The above photograph was taken at a Fundraiser for former prisoners and participants in 1916 at Ely House. Known Camogie players are circled..
Effie (Aoife) Taafe was a member of Keating's Gaelic League and also played camogie with their club. Prior to the Rising Bridget Foley recalls: "I remember that Effie Taafe and myself on one occasion carried two rifles under our coats" to a safe house. On Easter Monday, Min Ryan, later wife of General Risteáird Mulcahy recalls:" I remember Effie Taafe and myself marched off down town" to the GPO. "Then Effie Taafe and myself were brought in to the GPO" by Seán T O' Kelly, who later became President of Ireland and Min's brother-in-law. After the surrender both Bridget Foley and Effie Taafe went around to the hospitals, seeking out the wounded volunteers and taking messages to their friends and family. Effie Taafe continued her fight and on 6th May 1923 escaped over the walls of the North Dublin Union, where she was then imprisoned. Effie's camogie training, obviously, came into good effect.
The Pollard sisters, Kathleen and Josephine, were prominent players with Lorcan O' Toole's Camogie Club, and also both took part in the 1916 Rising, where they were based at Jacob's Biscuit Factory garrison, under the overall command of Thomas McDonagh. Kathleen went on to play for North Dublin League teams and later became a prominent referee.
Áine O' Rahilly, sister of "The O'Rahilly”, Quartermaster of the Irish Volunteers, helped bring guns in from the Asgard in Howth and distributed guns from her violin case. On Easter Saturday 1916 Áine states that they played a Camogie match in Serpentine Avenue. "One of the girls was injured and they had plenty of bandages to give her first aid." The bandages had been intended for aiding the wounded in the Rising, not camogie!
Áine's brother "The O'Rahilly" was killed in a laneway off Moore Street. Áine went on to act as Treasurer of the Prisoner's Dependancy Fund. In 1922 Áine was accidentally shot by Ernie O' Malley as he tried to escape a raid on her house on Ailesbury Road. On her recovery, Áine was transferred to Mountjoy Jail where she remained until she was released in December 1923.
