Dublin’s Christina McGinty to be inducted into the Ladies Gaelic Football Association’s Hall of Fame

DUBLIN legend Christina McGinty will be officially inducted into the Ladies Gaelic Football Association’s Hall of Fame at the TG4 All-Star Awards night on Saturday November 18.

A 1989 All-Ireland Junior Championship winner with Dublin, Christina also had the distinction of playing in All-Ireland Junior, Intermediate and Senior Club Finals during an outstanding career.

Hailing from Old Bawn in Tallaght, Christina played with the Thomas Davis club from the age of eight.

Tomás Ó’Reachtabhra was the founding Principal of Scoil Maelruain and Christina cites the Galway man as a formative influence on her life and the Ladies Football career that would follow.

In 1985, Christina became the first girl to captain a boys’ team in a primary schools’ Football Final at Croke Park, when Scoil Maelruain were victorious, and this was at a time when she was still the only girl on the local Thomas Davis team.

Christina’s parents, Christy and Mary, were also hugely supportive and Christina would make her inter-county debut for Dublin at the tender age of 13 in 1988.

Remarkably, Christina was an All-Ireland winner in the Junior grade with the Sky Blues in 1989, helping to elevate the county to Senior status.

In the same year, Christina was also a key member of the Dublin team that captured the All-Ireland U16 title.

Christina’s inter-county career would continue until 2002, when she lined out for Dublin for the last time in the TG4 All-Ireland Senior Championship semi-final defeat to Mayo.

At club level, there was huge success to follow, even after Christina had pulled the curtain down on her inter-county career at the age of 27.

In 2012, Thomas Davis were crowned Dublin Junior champions and they would go on to land Leinster and All-Ireland titles in the same year.

In the following season, Thomas Davis continued to grow and with Christina to the fore, they were crowned Dublin and Leinster  Intermediate champions, before losing out in the 2013 All-Ireland Intermediate Final.

Christina, who also enjoyed spells at club level with Robert Emmets and Portobello, had also appeared in an All-Ireland Senior Club Final back in 1998, when Portobello were defeated by Waterford side Ballymacarbry.

Christina, who captained Dublin on numerous occasions during her playing days, and played with the Ladies Gaelic Football All-Stars as a replacement All-Star in 1991 and 1994, is now working as an SNA in Scoil Aonghusa.

She’s been married to Tim for 22 years and they have three children – Ciarán (20), Aimee (18) and Luke (15).

Christina has also served as a Games Promotion Officer with the Dublin County Board and Leinster Council, and can truly be described as a trail-blazer in Ladies Gaelic Football circles.

A truly worthy inductee into the Ladies Gaelic Football Association Hall of Fame, Christina McGinty’s exploits helped to sow the seeds for the great successes that would follow in the years to come for Dublin Ladies Gaelic Football.