Seven-year-old Cork girl wins Lidl Ladies Gaelic Football 50th anniversary jersey design competition

A seven-year-old Cork girl has scored big as her design is to feature on the Ladies Gaelic Football 50th anniversary jersey.

Ballinspittle native Aoife Callanan was among thousands of Lidl shoppers who submitted a design for the limited-edition half centenary kit.

The Cork girl, who plays Ladies Gaelic Football with Courcey Rovers, was presented with the first of her jersey design to be produced by Lidl Ireland CEO J.P. Scally in Croke Park.

The Lidl LGFA Jersey Design competition was launched in May 2023 and ran across all 178 Lidl stores nationwide. 

To enter, shoppers had to complete a design template entry form and submit their entry in-store before June 11.

Over 10,000 entries were received from across the country and four entries were short-listed for a public vote across Lidl’s social media channels where Ms Callanan’s jersey was chosen as the overall winner.

The Ballinspittle family also received €1,000 in Lidl vouchers for winning the competition.

Speaking about her jersey design, Aoife’s mother, Claire Callanan, said:

“Aoife and our whole family are absolutely thrilled that she has won the Lidl LGFA jersey design competition. She’s a very creative girl and a big Ladies Gaelic Football fan. 

"To be in Croke Park for the All-Ireland Finals and see her jersey up on the big screen was amazing. It will be a great memory for the whole family into the future. We look forward to seeing people around the country wearing the jersey to celebrate the LGFA’s 50th anniversary.” 

10,000 of the Ballinspittle local’s bespoke jersey design will go into production with Irish sports company McKeever Sports and will be distributed to Lidl shoppers across the country as part of the Lidl Plus LGFA Rewards Scheme.

Mícheál Naughton, LGFA President, siad: "When the voting opened for the Lidl jersey design competition, we were blown away by the options that the finalists had come up with. Aoife's design won the popular vote, and we can see why it polled so well. This jersey is a really beautiful piece of work, and we look forward to seeing many of our members wearing it very soon. A huge word of thanks to Lidl for coming up with this fantastic initiative.”