In the middle of the night in a house in Ballinamore, in the North West of Ireland, Sharon O'Dowd wakes up to put on an Australian broadcast.

Two years ago, her young sister Eilish, who she helped raise with 12 years between them, moved from County Leitrim to Sydney to play AFLW for GWS.

When one of two of Eilish's matches haven't been available to stream across the ocean, the mother of two — her kids three and six — has put the commentary on and sat and listened instead while the rest of her house sleeps.

"I don't mind getting up this early as I love to watch her and the Giants play," Sharon told ABC Sport.

"If it's a particularly early game I usually go back to bed after it."

Sharon is one of many families across Ireland who wake up at all hours to watch GAA-turned-AFLW stars.

There are 47 Irish players in the AFL women's competition, many of whom will be on show in this weekend's inaugural AFLW Australia v Ireland clash in Sydney.

Their feats regularly make headlines back home.

Eilish with the first touch of her ball for GWS scored the fastest opening goal in AFLW history. The clip — in which she won the tap in the ruck and bolted straight through the corridor to score within 15 seconds — made the national news.

As it was her first game, Sharon was still getting familiar with the stream and watched, stunned, from her phone.

"I was in shock when she scored because I just couldn't believe what had happened," Sharon said.

"Everyone else in my house was asleep so I couldn't even celebrate with them. I knew my parents were watching the game in their house so I texted them.

"But it had happened so quickly they didn't even see it because they hadn't got logged into their streaming account fast enough."

Luckily, they have since watched the video of the replay multiple times.

Over in Dunboyne, a town of less than 10,000 people in County Meath, the Wall family regularly pack their house for North Melbourne games.

Tom and Caroline Wall's daughter, Vikki Wall, is a star sportswoman from the Eastern Coast.

She twice led County Meath to historic All-Ireland Senior Championship titles in 2021 and 2022 before being signed as an international rookie by North Melbourne and playing all 13 games of her 2022 debut season.

She missed the 2023 AFLW season to play rugby sevens for Ireland ahead of the Paris Olympics and returned to Arden Street to win premierships in 2024 and 2025.

"We've had events in our house where 30-plus people come and have breakfast and cheer on the teams," Tom told ABC Sport.

"We try to watch all of Vikki's matches but it can be difficult to access the games online sometimes, so we listen to the match commentaries on the radio, if necessary."

Like Sharon, this means getting up before the sun. "But it's worth it," said Tom.

Vikki's younger sister Sarah was drafted to the Kangaroos last year. Thankfully for Tom and Caroline, this means still just the one early alarm.

Similarly, Collingwood's Sarah Rowe is a cross-code athlete, whose dad has followed her career across the globe.

Sarah represented County Mayo across all age groups from under-12 to the senior team before she moved to Australia.

There, she became a fan favourite for the Magpies after debuting in 2019 and won an A-League Women's championship with the Central Coast Mariners in 2025.

Her father Alan hasn't missed a game.

"My passion for the AFLW is total," Rowe told ABC Sport.

"I originally had not a clue about the rules, regulations or how to play the game but over a period of time, I've got to understand everything about it, I've seen the great players grow and understood the game passionately and very deeply, to now [to be able to] say that's it's one of the great games that I love watching."

Rowe has made the trip over to Sydney for the first AFLW Australia v Ireland representative game, as he does for all her big games: her 50th, 75th and Collingwood's 2022 semi-final against Adelaide.

"It's a great honour to represent the country at the highest level and I will be there with great pride and for the family and for the town of Ballina," Rowe said.

Back in Ballina, Sarah's mother Grainne will be watching the match with "everybody within our family," Rowe said, including aunties, uncles and cousins.

"It's one of the big days of sporting life within the Irish calendar.

"And it'll be one that everyone will be so much looking forward to watching and very proud to be a part of."

Sharon said it gets hard being away from Eilish, but she's happy players like her sister can give their all to the game overseas.

"When she has had a great game I would just love to be there to be able to tell her how amazing she is, and also when she is having a hard time or she gets injured I would love to be able to make sure she is ok. We do video calls all the time though so that helps," Sharon said.

She's hoping it'll be a very happy FaceTime after Saturday's game against Australia at North Sydney Oval.

"It is an incredibly proud moment for all our family to see Eilish wear an Irish jersey and represent her country. There is no higher honour in sport in my opinion," she said.

"I'd imagine for this game the whole family will get up early to see her. We will have our Irish flags out and cheer the whole team on."