Girls Play Too: Inspiring Stories of Irish Sportswomen

By Jacqui Hurley

Irish sportswomen have been breaking the mould for a very, very long time. In 1956, Maeve Kyle became our first female Olympian, and in 1978 rally driver Rosemary Smith broke the country’s land-speed record! Through the 1990s and 2000s we had world champions in Sonia O’Sullivan, Derval O’Rourke and Olive Loughnane, and more recently, the fantastic Katie Taylor, Kellie Harrington and Annalise Murphy have been among those who have put Irish sportswomen on the map. This book breaks the mould once more, as a first ever compendium of stories for children about our best contemporary sportswomen.

With a fairytale touch, RTÉ’s Jacqui Hurley tells the stories of women who have proved that being a girl is not a barrier to sporting success. Each story is one of overcoming big challenges, and the role models celebrated here are sure to inspire the next generation of Irish sportswomen. Featuring twenty-five dazzling athletes, and with delightful drawings by five wonderful female Irish illustrators, Girls Play Too is a celebration of some of our brightest and best sporting stars, and of all that you can achieve if you try your best and never give up on your dreams.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Merrion Press
• Release date: Sep 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781785373398

Jacqui Hurley

Jacqui Hurley is one of Ireland’s leading sports broadcasters. In 2009, she became the first ever female anchor of Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio One. She presents the daily sports bulletins on RTÉ’s Six One News and is also a regular anchor of RTÉ’s soccer output on television. She lives in Dublin with her husband Shane and her children, Luke and Lily. Her first book, Girls Play Too, was shortlisted for Best Children’s Book (Senior) in the An Post Irish Book Awards 2020.

Book preview

For Evanna and all the other girls who thought that boys were better.

Always remember, girls play too.

Jacqui Hurley is one of Ireland's leading sports broadcasters. In 2009, she became the first ever female anchor of Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio One. She presents the daily sports bulletins on the Six One news and is also a regular anchor of RTÉ's soccer output on television. She is a former Irish basketball international and also played camogie for Cork. She lives in Dublin with her husband Shane and her children, Luke and Lily.

First published in 2020 by

Merrion Press

10 George’s Street

Newbridge

Co. Kildare

Ireland

www.merrionpress.ie

© Text, Jacqui Hurley, 2020

© Illustrations, Sinead Colleran, Rachel Corcoran, Jennifer Farley,

Jennifer Murphy, Lauren O’Neill, 2020

9781785373374 (Cloth)

9781785373381 (Kindle)

9781785373398 (Epub)

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved alone, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

Cover design and typesetting by riverdesignbooks.com

Cover illustrations by Jennifer Farley

Merrion Press is a member of Publishing Ireland.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABOUT THIS BOOK

LEGENDS OF IRISH SPORT

Katie Taylor

Rena Buckley

Rachael Blackmore

Fiona Coghlan

Denise O’Sullivan

Susan Moran

Leona Maguire

Lindsay Peat

Sanita Puspure

Cora Staunton

Olive Loughnane

Ellen Keane

Kellie Harrington

Stephanie Roche

Jenny Egan

Katie Mullan

Annalise Murphy

Katie-George Dunlevy

Natalya Coyle

Nicci Daly

Sarah Rowe

Derval O’Rourke

Joy Neville

Briege Corkery

Ciara Mageean

RISING STARS

I PLAY TOO – WRITE YOUR STORY

I PLAY TOO – DRAW YOUR STORY

MEET THE ILLUSTRATORS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

IT’S BEEN A LONG JOURNEY TO GET THIS BOOK TO THE SHELVES – THANK YOU TO THE MANY PEOPLE WHO HAVE HELPED TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN.

To the athletes, for giving me your time and allowing me to share your stories. I hope you know you are inspiring a new generation.

To our five amazing illustrators, who worked together and made this such a unique and special book, celebrating Irish female talent in so many ways.

To Patrick O’Donoghue, for your unwavering support – from taking a phone call out of the blue, to making this ambitious project come to life. I’ll be forever grateful you took the chance. To Conor Graham, Maeve Convery and Grace Milusich at Merrion Press, thanks for believing in the project and taking it on.

And a special thanks to the team at River Design, Latte and Melanie Goldstein, who did such an amazing job with the design.

To my early proofreaders, Emma and Cassandra Manning – Emma if you ever play for Dublin I’ll pay you back by making an exception and cheering for