Maria Kinsella selected as head of Women's Gaelic Players Association
Carlow footballer Maria Kinsella is the new chairperson of the Women's Gaelic Players Association (WGPA), taking over the reins from founding member Aoife Lane.
A graduate of DCU, Kinsella is an audit manager with PWC in Dublin.
Her predecessor Aoife Lane was one of the seven women who established the WGPA in January of 2015. Three other members of the original executive - Deirdre Murphy, Anna Geary and Fiona McHale - also stepped down from their roles at Saturday’s AGM.
A motion passed at Saturday’s meeting will see the WGPA structure a formal partnership with the Gaelic Players Association.
“The WGPA and GPA currently enjoy a close working relationship through areas such as funding support, shared programmes and joint-games promotion. It was agreed at the meeting that the time is now right to structure a formal partnership between the two bodies, to promote further growth and sustainability of the WGPA,” a WGPA statement read.
Clare’s Carol O’Leary is the WGPA secretary for the forthcoming year, while former Wexford camogie player Kate Kelly holds the position of treasurer.
The new WGPA Executive has been expanded to include 11 members, with the addition of several new players; Fionnuala Carr (Down camogie), Niamh Collins (Dublin football), Lorraine Ryan (Galway camogie), Julia White (Cork camogie) and Joanne Doonan (Fermanagh football). The remaining six are Kinsella, O'Leary, Kelly, Valerie Mulcahy (Cork), Gemma Begley (Tyrone) and Aine Tighe (Leitrim).
