Maura Breen
By Zara Renwick, 6th Class

Today I am going to tell you about my great gran Maura Breen.
Once upon a time in a far away land called Dublin lived an incredible person called Maura Breen. She grew up and lived on top of Harcourt train station, with her mother, father, her 4 brothers and her sister. She went to a school called St. Louis Rathmines. She was a girl who loved school and her transport every day was a tram.

She loved sports, especially camogie. When she was 16, she got an amazing opportunity to play in Croke Park with her school. What made it even more special was she was captain. She had to do loads and loads of practice, but also had to write an Irish speech for if they won.

It was the day, the day she was going to play in Croke Park! They were all really nervous waiting in the tunnel before the match, but when it was time to walk out they were amazed with how big the stadium was. There weren’t many supporters because back in the day women’s sport wasn’t as big as men’s sport was, so they were almost as amazed to see the small group of people that showed up.

Then the teams got into their positions and the whistle blew! Maura’s team got the ball out of the tackle and scored! They were one point up but then a point went over the bar for the other team then another one point went over the bar for both teams, and at the last minute it was a tie game and the supporters from the teams were sitting on the edge of their seats and then Maura scored the winning point! The whole team were bursting with excitement and the crowd were on their feet in shock.

But now came the next challenge, the Irish speech. She was nervous but still in shock from the win but she nailed the speech and got a Croke Park medal.

Maura was one of the first girls to play in Croke Park.

She had a great life as an adult because she worked in a bank, got married and had children.

Not many people can be proud to be called Maura Breen’s Great Granddaughter. Born September 1929 – died 22nd September 2023.