DUBLIN’S LYNDSEY DAVEY BEGINS A NEW CHAPTER
By Daire Walsh
She might be stepping away from the playing side of the inter-county game, but Lyndsey Davey is ready to embrace a new match day experience in 2023.
More than 18 years on from making her senior debut at the age of 14 in a Leinster semi-final win over Louth, Davey has brought the curtain down on a glittering career with Dublin. In addition to winning five All-Ireland championship titles, the Skerries Harps star also picked up 13 provincial crowns and four National Football League triumphs – spread evenly across Divisions One and Two.
She also signs off with five Ladies Football All Stars to her name, while she was also nominated for the TG4 Players’ Player of the Year on two occasions (2015 and 2018). Although it will be an unfamiliar feeling to watch the Jackies from the stands, Davey will be as passionate in her support of the team as she was on the field of play.
“It’s actually something I’m really looking forward to doing. I think with every footballer when you step away, as soon as the action gets back up and running, you’re probably always going to miss it,” Davey acknowledged.
“I am looking forward, though, to being a spectator now and I’m looking forward to going to the games and cheering the girls on. Hopefully seeing how they get on this year and just cheering them on along the way.”
Despite winning the Dublin Senior Football Championship with Fingallians in 2013 as a guest player during a year when her home club were unable to field a team, Davey has been a lifelong member of Skerries Harps.
She first joined their nursery as a five-year-old and has every intention of continuing to line out for them at adult level. Davey has also conducted some training sessions with underage sides in the club and while a demanding job with the Dublin Airport Fire Service has to be factored into the equation, coaching is something she would like to explore further.
“Obviously with my job, it involves a lot of shift work. It’s very hard to commit to a team, but I am in talks with the club to try and get involved with a team. Again, it’s just trying to develop the skills of the younger girls and encourage them through.
“Unfortunately, it will just depend on work commitments. How much time I will be able to give to it, but I do hope to be involved in some shape or form. Then obviously I’ll be, all going well, still playing with the club next year.”
Even before announcing her retirement from inter-county football, Davey acted as an ambassador for the LGFA’s BUA programme. This is a self-development initiative aimed at supporting young people in the association to develop leadership skills and qualities to benefit their community through expert-led workshops and self-reflection, before participants put their enhanced leadership skills into action through a club action project.
Having been on hand for BUA’s launch in June 2021, she reaffirmed her commitment earlier this year to a programme that is set to run until March 2023.
“It’s a personal development programme for younger girls, between 16 and 19 years of age. One of the girls in the club last year would have participated in it, Lauren Fanning. I would have been her mentor.
“She would have come to me for any advice or guidance and just help her through. Just speaking to her after and how she found it, how beneficial she found it, I think it’s a fantastic initiative for the LGFA. It’s just something that it’s really nice to be a part of,” Davey added.