Valerie Mulcahy (born 1983) is an Irish footballer. As a

ladies' Gaelic football Ladies' Gaelic football () is an Irish team sport for women. It is the women's equivalent of Gaelic football. Ladies' football is organised by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association. Two teams of 15 players kick or hand-pass a round ball toward ...

er, she played at senior level for

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

, winning ten

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) is a term used to describe organisations and events whose interests extend over the entire island of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Irelan ...

titles and nine Ladies' National Football League titles between 2005 and 2015. She was also an All Star on six occasions. As a

women's association football Women's association football, more commonly known as women's football or women's soccer, is the team sport of association football played by women. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries, and about 200 national teams partic ...

player, she represented

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

at the

2003 Summer Universiade The 2003 Summer Universiade, also known as the XXII Summer Universiade, took place in Daegu, South Korea. Emblem * The alphabet letter "U" and five stars, which is FISU's emblem, make up the basis of the emblem for the Daegu Universiade. * It sy ...

and played for

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

in the Women's National League. In 2015, Mulcahy helped launch the Women's Gaelic Players' Association. In the same year, she also came out as

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

Gaelic football

Between 2004 and 2015 Mulcahy played at senior level for the

Cork county ladies' football team The Cork county ladies' football team represents Cork GAA in ladies' Gaelic football. The team competes in inter-county competitions such as the All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship, the Munster Senior Ladies' Football Championship an ...

, representing her county in competitions such as the All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship, the Munster Senior Ladies' Football Championship and the Ladies' National Football League. Together with

Rena Buckley Rena Buckley is an Irish sportswoman who played at senior level for both the Cork county ladies' football team and the Cork county camogie team. She has also represented Munster in the Gael Linn Cup and Ireland at international rules. Betwe ...

, Nollaig Cleary, Briege Corkery,

Juliet Murphy Juliet Murphy (born 1980 in Donoughmore, County Cork) is an Irish sportsperson. She plays ladies' Gaelic football with her local club Donoughmore and has been a member of the Cork county ladies' football team at senior level since 1995. Mu ...

, Mary O'Connor and

Angela Walsh Angela Walsh (born 1986) is an Irish sportsperson. She plays ladies' Gaelic football with her local club Inch Rovers and has been a member of the senior Cork county ladies' football team since 2004. Walsh captained Cork to a fourth consecut ...

, she was a prominent member of the Cork team, winning ten All-Ireland medals, ten Munster titles and nine League titles. Between

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, Mulcahy played in ten All-Ireland finals, scoring 7–38. She scored in every final she played in except in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

. She scored two goals in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and scored a hat-trick of goals in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. She was the top scorer in the All-Ireland final in 2005, 2007, 2008,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and 2015. In January 2015 Mulcahy helped launch the Women's Gaelic Players Association and subsequently served on the association's executive team.

Association football

While attending the

University of Limerick University of Limerick (UL) () is a Public university, public research university institution in Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded in 1972, as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in Septemb ...

, Mulcahy was chosen to represent

at the

. During the inaugural 2011–12 Women's National League season, Mulcahy also played for Cork Women's F.C. and scored the winning goal in their first league victory. Mulcahy came on as a substitute to score an 86th-minute goal in a 1–0 win against

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

Tallaght Stadium Tallaght Stadium () is an List of association football stadiums in the Republic of Ireland, association football stadium in Ireland based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club Shamrock Rovers F.C., Shamrock Rovers originally announced details of ...

. After retiring as an inter-county

Ladies' Gaelic football Ladies' Gaelic football () is an Irish team sport for women. It is the women's equivalent of Gaelic football. Ladies' football is organised by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association. Two teams of 15 players kick or hand-pass a round ball toward ...

er in 2015, Mulcahy subsequently joined

for the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

season.

Personal life

In January 2015, Mulcahy came out as

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

. She announced the decision to coincide with her taking part in the Donal Óg Cusack/

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

documentary, ''Coming Out of the Curve''. She subsequently campaigned in favour of

same-sex marriage in the Republic of Ireland Same-sex marriage has been legal in Ireland since 16 November 2015. A referendum on 22 May 2015 amended the Constitution of Ireland to provide that marriage is recognised irrespective of the sex of the partners. The measure was signed into l ...

during the 2015 referendum. In June 2015 Mulcahy married Meg Blyth, her partner of six years. Blyth is a choreographer.

Teacher

Mulcahy studied PE and Irish at the

and is a PE and Maths teacher at Gaelcholáiste Mhuire in

Honours

;

* All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship **

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

: 10 * Ladies' National Football League ** 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015: 9 * Munster Senior Ladies' Football Championship ** ???: 10 * RTÉ Sports Team of the Year Award ** 2014 ;Individual * Ladies' Gaelic football All Stars Awards ** 2004, 2005, 2007, 2012, 2013, 2015: 6

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulcahy, Valerie 1983 births Living people Cork inter-county ladies' Gaelic footballers Winners of four All-Ireland medals (ladies' football) Association footballers from County Cork Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Cork City W.F.C. players League of Ireland Women's Premier Division players Alumni of the University of Limerick Irish schoolteachers Trade unionists from County Cork Irish lesbian sportswomen Irish LGBTQ footballers Irish LGBTQ rights activists Irish women activists Ladies' Gaelic footballers who switched code Women's association football players not categorized by position LGBTQ Gaelic footballers Women civil rights activists Lesbian trade unionists 21st-century Irish LGBTQ people Irish women trade unionists 21st-century Irish sportswomen