Charlemont's camogie culture at the heart of St. Vincents success

By John Harrington

If you drive through the Charlemont estate in Marino you can’t miss the bright yellow signs warning you to proceed slowly because there are children at play.

Those signs are there with good reason. Since the estate was built in the early 1990s its has always been a Mecca for young families drawn to the expansive greens that make such natural playgrounds for children.

From the beginning, Charlemont has been a hugely productive nursery for the adjacent St Vincents GAA Club.

Skills honed on the greens have been put to good use in the blue and white of Vinnies for the past 30-odd years.

Take the St. Vincents team that will bid to win a fifth Dublin Senior Camogie title in a row this Friday evening in Parnell Park.

Team captain Danielle Smith estimates that more than half them grew up together in Charlemont where pucking a ball around was a daily part of life.

“Every single kid in that estate would have had a hurl,” Smith told GAA.ie “There’d be some parents coming out saying, ‘Watch the cars!’

“Sometimes they’d tell us to use tennis balls instead of sliotars, to avoid breaking things, but sure everybody ignored them.

“Aisling Maher is from Charlemont, the McBrides, there are just so many of my pals. All of us would have grown up together, and it was really nice, I have to say.

“There were kids everywhere. We all went to the same school, and we all ended up in the same GAA club.

“The Vincents camogie team now has a really big mix of ages. My cohort, who are on the older side, still have a few people from Charlemont involved. Then there are people who would literally have been nipping at my heels, who are 10 years younger than me, and whom I would genuinely have babysat, they’re now on the team. I actually used to babysit Aisling Maher, who could now kick the crap out of me on the pitch!

“So, it was quite a really special dynamic that we probably took for granted to a certain degree.”

Sport was always a way of life growing up in the Smith household. Danielle’s father Gerry managed the Republic of Ireland Amateur International soccer team for around 20 years and even though his three daughters gravitated towards a different sport he’s always been their biggest supporters.

“We were all mad into camogie from day one because St Vincents was on our doorstep but he absolutely loves it as well,” says Smith of her father.

“He wouldn’t miss a match. He brings a bit of a different perspective. It’s nice to talk to somebody who isn’t so GAA-focused, in a way. He brings a slightly different angle to things.

"He’s very positive. He always sees the best in me, probably because I’m his daughter! But he really focuses on what you’re good at and what you can bring. He’s very much that way inclined, which is always nice.

“I’m the eldest, Jill is two and a half years younger, and Laura is about six years younger than me.

“That’s a big gap when you’re in your teenage years, but once we transitioned to adult camogie, we got the chance to play together, which has been lovely.

“The three of us have loved playing camogie for Vincents. It’s been great. There are lots of sisters on the team, actually, which is quite nice.

“There’s always a good bit of banter. You can watch with a keen eye when two sisters are thrown into a drill together. They absolutely kill each other!

“Laura and I are on the senior team this year. Jill, my middle sister, is expecting a baby, so she’s not involved this year. But Laura and I would be two of the more competitive ones on the team, if you like.”

It was only when Danielle decided to move to New York for work reasons that she fully appreciated just how much St Vincents camogie really meant to her.

“A job opportunity came up, and because I’d invested my whole life in Vincents, I thought, 'You know what? This is something new. I should probably spread my wings and try something different.'

“I came home after staying longer than I’d actually intended to, four years, and when I came back, I thought, 'Maybe that’s my camogie chapter done.'

“I’d played for a really long time. But, funnily enough, after about a week, I was thinking, 'There’s no way I’m ready to give this up!' So, I went straight back down.

“It was such a lovely way to come home after living abroad and creating a different life. You come home, and you’re welcomed with open arms. It’s as if you never left, and all your friends are there again. Yeah, it was just really special.”

Winning eight Dublin senior camogie championships in 11 years has been a remarkable achievement by St. Vincents but that success has done little to sate their appetite.

Winning a ‘five-in-a-row’ has always had a special cachet in Gaelic games and Smith doesn’t mind admitting they’d love to ink that piece of history themselves on Friday evening against St. Jude’s.

“You can’t ignore it, right?,” she says. “I won’t give you the token answer that it doesn’t have any impact. Of course, it’s there in the background.

“But, genuinely, every year feels so different. That can be down to your own camp: the team is slightly different, the opposition is different, the dynamic is different, and even the goals can be different. There are different measures within the group.

“So, yes, while it’s obviously a really nice run and we’re privileged to be going for five in a row, this year stands on its own two feet. It’s very much all about 2026 and what this final means.”