Limerick<\/a> was to be their new home.<\/p>\n\u201cMy great-grandparents actually were from here,\u201d Gallagher says of the Treaty county. \u201cWe had no connection [to the area] prior to moving here, but when I told my grandma, she said that\u2019s where her mum was from, which is crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Gallagher was glad of the stability of being able to keep her job \u2013 continuing to practice as a lawyer for her Australian firm despite the 10-hour time difference \u2013 working from home isn\u2019t ideal when you\u2019re trying to meet people. In the absence of a workplace, hockey again offered her a social lifebuoy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI contacted someone from Munster Hockey because I didn\u2019t really know where to start. They put me in touch with Ger (O\u2019Carroll, coach) from Catholic Institute \u2013 they play in the EY League, which was what I was after, to play in the top competition here.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we moved over (in early September), I think it was like three days after I got here when I went to training.\u201d<\/p>\n
She may have been on the other side of the world, but Gallagher was instantly right at home with her new team.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy initial thought was that it would all be different, but when I went to training all the girls were just exactly the same as what my team would be like at home. They all have very similar interests, they all kind of speak the same and they all do the same things.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was expecting it to be very different, but I would say a lot of the girls in my team would easily be mates and integrate very easily with a lot of the girls at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
In those early days, small gestures of kindness made a difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hadn\u2019t really been in a new team for so many years, because I\u2019d just been training with the same girls I\u2019d grown up with and played hockey with, so I kind of was a little bit nervous,\u201d Gallagher says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really funny because I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve been nervous for years, because everything I\u2019ve done has been so comfortable. Going to the first training session, I was really nervous.<\/p>\n
\u201cGer picked me up on the way, which was really nice because [it meant] I was arriving with someone and she walked me in. I hadn\u2019t had that feeling in so many years.\u201d <\/p>\n
The nerves quickly dissipated and before long Gallagher was back getting involved in the time-honoured tradition of hanging around after training having the chats with team-mates.<\/p>\n
That friendship was extended by the wider club when some special guests visited in December: \u201cMy parents came to visit just before Christmas and some of the parents took them out for drinks after our game.<\/p>\n
![\"Morgan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ADADKNCDLBELHEO2NXUCBBXN4Q.jpg\")
Morgan Gallagher of Brisbane Blaze takes to the field before the Hockey One League Women’s Grand Final against NSW Pride in November, 2022. Photograph: Martin Keep\/Getty Images <\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has just been overwhelmingly nice and welcoming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Five months in and the couple now have a social circle which takes in both their Catholic Institute and Garryowen teammates, who have helped to add colour to their life in Limerick.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve made the trip to Thomond Park (albeit for the agonising Champions Cup defeat to Castres<\/a>) and the Gaelic Grounds may well be on the cards now the intercounty GAA season is back under way.<\/p>\nWhile Limerick, in some ways, is proving to be a world away from what she\u2019s always known \u2013 the weather first and foremost \u2013 Gallagher and her partner are embracing the positives of the midwest.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s significantly smaller than Brisbane. It is different, but it\u2019s really nice that everything is so close; everything [in the city] is just within walking distance.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I find that it\u2019s definitely sort of a slower environment here and more relaxed, which has been really nice.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd also, I\u2019ve found that everyone sort of knows everyone, which is very nice because there\u2019s a very community feel.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Itchy feet is an affliction many Irish people can identify with. At 28, Morgan Gallagher had lived in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,147477,1396,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-315961","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-joining-the-team","11":"tag-limerick","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}