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GAA World Games: The real 'Dairy Girls' playing GAA in the USA

BBC Abbey Pipkorn, Katie Snell, Collette Lawlor from Wisconsin's GAA team in the USABBC
The Hartland Dairy Girls, from Wisconsin, USA, call themselves the 'real dairy girls'

Tell Erin, Michelle, Clare, Orla and James to step aside - there's a new group of Derry Girls.

The Hartland Dairy Girls, a GAA team hailing from Wisconsin, USA, call themselves 'the real Dairy Girls'.

They are representing their country at the GAA World Games in Londonderry alongside teams from Australia, Canada and the Middle East.

One of the team members, Abbey Pipkorn, said the name was "a perfect fit" for their team.

"Wisconsin is the dairy state so we had to come to Derry as the Dairy Girls," she added.

The whole team is a fan of the show. Some joked that it was compulsory to watch it before joining.

"It was our homework before we came out here," said Katie Snell, another team member.

"I binge-watched the entire thing on Netflix before coming," added Katie.

"When we decided to come to World Games we just had to take advantage of the perfect name."

Taking over North America

One of the team's coaches, Collette Lawlor, who is from County Carlow, was one of the original fans on the team.

She helped to introduce the show and the sport to the players.

"It has been awesome. We started off with 50/50 Irish and Americans - now we have more Americans on the team than Irish people," she said.

"Gaelic football is the fastest growing sport in North America."

Now back on home soil, Collette says it has been lovely to see so many different people playing GAA.

"To see people representing a different country in your own country makes you nothing but proud."

Hartland Dairy Girls Members of the Hartland Dairy Girls in a pre-match meetingHartland Dairy Girls
The team say there are a lot of similarities between Derry and Wisconsin

Although there has not been much free time between matches and training sessions, some of the team have managed to squeeze in some sightseeing while they are in Northern Ireland.

They say some of the sights have felt very familiar.

"We have seen the walls and Badgers Bar, which is great because we're also the badger state. So the fact that they're close together is amazing," said Abbey.

"We come from farmland area, so Derry looks really similar, weirdly enough. A lot more sheep than cows."

There are still matches to be played, but the team say it has been a successful trip.

"We have made friends on every team," says Katie.

"They all play a great game and everyone is here to have fun. It's been the best."