Jerome plans to build on growth of ladies football in Munster
BUILDING on the growth that ladies football has experienced over recent years will be a priority for the Boherbue resident who recently took up the role of Munster Ladies Gaelic Football Association (MLGFA) President.
Jerome Casey is well qualified for this new role, having served as secretary/PRO and treasurer of Boherbue Ladies Football Club from 2007-2014, treasurer with Cork LGFA and most recently as treasurer of the MLGFA
His involvement with ladies football goes back to 2004 when is daughters Evie and Beatrice were playing with the U-10 Boherbue ladies team and were part of the successful squad that went on to gain numerous junior and intermediate county titles over the following decade.
“I was elected treasurer of the Cork LGFA, was a mentor on the U-14 team that year and also worked very closely with Eamonn Ryan and the Cork senior team. I had four great years with the association and managed to greatly enhance its bank balance over that time,” said Jerome.
“When I moved on from Cork in December 2015 we had gone from 56 to 79 clubs, which was serious growth for the AN ambitious plan to redevelop the international Equestrian Competition Centre at Ballindenisk near Watergrashill has been formally unveiled.
The proposal will see the installation of an all-weather area that will be used at both of the venues international eventing competitions in April and September in addition to the various national ones its regularly hosts.
The new arena, details of which were announced at the recent horse trials in Ballindenisk, will also be available for regional and national training from grassroots to high performance Olympic athletes.
The trials attracted more than 300 competitors from 13 countries including world individual and team gold medallist Ros Canter, Irish world individual and team silver medallist Padraig McCarthy European
TO WEAR THE COUNTY JERSEY IS HUGE FOR ALL OUR GIRLS AND MORE OPPORTUNITIES ARE COMING THEIR WAY.
association,” he continued.
Jerome became involved with the MLGFA in 2013, becoming treasurer in 2015. He said the association had seen growth levels exceeding 160 per cent since, with each of the six-counties “working very hard to promote and develop individual bronze medallist Cathal Daniels.
Speaking at the event, the Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, praised event director Peter Fell for his commitment to Ballindenisk, as well as the sport in Ireland.
“As minister with ultimate responsibility for the equine sector and the sport horse industry in particular, I am acutely conscious of our global standing and the importance of having an infrastructure that breeding stock that we have internationally,” said Minister Creed.
“It is more relevant than ever given the recent successes we have achieved at the European championships across multi-disciplines. Without leaders like Peter, the industry will not develop and I applaud him for his commitment to the sport.”
The exciting new project is funded by the Department of ladies football to every little parish of their county.”
He pointed out the number of people going to matches over the past five-years had also risen significantly, with 56,000 people at September’s All-Ireland showdown.
“Our aim is to beat 60,000 in 2020. This year we had four double headers with the Munster GAA – men’s senior and ladies championship games on the same day. We also see very close links in the PPS secondary school games with girls and boys from the same college playing Munster college’s games on the same day,” said Jerome.
“The publicity and good will that was generated was second to none and we will see huge growth in this area going forward,” added Jerome.
He said one of his main priorities as MLGFA president will be to oversee the growth of the game across the provinces six counties, with a particular emphasis on the game at grassroots level.
“We have a national schools’ programme in place and school/ club link that is working very well. Our secondary school programme and competitions are also very competitive, with our senior and junior A, B and C Munster champions playing in the All-Ireland Rural and Community Development and supported by North Cork LAG through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (Leader 2014) programme and Avondhu Blackwater Partnership CLG.
Avondhu Blackwater CEO Valerie Murphy also praised Peter Fell’s entrepreneurial vision saying: “Ballindenisk has been an excellent showcase of Leader funding and we congratulate you and your family on this latest endeavour.”
Padraig McCarthy said he was looking forward to using the new facility.
“It is fantastic knowing you can come to a venue and are guaranteed to have good footing to run on. We know that the course here takes a lot of rain, so we always like to come and run over a very natural course, but the addition of an all-weather arena will really make it a top class venue,” he said. series, said Jerome.
“We have kicked off our club championships and this is where the hard work goes in at county level. We will meet a lot of new clubs over the month of October and by running our junior, intermediate and senior championships over four-weeks in a row, clubs know from week to week when and where they are playing, which is important.”
So what lies ahead for the counties in the MLGFA?
“A lot of our ladies league and championship games are been played at county venues and ahead of the men’s games as a lot of families have sisters and brothers playing at the same venue. We are working very closely with the GAA for these games, which is enhancing the revenue for both the ladies and men’s county boards,” said Jerome.
He said the association was also working closely with camogie to avoid double bookings.
“We are also getting great publicity from the local and national newspapers and social media has helped moved the game on with instant results for our followers,”said Jerome.
“To wear the county jersey is huge for all our girls and more opportunities are coming their way,” he promised.