St James’ GAA Club Chairperson Therese O'Shea on why the integration crisis is a moment to pause, listen and find a better way forward

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THERE’S little doubt the events of the last week will feature when Reeling in the Years looks back on 2026.

But as someone who has spent most of my life around the GAA, my hope is that this won’t be remembered as the moment integration fell apart. I’d much rather it was remembered as the moment we paused, took stock and found a better way forward.

It’s disappointing what has unfolded, but maybe not surprising that integration on this scale has proved difficult. Bringing three organisations – GAA, LGFA and the Camogie Association – with their own histories, structures, identities and ways of doing things towards a shared future was always going to involve difficult conversations, competing views and disagreement.

The danger now is that the difficulties become more important than the opportunity. This should be a chance to rebuild trust, clarify the destination and find a process that brings people with us.

In 2022, Congress voted overwhelmingly to prioritise integration between the GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association. That’s the right direction. Gaelic games can be stronger if the three organisations come together, with equality and parity across our games, while protecting and celebrating the identities and traditions that make each special.

Ultimately, the ambition should be one strong, sustainable and inclusive association for Gaelic games. But before getting caught up in the detail, we need to ask: where are we trying to get to?

There will be genuine concerns about governance, finance, structures and what might be lost along the way. Those concerns need to be heard, but the realities must also be faced. Clubs and counties need clarity about what integration could mean for them, including the resources, choices and compromises involved.

That doesn’t mean building everything at once. I don’t think anyone expected to wake up in April 2027 to a fully formed one-association structure. The foundations can be laid first, with the structures and processes developing over time.

And that got me thinking about a journey I know well.

I’ve been travelling to Waterville for nearly 20 years. I take the Kenmare road because, to me, it’s the obvious route. My husband – a native of South Kerry – has a particular talent for finding roads that look as though nobody has travelled them in years.

Yet we both get to Waterville.

Maybe integration is a little like that. All three associations have their own histories, experiences and ideas about the future, so naturally there will be different views on how to get there.

We don't have to agree on every road. But we do need to agree on the destination. Because what we ultimately want to arrive at will define what integration means and, most importantly, what it looks like in our clubs.

The real test of integration won’t be what it looks like on paper in Croke Park.

It will be what it feels like in our clubs.

It needs to make Gaelic games stronger, more equal and more sustainable in our clubs and communities. It should create a culture where every game, player and person is valued equally, without asking anyone to surrender the identities that make those games special.

Integration, like amalgamation, requires compromise, trust and a willingness to relinquish some power and control for the greater good.

At St James’, we have been on our own amalgamation journey with Kilmacabea at juvenile level because we believed it was in the best interests of our young players and the future of both clubs. There were questions about identity, tradition and what the future would look like. Ultimately, both clubs decided that what we could create together would give our young people a better opportunity to enjoy and develop through GAA.

Perhaps Gaelic games now need to approach integration with the same mindset.

If we are serious about an integrated association, then equality has to be at its heart. The criticism Mary McAleese has made of the hierarchy in the GAA has prompted a lot of commentary. Much of it has come from a good place, but some of it has also highlighted something we need to be honest about: the contribution of women to GAA is still too often undervalued.

I was particularly disappointed by commentary suggesting that women’s importance in clubs is demonstrated by washing jerseys, organising fundraisers, making sandwiches or running events.

Women’s contribution cannot be measured only by work done quietly in the background. They are players, coaches, managers, officials, administrators, committee members and leaders. They have helped build the GAA and should have an equal voice in deciding where it goes next.

My own experience in St James’ has shaped how I see this. I didn’t play much beyond the age of 12, but the GAA never left me. I love going to games, my club and the community around it.

In November 2024, I was honoured to be voted chairperson of St James’ at an AGM attended predominantly by men. I had a vision for the club’s development, and I was fortunate that my male counterparts believed in it too. We worked together, challenged and supported one another, and put St James’ first.

What we achieved was never about whether the person beside you was a man or a woman. It was about having good people who believed in the same thing and were prepared to work together.

I’m proud to be St James’ first female chairperson, but I’m equally proud of how progressive our club is and of what that represents. I want girls coming through our clubs to see leadership as something open to them, and to know that their ideas, ambition and vision can be valued. I hope I won’t be the last.

That equality must also be visible beyond our clubs.

More than 80,000 people filled Croke Park for Katie Taylor just before the issues surrounding integration flooded into the mainstream media. It showed what is possible when women’s sport captures the country’s imagination.

We have an amazing opportunity to create that same level of public interest and excitement around women’s Gaelic games and celebrate the incredible sporting stars we already have within our own association.

I also want to commend The Southern Star for being such an important local platform for women’s GAA and women’s sport. Hopefully, we’ll get to a day when the women’s All-Ireland finals have their own RTÉ Up for the Match and the same sense of anticipation and excitement that surrounds the men’s finals.

The women and girls playing our games put in the same commitment, dedication and sacrifice as anyone else. There are people across the country who already support them week in, week out, and that commitment should never be taken for granted.

I love watching the women’s All-Irelands at home, but I also love going to Croke Park. So why not? There’s absolutely nothing stopping me from going to more women’s games. Small steps can make a much bigger impact. If more of us made that choice simply because we wanted to be there, imagine the difference it could make to the atmosphere, the crowds and the visibility of the women’s game.

The stage is already there. The incredible players are already there. The talent, the stories and the excitement are already there. Perhaps what we need now is to make sure the attention follows.

The clearest example of what Gaelic games can achieve when people come together is something very close to my heart.

Ár Réaltaí Beaga is something I set up in honour of our baby girl Alice, who was born sleeping on September 12th, 2025, as a permanent tribute in Croke Park to babies and children who never got the opportunity to experience the joy of our association.

In just ten weeks, we have been entrusted with more than 2,600 names from GAA, LGFA and camogie clubs across all 32 counties and beyond.

Different clubs, counties, families and stories have come together to create something special. In a few short weeks, Ár Réaltaí Beaga will have a permanent home in Croke Park, giving those names a lasting place within the association.

No one was asked whether a club belonged to the GAA, LGFA or Camogie Association before a name was added.

It simply understood what mattered: a child’s name, a family’s loss, a community’s support and a shared love of Gaelic games.

That, to me, is the spirit of the GAA at its best.

It is also the spirit we need to bring to integration. The future of our young people, equality and the survival and growth of Gaelic games must be bigger than any one organisation.

So perhaps this is the moment to reset.

Not the ambition. The process.

For me, the destination should be shaped by the young boys and girls in our clubs today and the Gaelic games association we want them to inherit:

One that is strong, sustainable and inclusive.

One where every game is valued, every player has an equal place and everyone feels that they belong.

The GAA where we all belong.