Dervlagh McGuigan, front row third from the right, celebrates success with Abu Dhabi Na Fianna.
By John Harrington
A little later than originally planned, two-time All-Ireland Camogie Club Championship winner, Dervlagh McGuigan, is ready to come home.
Five years after leaving, she’ll settle back in Slaughtneil when she lands in Derry next month as a member of the Middle East Camogie team that’s competing in the FRS 2023 GAA World Games.
It’s a testament to how much she enjoyed life as a teacher in Abu Dhabi that the former Derry camóg ended up staying a lot longer than she originally intended.
“I had two All-Irelands in the pocket so I thought it was time to get going, do a bit of travelling, and see some of the world,” says McGuigan.
“I thought if I don't go now I never will. I probably have that travel bug in me.
“I'm a teacher so I took a career break from my job in Derry and moved to Abu Dhabi and I'm still out here which was never the plan. I thought I'd just go over for a year and see what it was like. Then one year passed and I said, 'one more year', and they became famous last words.
“Five years later I'm still here, but that's the last of it, I'll head back home now, that's the end of the career break.”
During her five years in Abu Dhabi, her life revolved around the Abu Dhabi Na Fianna club, though that wasn’t part of the plan either.
“When I left Slaughtneil and came out here I thought that was me, that I'd retired," she says. "I'd left a very successful club at the time and achieved more than I'd ever dreamed of at that point.
“I was travelling on my own and that was one of the factors that got me out playing again. I'm part of teams my whole life, that's how I've met my friends, so there's no better place to go and meet people.
“Anywhere you go in the world there's always a big Irish community and they're always there to help support. That was the idea whenever I joined Na Fianna, to meet people, and I ended up getting roped into camogie and picking up football and ended up training every night of the week and going off to tournaments a couple of times a month, so I didn't exactly hang up the boots!”
McGuigan had little idea what the Gaelic games scene would be like in the Middle East but quickly discovered it’s a thriving one.
Dervlagh McGuigan in action for Abu Dhabi Na Fianna.
In the last six years the number of clubs in that part of the world has gone from 11 to 16, and Abu Dhabi Na Fianna is one of the biggest.
Players come and go because most are economic migrants, but in any given year the club estimates it could have as many as 500 players playing Gaelic football, Ladies Football, Hurling, and Camogie as well as an ever-growing juvenile section.
“It's a huge club,” says McGuigan. “When I started we had two senior teams and an Intermediate team camogie team and the ladies football was much bigger again, they had teams right down from senior, Intermediate, to junior.
“When it came to junior it was just everyone from every background and every nationality and they were all there just to meet people, the social side of things, and get a little bit of exercise in and new skills.
“So it was a brilliant atmosphere to be part of. It definitely opened my eyes when I did move. I didn't expect the numbers to be as big as they were. It's a huge club and it keeps growing. And the success within the club has been huge and there's now a lot more senior and intermediate teams building on that all the time.
“A Derry man, Mick Gallagher, is running the juvenile section of the club. There's a lot of kids being coached and the senior players would go down and give a hand and take the younger ones for some sessions.
“They have a Cúl Camp going as well, so we do have big numbers and they growing all the time. The majority of the teaching staff out here are Irish and they're out here with their families too. And because the have that big Irish community here they're getting the kids involved too.”
Sinead Cannon of Sarsfields in action against Clare McGrath and Dervlagh McGuigan, right, of Slaughtneil during the 2018 AIB All-Ireland Senior Club Camogie Final match between Sarsfields and Slaughtneil at St Tiernach's Park in Clones, Monaghan. Photo by Oliver McVeigh/Sportsfile
McGuigan is part of a strong camogie team featuring players from Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah that will represent the Middle East at the FRS World Games.
She’s describing the World Games as her “last dance”, though you’d expect that the Slaughneil club mentors might have a thing or two to say about that.
“I'm very much looking forward to it,” she says. “I'm a big Derry woman so I'm really excited that Derry is hosting it. I've been out here five years and I've been trying to get some of them out to Derry for a long time so now they have no excuses.
“When I heard about the World Games I was really keen to get trying out for the team and get involved and then when I heard it was going to be in Derry I though, 'right, there's no excuses now, I can't run away from it'.
“I've been chatting to the girls I train with and they're all buzzing for it and really looking forward to getting up to Derry. For a lot of them it'll be the first time they'll have visited. It's a good opportunity for them to see what we have going on.
“It'll be a great week up in Owenbeg. I'll have a good bit of support from home too, family and friends are all on board, and they'll be buzzing."