The game we all played in childhood is now the GAA’s most inclusive sport. Here’s the inside story of how one clever marketing move is going to bring ROUNDERS back centre stage…

Michelle Hopkins hears the same thing any time she mentions that she plays rounders.

‘Everyone would say something along the lines of they loved playing the game in primary school, but they had no idea that you could play it at adult level,’ she explained ahead of captaining Breaffy in today’s senior women’s All-Ireland final against Dublin’s Limekiln in Abbotstown.

The meeting between Breaffy and Limekiln is the main event on what is a landmark day for the GAA’s most inclusive sport.

At the National centre of excellence, there will also be a junior and intermediate women’s final. All three games will be streamed on TG4’s Youtube channel.

GAA Rounders president Paula Doherty and GAA president Jarlath Burns with GAA Rounders players at Croke Park at the launch for the upcoming finals

‘That’s absolutely massive for our sport, to have that kind of platform,’ Hopkins says.

‘Like I said, most people probably enjoyed rounders when they were in school but didn’t know that you can pick it up as an adult. The fact that all of these finals will be streamed will open up the game to a whole new audience.’

To the wider Irish public, Breaffy are known as the home club of the O’Shea brothers, but in rounders, the Mayo club are a powerhouse.

The side that Hopkins skippers in Abbotstown are chasing history today as they are looking to win their fifth All-Ireland title in a row and sixth in seven years, having previously won it in 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025.

In a couple of weeks’ time, Hopkins and others will be part of the Breaffy mixed team, who will face Wexford’s Glynn-Barntown in the All-Ireland final in Mallow.

A couple of years ago, underlining how strong the sport is in Breaffy, they contested all three senior All-Ireland finals – women’s, men’s and mixed. At that time, all three senior finals were on the same day, so it was an exhausting schedule.

‘We won the women’s and won the mixed, too, but unfortunately, our senior men’s team just came up short. But that was a busy day,’ Hopkins said.

That situation led GAA rounders to give each final day a stage of their own. So the junior, intermediate and senior women’s finals will all be played today.

Next week, it’s the turn of the three men’s finals in each grade in the Offaly GAA Centre of Excellence before Mallow hosts each of the three mixed finals.

Action from the Ladies rounders competition at this year’s GAA World Games in Carrigmore

‘It means that each of the final days can stand on their own,’ says Shirley Lennon, secretary of GAA rounders.

‘In the past, we had teams who were playing in the mixed final and maybe the senior men’s or women’s. And it meant that players were forced to play finals straight after each other.’

For those of us who only remember rounders from primary school, it is perhaps a surprise that the code can successfully hold All-Ireland championships at three different levels.

But the game has been going through a bit of a surge in interest since Covid. There are now more than 80 clubs around the country who have adult sides and more than 100 teams entered this year’s All-Ireland championship – in one of the three grades.

‘There are pockets around the country where it is stronger, certain parts of Connacht and Munster for example, and we have always been strong down in the south-east, Wexford and Carlow,’ Lennon says.

‘But what we want to do is bring it to other parts of the country, reawaken what people remember from playing the game at school.’

Rounders prides itself on the fact that it is the most inclusive of the GAA’s four codes – this is a game where men and women can play together.

‘I love the inclusivity of rounders,’ Hopkins says.

‘It is what most people would say. It is the only GAA code where men and women can play together. There aren’t too many sports in the world where that can happen, so it is unique.’

And it’s what brings people back to the sport. Hopkins played regularly in Castlebar up until 2009 when that team disbanded.

In 2017, Colm Jordan, who had been keeping the game going at under-age level in Breaffy, started a senior side and it allowed Hopkins to rekindle her passion for rounders.

GAA Rounders president Paula Doherty with Senior Mixed finalists, from left, Victor del Rosal of Breaffy, Mayo, Aileen Kelly of Glynn Barntown, Wexford, and Michelle Hopkins of Breaffy

In the past ten years, the Mayo club have become one of the most successful rounders side in the country.

They have been unbeaten all season going into today’s All-Ireland final and have been working off a squad of 36.

‘We have needed them, because we have been carrying a few injuries and what not this year.’

In the mixed game in a fortnight’s time, teams are divided between five male players and four female players, so Hopkins and three of her teammates will be travelling to Mallow, hoping that they have managed to create history this afternoon.

It has been an historic summer in Mayo already, of course, and Breaffy are just keen to keep the good times rolling.

‘It’s still hard to believe,’ Hopkins said of her county ending their 75-year wait for Sam Maguire.

‘Some days you wake up and you nearly can’t believe that Mayo won the All-Ireland. But we just want to continue that feeling.’

ROUNDERS FINALS SCHEDULE

Sunday August 30, Abbotstown (Live on TG4 Youtube channel)

Junior Women’s Final (11am) St. Kieran’s (Limerick) vs St. Senan’s (Limerick)

Intermediate Women’s Final (1pm)

Elphin (Roscommon) vs Galway City Rapparees (Galway)

Senior Women’s Final (3.30pm)

Breaffy (Mayo) vs Limekiln (Dublin)

Sunday, 6 September, Offaly GAA Centre of Excellence

Junior Men’s Final (11am) Gusserane (Wexford) vs Myshall (Carlow)