Mary Kelly-Lynch was the 20th president of the Camogie Association.

Playing career

She was introduced to camogie at secondary school in her native Carrickmacross

Carrickmacross

Carrickmacross or Carrickmacros is a town in County Monaghan, Ireland. The town and environs had a population of 4,387 according to the 2006 census, making it the second largest town in the county. The town won the prestigious European Entente Florale Silver Medal Award. It is a market town which...

 and played for the county while still at school. She joined Celtic club

Celtic Camogie Club

Celtic is a camogie club that won the All Ireland club championship in its first year 1964. Dublin did not send a representative in 1965, so they did not defend their title.-Grounds:The Celtic pitch was in Coolock...

 after moving to Dublin, and won All Ireland medals partnering Kathleen Cody at midfield.

Administrator

After marrying Willie Lynch she returned to Carrickmacross, reorganising camogie in the county as county chair and trainer manager for Monaghan senior and junior teams. She continued to play and won a Monaghan Intermediate Championship medal with Carrickmacross in 1978. She served on the first primary schools committee, later chaired the fixtures committee and in 1985 was elected president of the association without opposition, having unsuccessfully contested the 1982 election. She inherited an association facing severe financial problems.

Presidency

She established a commission to look at all aspects of camogie under the chair of Eithne Neville. In her term of office camogie teams were allowed to wear sponsors logos on their jerseys, London re-entered the championship, and the first experiments were conducted with 15-a-side and a full-size pitch, a move eventually introduced in 2000.

In 1986 administration, referee and public relations training programmes were developed, national development seminars were held, and the Association joined the National Coaching Training Centre programme.

Other roles

She also served on Care of the Aged, Girl Guides, youth and recreational organisations, and social services.

External links

• Camogie.ie Official Camogie Association Website
• Timeline: History of Camogie