Darragh Long: Ladies football has gone to a new level. We need our own Jim Gavin to look at the rules

Irish Examiner

7 hours ago

In the months after Kerry's first All-Ireland ladies football title in over three decades, the duo who engineered it made a choice. The legacy at senior level was secure; what they could build beneath that was only beginning.
Over coffee one morning, Declan Quill floated an idea to his former joint-manager, Darragh Long. The pair had been together for the famine-ending triumph of 2024. Now, they wanted to stitch something from the grassroots to the top.
'Dec leaned over and said we should do a camp,' recalls Long.
'I asked have we not enough on already? But at the same time, we were nobodies five or six years ago and the LGFA took a chance on us. We just felt, after talking it over for an hour, this was an opportunity to give back to an organisation we are very passionate about.'
Long, son of former Millstreet and Cork All-Ireland SFC winner Denny and now Austin Stacks manager, had no connection with Quill before coaching. They came from rival Tralee clubs and first worked together with the Kerry LGFA minors.
Midway through the 2019 senior campaign, they took over the county team. What followed was a Division 2 title, a Division 1 title and the ultimate prize.
This week they ran a four-day camp for girls aged 12–16 in Killarney. It included a cast from the 2024 winning panel including selector Anna Maria O'Donoghue as well as players Síofra O'Shea and Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh.
'We wanted it to be different from the typical camps or club camps that go on. We wanted to show the level of coaching. Our tag line is Laochra, it was for the young girls of Kerry and drew from the country. We've a girl from Ballyboden, two from Aherlow in Tipp, from Douglas in Cork. It's about giving them more insight into it all. Why are we doing each drill? How does this stuff translate to being a county footballer?
'We ended up with 120 girls at the camp which is brilliant and humbling. We have broken it down into attacking and defending aspects of the game. Eric McDonnell from the Belief Gym has come in for S&C, just the fundamentals for different age groups, an intro to the basics of it.
'Each day we did something different. Michelle O'Connor, the performance coach for Cork camogie in 2024 and 2023, did mental work. Claire O'Sullivan did a presentation on nutrition. We were blown away by the response we got.'
Raising standards was the heartbeat of their tenure. Quill has spoken previously about their first night in Currans: 13 players on the pitch, a queue of others in the gym avoiding training. They needed drastic change.
'I had to hold Declan in place, he wanted to leave. He was flabbergasted by what was going on. What they were getting wasn't of the correct standard, he actually tried to walk away. I said, not that we are here for a purpose, but we have a duty to do this. This is where we are meant to be, we felt strongly that we could do something in Kerry, something special.
'We came from a low base. From fighting relegation to three finals in a row. We fought for everything. With that, the standard of the game has gone up hugely in the last few years. The AFLW drain is obvious, but it's a sign of the talent we are producing. While it is a bit of a drain, it is hard to tell a girl not to take up a professional lifestyle as well. Look for us, it was about doing everything we could.'
That boom has brought the game to a new place. Now the game needs to respond. Long admires the lift the new rules have brought to the men's code and believes it is time for the LGFA to create a Football Review Committee of its own.
'The standard, the physicality has gone to a new level. We need our own Jim Gavin at the minute to have a look at the rules and tweak the physicality. The S&C has gone to another level across all teams. The game needs to catch up with that.
'I know other managers have spoken about it, the rules are behind the standards the girls have driven it to. It is only right we allow them to showcase their physical capability.'
Long was a gifted player for the Rockies, and the opportunity to manage them was a dream come true. It doesn't require a different approach to what we brought with Kerry. The mantra is the same: strive to get better, day by day.
'The girls are like sponges. The Lorraine Scanlons, the Louises, the Aisling O'Connells, the questions they ask. All-Stars falling out of their pockets but the continuous hunger for learning was remarkable. Boys are different. Maybe it's the environment, development squads early, they probably think they know it all, but if they open their minds and ears, it's massive.
'I try not to be very different, it would be doing someone an injustice. I just want to be the best version of me, I think that is what the boys in Stacks get and it is the version that ladies got in the last few years.'