Maids of the Mountain Hockey Club was a

women's field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

club based in

Rathfarnham Rathfarnham () is a Southside suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is south of Terenure, east of Templeogue, and is in the postal districts of Dublin 14 and 16. It is within the administrative areas of both Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council a ...

South Dublin , image_map = Island of Ireland location map South Dublin.svg , map_caption = Inset showing South Dublin (darkest green in inset) within Dublin Region (lighter green) , area_total_km2 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The club was founded in

1918 This year is noted for the end of the First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50–100 million people worldwide. Events Below, the events ...

and was originally based in

Foxrock Foxrock () is an affluent suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is within the county of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, in the postal district of Dublin 18 and in the Roman Catholic parish of Foxrock. History The suburb of Foxrock was developed by William a ...

. Maids of the Mountain were closely associated with

Three Rock Rovers Hockey Club Three Rock Rovers Hockey Club is a field hockey club based in Rathfarnham, South Dublin, Ireland. The club was founded in 1893. It was originally based in Foxrock and was named after Three Rock Mountain. The club's senior men's team plays in the ...

. The club was founded by a group of women, the majority of whom were the wives, widows, partners, sisters or children of Three Rock Rovers players. The clubs also shared grounds and eventually merged in 1999. In 1923 Maids of the Mountain completed a national cup double, winning both the Irish Senior Cup and the Irish Junior Cup.

History

Early years

Maids of the Mountain Hockey Club was founded in

. The prime mover in establishing the club was Hilda O'Reilly who subsequently captained the

Ireland women's national field hockey team The Ireland women's national field hockey team is organised by Hockey Ireland and represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in international women's field hockey competitions, including the Women's Hockey World Cup and the Wom ...

during the 1920s. There are two stories about the origin of the club name. The club was formed by a group of women or ''Maids'', the majority of whom were the wives, widows, partners, sisters and children of Three Rock Rovers players. Many were also members of the

Voluntary Aid Detachment The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) was a voluntary unit of civilians providing nursing care for military personnel in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire. The most important periods of operation for these units we ...

. The ''Mountain'' in the club name refers to

Three Rock Mountain Three Rock Mountain (; archaic: ''Sliabh Ruadh'') is a mountain in Co Dublin, Ireland. It is high and forms part of the group of hills in the Dublin Mountains which comprises Two Rock, Three Rock, Kilmashogue and Tibradden Mountains. The mo ...

, the same mountain that Three Rock Rovers were named after. A second story claims the club was named after ''

The Maid of the Mountains ''The Maid of the Mountains'', called in its original score a musical play, is an operetta or "Edwardian" musical comedy in three acts. The music was by Harold Fraser-Simson, with additional music by James W. Tate, lyrics by Harry Graham an ...

'', the

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

written by

Harold Fraser-Simson Harold Fraser-Simson (15 August 1872 – 19 January 1944) was an English composer of light music, including songs and the scores to Edwardian musical comedies, musical comedies. His most famous musical was the World War I hit ''The Maid of the M ...

, which was being performed at the

Gaiety Theatre, Dublin The Gaiety Theatre is a theatre on South King Street in Dublin, Ireland, off Grafton Street and close to St. Stephen's Green. It specialises in operatic and musical productions, with occasional dramatic shows. History In April 1871, the broth ...

in August 1918.

Irish Senior Cup

In 1919–20, after playing just three seasons, Maids of the Mountain won a treble, winning the Irish Senior Cup, the Leinster Senior Cup and the Leinster Senior League. ;Notes

Irish Junior Cup

In 1923 Maids of the Mountain won the Irish Junior Cup for the first time. In 1947 when the club won the cup for a second time, the team was captained by Máirín Lynch, the wife of future

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Jack Lynch John Mary Lynch (15 August 1917 – 20 October 1999) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1966 to 1973 and 1977 to 1979, Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1966 to 1979, Leader of the Opposition from 1973 to 1977, Minister ...

. ;Notes

Merger

In 1988, Maids of the Mountain moved to Grange Road,

where they shared the facilities with Three Rock Rovers. On 25 May 1999, the two clubs merged to become one club.

Home grounds

Maids of the Mountain originally played at the home grounds of Three Rock Rovers in

. In 1930, after Three Rock Rovers moved to Londonbridge Road, the headquarters of the

Irish Hockey Union Hockey Ireland, previously known as the Irish Hockey Association, is the governing body for field hockey in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is responsible for organising both the Ireland men's national field hockey team and t ...

Ringsend Ringsend () is a Southside (Dublin), southside inner suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the south bank of the River Liffey and east of the River Dodder, about two kilometres east of the city centre. It is the sou ...

, the Maids remained in Foxrock. In 1934 they moved to grounds in

Templeogue Templeogue () is a southwestern suburb of Dublin in Ireland. It lies between the River Poddle and River Dodder, and is about halfway from Dublin's centre to the mountains to the south. Geography Location The centre of Templeogue is from bo ...

. During the 1985–86 season the Templeogue grounds were sold to builders for development. The Maids remained homeless until 1988 when they settled at Grange Road, once again sharing a home ground with Three Rock Rovers.

Notable players

; internationals ;Others *

Muriel Gahan Muriel Françoise Gahan (27 October 1897 – 12 July 1995) was an Irish rural campaigner and a promoter of traditional crafts and of the cooperative movement. Early life Winifred Muriel Françoise Gahan was born in Magherabeg House, near Do ...

* Máirín Lynch: wife of future

Honours

* Irish Senior Cup **''Winners'': 1920, 1923, 1930, 1935: 4 **''Runners Up'': 1926, 1928, 1929 : 3 * Irish Junior Cup **''Winners'': 1923, 1947, 1975: 3 **''Runners Up'': 1963, 1969: 2

References

{{Reflist Three Rock Rovers Hockey Club Sports clubs in South Dublin (county) 1918 establishments in Ireland 1999 disestablishments in Ireland Field hockey clubs established in 1918 Field hockey clubs disestablished in 1999 Field hockey clubs in County Dublin Women's field hockey teams in Ireland Defunct field hockey clubs in Ireland