Ganly grew up in Country Limerick at a farm in Cahirmoyle until the family moved to Fitzwilliam square in Dublin.
Ganly went on to attend the Metropolitan School of Art where she had the opportunity to study under Patrick Tuohy, Seán Keating and Oliver Sheppard.
Ganly was a talented sculptor and won several awards, including the Taylor scholarship in 1929, for her allegorical male nude, Pity.
[1][2][3][4][5][6] She also studied painting in the Royal Hibernian Academy School where she had Margaret Clarke and Seán O'Sullivan as teachers.
She was made an associate of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1928 and Ganly became a member in 1935 though in 1969 she resigned her membership in protest at the lack of young artists being given the opportunity to exhibit.