DCU Alumni Awardee Maria Kinsella

Maria Kinsella is a Chartered Accountant and a Senior Manager in Assurance - Asset & Wealth Management at PwC Dublin. Maria first joined PwC in 2013 and has progressed from graduate trainee to Senior Manager. 

Gaelic Games has always been front and centre in Maria’s life. She played football for Carlow from 2007 to 2021 and captained teams for her club, Fenagh, and DCU. 

Her passion for female equality in sport developed during her teens when she experienced first-hand the imbalance between how men and women were treated in Gaelic Games. 

In 2019, she was elected as Chairperson of the Women’s Gaelic Players Association, which represented 1,400 female inter-county players. She led this organisation through a merger with the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) and ensured equality was to the fore of the new association. 

Maria was elected Co-Chair of the GPA’s National Executive Committee, a member of the GPA Board of Directors and also sits on the GPA Audit & Risk Committee. Since the merger, Maria has been instrumental in lobbying for equal Government funding of male and female inter-county players, which was achieved in 2021.

In 2023, Maria led the push to establish minimum conditions for female inter-county players. She has also been a leading voice for the integration of the GAA, the LGFA and the Camogie Association as an essential change to address the inequality still experienced by female players in gaelic games.  

Maria was named ‘Woman of Influence in Irish Sport’ in 2019, 2020, 2021 & 2022 by Sport for Business. 

M.Sc. in Accounting (2013)

B.A. in Accounting & Finance (2012)