Our Clan na Gael Ladies Football team is a fantastic home-based group of girls who have worked tirelessly, side by side, over the past years with some fantastic new additions along the way from Ireland and around the world. 

Football clubs go through ebbs and flows, and Clan na Gael knows first-hand: The club formed as a result of Golden Gate Ladies’ – one of San Francisco’s very first ladies Gaelic football teams – decision to fold in 1999. It was from this that a determined group of girls, AnneMarie Burns (Tyrone), Una Bailey  (Cork), Rosie Kingston (Cork), Trish Crowe (Dublin), Linda Walsh (Dublin), Patty Ryan (San Francisco),  Linda Ryan (San Francisco), Sinead Cosgrove (Cavan) and Orla McSweeney (Dublin) with the desire to continue playing, decided they were not going to just sit on the sidelines. So with a new name, new colors, and a new millennium–Clan na Gael was founded in 2000.

As with most young clubs, it took Clan na Gael a while to find its feet. But the girls worked hard, eulogizing the beauty of the game while recruiting homebased girls into the fold. Fun was had and progress was made. In 2003, Clan made it to the San Francisco finals for the first time; the following year, the girls won the San Francisco Junior cup and participated in their first USGAA Finals in Denver. In 2006, after some hard work as a home-based panel and recruiting talented J1 players, Clan reclaimed the Western Division Title.

In 2009 the club tried their hand at the ladies’ brand new Intermediate division. This came with its ups and downs but one thing remained the same: the club’s persistence at bettering themselves and chasing the divisional win. It wasn’t long before they achieved this feat and in 2010 Clan became the Western Divisional Champions!  

Since then, the team has gone from strength to strength, participating in a number of USGAA Finals over the years, and claiming their first North American championship title in 2011. Since 2011, Clan Na Gael has represented San Francisco at both junior and intermediate levels at every USGAA Finals,  narrowly missing out on intermediate glory in Cleveland in 2013 and Chicago in 2015. However, in 2017 we took home the Junior B Cup here in San Francisco and progressed to win the Junior A Cup in Chicago in 2022! 

In 2024 our homebase team won the Aoife McConn Cup for the first time in the club’s history against Fog City, a cup dedicated to the late daughter of one of our founders, Linda Ryan. It was one of the proudest moments in our team’s history. We also had 2 teams compete in the North American finals last year, at Junior B and Intermediate levels. It did not go our way for the Junior B team despite a hard effort, but our Intermediate ladies won the cup for the 1st time in our history. To make the victory even sweeter, it happened right here in San Francisco.

Now in our 25th year Clan Na Gael takes pride in our tight-knit club, as well as having our share of Irish homebased girls, we recruit local players, teach them the game, help them develop their skills, and work to promote Gaelic Football throughout the Bay Area in addition to welcoming J1 players each summer.  Quite a few of our players even started with the San Francisco Youth GAA and are now committed women’s players!

This year our club is more determined than ever in our pursuit of a North American Cup. Win or lose you will always find Clan Na Gael girls having the craic in the pub and celebrating our efforts as a team, on and off the pitch!