All-Ireland decider of 2019, she came off the bench and scored a point as the Metropolitan outfit claimed their fourth consecutive Brendan Martin Cup crown in December of the following year.

By the time Dublin won their next TG4 All-Ireland senior football championship final in 2023, Sullivan was a regular starter in the side and kicked a second half score to help the Jackies overcome Kerry on a score of 0-18 to 1-10. Having suffered a quarter-final exit to Donegal in the previous year’s All-Ireland series, there was a determination within their ranks to return to the top table of the inter-county game.

The absence of a number of high-profile players from their previous Brendan Martin successes meant that Sullivan and others like her had to assume extra responsibility on the field, but this was something she was more than willing to do.

“I think there was a lot of hurt after the previous year and I think going back into that season, we put a huge emphasis on wanting to get in. Wanting to enjoy it, work hard. Get ourselves back together as a group.

“Some of the older girls had gone on and my age group or group of friends had become a more experienced group in the team. It was great to get over the line and see the impact that you’ve had that year. The contribution that you were able to give to the team.”

Now in her seventh season as a senior panellist, Sullivan has featured in four of the five games that Dublin have played in this year’s Lidl NFL Division 1 under the new joint management team of Paul Casey and Derek Murray.

Heading into their sixth round game away to Tyrone later on today in Dungannon, the Jackies are currently fifth in the Division One standings with seven points.

After Mick Bohan brought the curtain down on a wildly successful stint as Jackies boss a few months on from a quarter-final defeat to Galway in the 2024 All-Ireland championship (a game Sullivan missed with a hamstring injury), Casey and Murray were subsequently appointed as his successors.

Both men had already been part of the Dublin set-up before as selectors and Sullivan feels this has made it an easier transition from Bohan’s stewardship.

“It was that little bit smoother that the guys and the rest of the management team were already kind of there with a few new faces in. In terms of them being there and working on things that players were familiar with, it wasn’t as big of a change. We were still able to build on things that we previously had been working on while also adding in a few new things as well.

“It probably wasn’t too new in terms of starting from scratch. Especially with some new, younger players coming in, the older girls were a bit more familiar with a few things that we were going to be working on during the league. Everything is going great with the two lads. Delighted with them.”

Even when she isn’t lining out for Dublin or St Sylvester’s, Sullivan is engrossed in sport through her day job as a Head Coach for Kick Start Movements.

Co-founded by former Dublin players William Lowry and Micheál McCarthy (who is also a member of St Sylvester’s), KSM is a unique physical and nutritional programme for kids aged between 2 and 7. Delivered through schools and creches in Ireland, each 35 minute class uses KSM’s three step model, covering movement, socialisation and nutrition, to help kids boost their confidence and self-esteem.

“I’m enjoying working with them and the sport side of it. Getting to go in and teach younger kids that movement side. No matter whether they want to go into Gaelic or hurling or camogie or basketball, or anything like that. Just teaching those fundamentals, so that they have that confidence,” Sullivan added.

“Especially girls, who seem to drop off around 12, 13, 14 years of age. I’m a big believer of, if you kind of get them between three and seven years of age and you get their core fundamentals up, that they’ll have the confidence as they do get older in those teenage years.”

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