03/04/2026
The Debut of Irish Women's Sports in New York, 1911
When it was first proposed in a number of letters directed to one of the weekly New York Irish-American newspapers, the project to form women's hurling teams in the city was met by many with shock or sometimes laughter. The idea of women playing sports in public on the playing fields of Celtic Park in Queens was certainly a novel idea, although women within the recent few years had been playing hurling (or camogie) in Dublin.
The first New York team was organized by exiles from rural Ireland, initially young women from County Limerick. On April 9, 1911, four ladies' teams made their debut at the park, not without some snickering from among those jamming the spectator stands. The first match was between Limerick and Kilkenny, followed by a game between Clare and Dublin. The first goal was scored by Limerick, and in the end the ladies from the county of the Treaty Stone became the celebrated winners of the first women's Irish hurling contest ever played in America. The event was remembered as part of the folklore of New York's Irish and a few -- mostly terrible -- pieces of poetry were composed to mark the occasion.
"Here we shall see at dear Celtic Park,
Fair maids from our Erin gone,
With of eyes of blue and to Ireland true,
As any God's sun shines on,
From Limerick round to Dublin town,
the excitement grows apace,
and the Green Flag flies over colleens sweet,
on this field of the Irish Race."
--Stephen Faherty, "Hurrah, 'Tis Ladies Day at Celtic Park"
