Sport for Business, in partnership with Liberty Insurance, is publishing our third annual list of the 50 Most Influential Women in Irish Sport.
This is not about Women’s sport, it is about the influence that women are wielding across all sport. We will identify leaders on and off the field of play. They will include those who are role models in terms of their abilities on and off the field of play. They will come from teams and individual sports, from sponsorship partners, from the media, from the administrative corridors of power and from places where influence may be subtle but no less powerful.
Joan O’Flynn
Joan O’Flynn is CEO of the Camogie Association. She has held the role since 2013 having served as President of the Association from 2008 to 2010
She has played on Championship winning club sides in Cork and Kildare, as well as being instrumental in the re-establishment of London in international Camogie development while living there during the 1980’s.
Her professional career prior to taking up the full time leadership of Camogie had been spent within areas of equality, from the Combat Poverty Agency in Dublin to the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs.
O’Flynn was a key driver of Camogie’s previous and current strategic plans and the current focus is very much based on building commercial partnerships to underpin the player growth of the sport.
This week’s announcement that RTÉ TV will be covering all the knock out stage games in the Liberty Insurance All Ireland Championship is a major boost and having Littlewoods on board as a main partner alongside the long term partnership with Liberty has given rise to greater social promotion of the sport.
The role of sport in Women’s lives is rising rapidly in importance. The Women’s Rugby World Cup, a greater emphasis on promotion of soccer among young girls and Lidl’s groundbreaking partnership with ladies Football are all raising the bar across the sporting spectrum and the challenge for O’Flynn and Camogie in the next twelve months will be to maintain and increase player numbers, player retention and the image of the sport as part of the gaelic games family.
That is a challenge which past evidence suggests O’Flynn will meet with success.
Mary Davis, Special Olympics
Sonia O’Sullivan, Olympian
Sinead Galvin, Galvin Sports Management
Evanne Ní Chuillin, Joanne Cantwell and Jacqui Hurley, RTÉ
Louise Kidd, AIG Insurance
Ellen Keane, Paralympian
Siobhan Earley, Gaelic Players Association
Maeve Buckley, Line Up Sports
Suzanne Eade, Horse Racing Ireland
Sinead Heraty, Irish Ladies Golf Union
Sinead Kissane, Journalist at TV3
Irene Gowing and Sorcha Fennell Sheehan, Bord Gais Energy
Jo Donnellan, Sponsorship Manager at Heineken
Elaine Carey, Chief Commercial Officer Three Ireland
Sarah O’Connor, Head of Sport at Wilson Hartnell
Georgina Drumm, President at Athletics Ireland
Sue Ronan, Head of Women’s Football at FAI
Fiona Hampton, Head of Sales and Marketing at Ulster Rugby
Karen Campion, Head of Business Partnerships at FAI
Miriam Malone, CEO at Paralympics Ireland
Cliona Foley, Journalist
Cliona O’Leary, Head of TV Sport at RTÉ
Edel McCarthy, Sponsorship Manager Electric Ireland
Lisa Browne, Head of Marketing Electric Ireland
Sarah O’Shea, Honorary General Secretary at Olympic Council of Ireland
Helen O’Rourke, CEO at Ladies Gaelic Football Association
Kelli O’Keefe, Teneo PSG
Jennifer Gleeson, Sponsorship Manager at Diageo
Mary O’Connor, CEO Federation of Irish Sport
Carol McMahon, Ulster Bank
Deirdre Ashe, Liberty Insurance
Sian Gray, Head of Marketing at Lidl
Roisin Glynn, Social media Manager at AIB
Michelle Tanner, Head of Sport at Trinity College
Gemma Bell, Sponsorship Manager at Bank of Ireland
Tracey Kennedy, Chair Cork County GAA Board
Katie Taylor, World Champion Boxer
Joy Neville, Referee
Niamh O’Donoghue, FAI Board Member
Joan O’Flynn, CEO Camogie Association
Lindsay Peat, Rugby Player
Annalise Murphy, Olympian Sailor
Dee Forbes, Director General at RTÉ
Emma Byrne, Footballer
Fiona Coghlan, Grand Slam Rugby Winning Captain
Dr Una May, Head of Participation at Sport Ireland
Anne O’Leary, CEO of Vodafone
Cora Staunton, Ladies Gaelic Footballer
Sarah Keane, President Olympic Council of Ireland
Jessica Harrington, racehorse trainer and Irish Times Sportswoman of 2017
