Ciara Mageean - Inspiring the next generation of young girls

​She answers questions asked by moderator RTE's Maria Crowe with authority and later speaks warmly and candidly with the Newry Reporter, as the Portaferry native is not only Ireland's fastest middle distance runner but also Lidl Northern Ireland Sport for Good ambassador since 2019.

The expert panel at the event also include Rugby legend Maggie Alphonsi and Sky Sports presenter Kelly Cates – all there for the launch and to discuss a number of findings from recent Lidl consumer research surrounding women in sport and to shine a spotlight on the importance of growing female player profiles and connecting and engaging with new audiences.

Smashing records

One finding from the research revealed that when thinking about the importance of sporting role models, 57 percent of Irish adults say they had one growing up, with Sonia O’Sullivan being the most popular hero, inspiring almost one in 10 respondents.

In terms of results, Mageean has surpassed her hero smashing the Irish mile record at the Monaco Diamond League in 2003 that O'Sullivan held since 1994. Also that year, Ciara finished fourth in the World Championships in Budapest setting a new Irish 1500m record, adding to Commonwealth and European Indoor and outdoor medals and Irish records in 800m and 1000m. The two-time Olympian continued her incredible journey, winning gold in the 1500m at the 2024 European Championships in Rome.

“As athletes, we have the opportunity to inspire the next generation, not only through our achievements but also by fostering a community where young girls can see themselves as champions,” she told the audience.

Camogie star

Of course, Mageean could have been a camogie superstar for club and county. She's one of those rare talents who are simply made for greatness. Choosing athletics over her beloved Portaferry camogie club was one that had to be made eventually but that just adds to her allure as a positive female role model and enhances her platform as an ambassador for women in all sports.

“I'm really lucky that my sport puts me in a position where I get invited to places to speak,” Ciara told the Reporter when we sat down for a chat.

"It’ s a great thing if you can use that opportunity to put your hand back down and help others elevate the position that they're in.

I'm obviously very passionate about camogie. I grew up playing camogie , that was my first love and my grass roots. It was a really huge part of my development in sport and it gave me a channel to learn to be aggressive in a controlled manner. How to be competitive and to be fierce and I'm extremely fortunate and grateful for that. So, to be able to give a little nod that way and to be able to thank them for everything they've given me is great. Because I suppose, whenever the time comes for me to hang up my spikes and retire from the sport, I want to be able to give back as much as both athletics and camogie have given to me so if it's an opportunity like being here today talking about the launch of the LGFA league and the research that Lidl have put into women's sport and to be able to look at it in one aspect to celebrate how far we've come and in another to look and see just how far we still have to go, it's empowering."

Back in 2018, when Mageean was making strides in her career on the track having excelled across Europe at Junior athletics, the LGFA launched their 20x20 initiative - so-called because of its three measurable objectives: to increase media coverage, participation and attendances for women in sport by 20 percent by the end of 2020

“I can remember when the 20x20 movement was happening that we were trying to get participation. We were trying to get coverage of female sport up. Now we're in a position where we have an awful lot more but there's still a long way to go.”

Role model visibility

And with the most recent research sowing that 42 percent of Irish public say they are more likely to attend a female sporting event if a high-profile player was playing while 43 percent believe that not knowing anyone who is playing is a barrier to attending a female sports event – an increase from 33 percent of respondents surveyed in Lidl’s 2023 research study -- role models like Mageean and how they are promoted is vitally important.

“I think that's where we all have a role,” she agrees.

"Recognition can come from the side of the pitch but recognition can come in many ways. There are many people that recognise me but they've never attended an athletics event. It comes from the sport being on the TV and radio and it comes from the players having publicity on social channels , in newspapers and outlets. The more you're able to put those players out there, the more their platform is raised and then hopefully people will say, 'actually yeah, I do want to go and watch that. If none of Katie Taylor's matches were ever publicised or written about, would people know Katie?”

Ards girl at heart

Croke Park is a strange place to be sitting talking to Mageean, who, in a parallel universe could have been gracing the pitch for club or county with camogie stick in hand.

‘You can take the girl out of the Ards but…’ as the saying goes, and that’s been evidenced when Ciara was spotted, an animated face in the crowd, willing Portaferry hurlers on during their Ulster Senior Hurling Final defeat to Slaughtneil in Armagh last December.

"All I knew was camogie and hurling growing up. We never had a Gaelic football around the house, My old school, Assumption Grammar in Ballynahinch didn't even have a Gaelic Football team when I first joined – they have since and they’re flying. A lot of the girls from Carryduff would play for the Assumption team but it's a big camogie house in mine.”

Supporting Mallon

Ciara sadly missed out on the Paris Olympics last summer having to withdraw with an injury but she put her disappointment to one side and found some solace by taking a bus to Croke Park to support her friend and former Portaferry teammate Niamh Mallon who was playing for Galway in the All-Ireland Senior Camogie final and who subsequently won an All-Star.

“It was one of the things I did that helped me cope when I had to withdraw from the Olympics,” said Mageean, who pointed to the box area close by where she watched Cork defeat Galway having hopped on a bus to Dublin recovering from a friends hen party the previous night.

“I tried to keep a low profile which was pretty hard because half of Portaferry were here. I grew up playing camogie with Niamh and to see her playing in an All-Ireland final was great. Unfortunately the girls lost and I was heartbroken for her but to be able to come down and witness that, I had a tear in my eye. I looked at the girls and realised sport gives you such a beautiful opportunity in life. It's really a bit of a microcosm for life it gives you the highs and the lows, a fierce journey that you're fighting for and a cause that you're pushing all of your focus into. And when that final whistle blows half of the girls on that field were jumping up and down with joy and half were crying.”

Lonely transition

While she credits camogie for helping her athletics, switching from a team sport to an individual one was a difficult transition.

​"It was very lonely. I found it quite tough. It was probably the difference in how I had to approach it. When you play camogie you can be very aggressive in all aspects because you're tackling. It's a very physical sport but with athletics there's an awful lot more control has to come into that. I can't be too aggressive at the start because I might not have it in my legs to finish a whole 1500m race. You can't spend it all in the first lap whenever you have three and three quarter laps to do so it was an interesting change for me mentally coming into the sport of athletics. It felt very lonely and it took me a long time to find my place. The passion I had playing for Portaferry in that blue and yellow jersey, it took be a long time to feel that in the sport of athletics. I didn't really have the culture of a club in the athletics world because I ran for my school and then I ran for Ireland so the only time I felt that was when I had the Irish vest on my back.

​Camaraderie

"When I came in I didn't know a lot of people but eventually you find your little clan and you develop friends in the sport and now I feel like I belong since I found my little wolf pack there. But it took me some time because it was a big change from what I knew with a panel and a whole team of girls training together. And equally, whenever you're out there on the track it's just you it's a lonely place and there's nowhere to hide. And whenever you play camogie it's a skill-based sport. Athletics is a gross motor sport which is very different. The only thing that didn't change for me is the engine.”

​Bittersweet as it may be, giving up camogie for athletics was not really a Sophie’s Choice moment and with the success that it has brought Ciara has no regrets.

“I definitely miss camogie, though I certainly don't regret the decision to focus on athletics. My journey to athletics was that I ran a couple of cross country races in primary school but I really got into athletics in secondary school. I had a PE teacher Miss McCambridge who asked did I want to go to cross country and it all sort of spurted from there.”

From being put in a talent ID squad with Athletics NI and then going to her first coach Eamonn Christie, Ciara’s path was set – but not yet in stone.

"I fiercely held onto camogie for a long time and I'd say in those early years I kind of did athletics to keep me fit for camogie. For a long time if there was any pressure and somebody told me I had to quit one I would have left running because I loved camogie so much. All I did was eat, sleep and breath camogie. Everything on me was blue and yellow because I had so much passion for my club,”

Opportunity knocks

But she says more and more opportunities presented themselves in athletics and the realisation dawned that this was a much larger stage.

“I realised I could actually represent Ireland in this sport and get to one of the games. I realised the opportunities that athletics could give me were probably going to be so much greater and I realised that I actually have a talent that I just couldn't ignore in athletics.”

Ireland and athletics are grateful for that but so too is women’s sport, especially a generation of young girls who have such a genuine role model to look up to.

Beautiful, cruel sport

When Mallon and her Galway teammates stood distraught in Croke Park, Mageean sat above her that afternoon with her own thoughts.

"I sat there having just withdrawn from the Olympic Games with a tear in my eye thinking sport is beautiful and it's cruel all at the same time and I'm really privileged to do the sport that I do and to me on this journey that I am and to have to cope with those highs and lows. And to see Niamh be in that All-Ireland final and see her pick up her All-Star was another phenomenal moment.

"I miss the camogie but I get so much pleasure in seeing others excel in it and the same with the Gaelic girls who are here celebrating the LGFA.”

Another finding from the research was that while 100 percent of inter-county female players agree that having LGFA role models are important, 43 percent do not currently consider themselves to be role models.

"Hopefully we'll sit here next year and look at more research and one of the things I want to see is the girls realising that they are role models for each and every one of us and for so many little girls and little boys. Having female role models is really important. Women can be fierce and competitive out there and that's just a little window into what life is like.

"I've said it before that many an Irish family is led by the matriarch and mine was one of them with my granny Kathleen. She's been my role model throughout my life. She's gone now and I still reflect on how she was in her life and how I want to be.”