Despite hanging up her boots a few times in the past, stalwart Michaela Downey was back on the local scene in Morne County earlier this year at the age of 44.
Downey, who won the All-Ireland junior football championship with Down at Croke Park in October 2000 along with her sister Aoibheann, had initially opted to retire as an all-level player in 2016.
She then returned to club action four years later with Newry-based St John Bosco, but a serious cycling accident in the early months of 2021 once again put women’s football on the back burner.
Still, Downey was selected for an Ireland Masters squad for an International Rules Series against Australia in early 2024, fueling her appetite for another comeback to club football.
Although Bosco was not in a position to field a mature team this season, she did field in the colors of nearby Clonduff – who she had previously represented in similar circumstances.
‘There were boots nailed to the wall’
Downey played a crucial role in helping Clonduff reach the semi-finals of this year’s Down intermediate football championship, where they ultimately lost to Saul.
“My boots had been nailed to the wall for a few years. When I got the chance to play the Masters International Rules this year, I thought ‘you know what, I can try this again’ and enjoyed my time playing,” Downey said.
“I was lucky that in Clonduff this year there were about five or six girls around the same age as me who were going to play again this year. They may not be 43 or 44. I’m 44 now, but five of them were over 40, so to speak. I was only 40 or 41 and I would have played with them back in 2006.”
This year’s Masters matches were not the only times Downey had donned the green jersey, as in 2006 she was part of an Ireland side that recorded an emphatic 173-33 victory over Australia in an International Rules series held in Breffni Park and Parnell. Park.
Playing alongside household names such as Rena Buckley, Caroline O’Hanlon, Cora Staunton and Sinead Aherne, Downey played a prominent role in what is the only women’s international rules series played to date – with the exception of the Over-40 meets of this year.
“I was privileged to play at the time because you played with the likes of Cora Staunton and all the Cork girls I looked up to, and you would never get the chance to play against them because obviously Down weren’t playing. at the same level,” Downey recalls.
Interestingly, the manager of the Irish team for that particular series was current GAA president Jarlath Burns.
Two years later, Downey would get a job as a teacher at St Paul’s High School in Bessbrook, where Burns served as principal until taking a sabbatical due to his heavy GAA role.
The school also counts a number of players in the current Armagh men’s senior panel among their list of alumni – including Burns’ son Jarly Og – and this ensured there was a prestigious visitor to St Paul’s for the start of the new school year.
“GAA is the main sport for boys and girls, it is a big school. Guys, there’s obviously a lot of Armagh players, we had Sam Maguire in the first week we were back. We had fourteen past players and quite a few of them were guys I taught.
“Being all in one age group, they all played in a MacRory Cup final in 2013 and were beaten by a point by St Pat’s, Maghera. All those guys would have been on one team. Then of course they all won an All-Ireland there with Armagh. As much as I am a Down woman, I was very happy to see them win.”
‘I’ll never say never again’
What is perhaps most remarkable about Downey’s longevity is the fact that she played in the very first match in which the Down women’s footballers participated: an All-Ireland ‘B’ Championship meeting with Galway on October 8, 1995.
But while Downey topped an All-Ireland junior final against the same county with All-Star honors in 2008 five years later, she has also collected multiple Down senior championship crowns with both Clonduff and Bosco over the decades.
Although she has not yet made a decision on the potential continuation of her playing career in 2025, the prospect of representing the latter club again is something Downey would find enticing.
“I would love it if Bosco started working at an adult level again.
“If they did that next year it would be a very young team and if I thought I could help them or assist them in any way by playing with them, to give them a little bit of experience, then I would I’ll give it a shot. Go,” Downey added.
“I don’t know whether that is possible. I’ll never say never again, because I’ve stopped playing so many times and my shoes are still on.”
