Martina Fitzsimons (centre ) who plays alongside her two daughters Shanise (Player of the Match) & Rebecca (Captain)

A family affair in Denn!

Ultan Sherry


Have you ever heard about the mother who plays senior camogie with her two daughters in Co Cavan of all places? For the last while, that’s exactly what Denn stalwart Martina Fitzsimons has been doing.
Martina has been involved in the game for over three decades, whilst her two daughters, Rebecca (19) and Shanise (16), have recently started out on the senior Denn team, having risen through the underage ranks. A third daughter, Hannah, is playing for club and county at U14 level. All play with the same level of passion as her mother.
But what is it like to be playing on the same team as one’s daughters? “It’s for them I’m doing it. We haven’t really enough young players at the moment,” Martina told the Celt this week. “I sort of came out of retirement and I was in goals for a few years and now I’m full forward. Hopefully, though, with a few young players coming through next year, I’ll be able to retire and watch the girls from the sidelines.” 

Whilst Martina is staying on the field for now to help blood her daughters into the senior team, one has to wonder what it’s like for the two girls to have their mother on the same team as them.

“By right I shouldn’t be playing, but the two girls said ‘oh you should! You’re brilliant!,’” Martina replied. “They’re quite happy and they’re strong enough and cute enough to know to win their own ball if it’s there to be won.”
Martina plays full forward on the team, while Rebecca plays in defence and Shanise takes her place amongst the half forwards.

Rebecca is also, at 19 years of age, the second eldest on the Denn team, after her mother. The youngest on the team is 15 years old, but there’s three others of the same age on the team also.

Despite their youth, this team however won the Cavan Junior A Camogie Championship against Ballinagh recently, an extraordinary achievement for a club with such an age profile, but even more so for the Fitzsimons. “It just felt brilliant,” Martina simply commented.

This Friday evening, Denn go into battle in a League replay against the same opposition, where they hope it will be the same outcome.
As Martina prepares to hang up her camogie stick for the last time then, she is optimistic about her daughters’ futures on the field as they embark on their own journeys.

“They give it everything. They always go to training, no matter how good they are. I couldn’t be prouder of them. They give it everything in both camogie and football,” she said in conclusion.