Two locals in Presidency bid
TWO Sligo men have put their names forward to become the President of the Ladies Gaelic Football Association.
They are outgoing Connacht LGFA President Liam McDonagh from Lavagh, Ballymote and Michéal Naughton, originally from Castleconnor and living in Donegal.
Mr McDonagh said that he feels he is the person to lead the Association through the next four years.
Outlined in his manifesto, the father of three said he has been an active member of the association for the past 27 years and throughout that period has gained vast amounts of experience in all aspects of the LGFA.
He has been a member of the St. Nathys Ladies Gaelic Football Club since the inception of ladies gaelic football in Sligo in1993, where he has held a wide range of administrative, management and coaching roles.
He has also held a number of roles down through the years on Sligo LGFA. These include secretary, chairperson, development officer and vice chairperson.
Mr McDonagh has also been a member of the National referee panel (refereed the 2003 Junior and the 2007 Intermediate All Irelands finals, refereed the New York finals(2)and the European championship finals in Luxemburg and The Hague).
He has also held the position of President of Connacht LGFA since 2017.
He said should he be successful, among the things he would work on is addressing the imbalance between County and club activity, the importance of club football at our grassroot level cannot be undermined or forgotten, he added.
The growth of ladies football is another key area he wants to work on.
“As an association we should all be proud of the growth and development of our games over the past number of years. Sitting in Croke Park on TG4 All Ireland final day 2019 as one of the 56,114 in attendance was a surreal feeling, however we cannot be under any illusions. We have a lot of work to do in promoting and increasing our attendances at the earlier fixtures in our championships and league fixtures and this starts by increasing spectator numbers attending games within our counties. If elected I see this as an important area of work in the long-term development of our association and vital to the longterm success of our game at grass root level. History will show that in the 45 years since the foundation of our association there has never been a Connacht President to date; and while you don’t hold the position of President purely based on historic or entitlement reasons I put myself forward as a capable candidate to lead our association forward for the next 4 year term.”
Also putting his name forward is Michéal Naughton. Mr. Naughton, a former President of the Ulster LGFA, has been a high-ranking official in the ladies game for many years.
He is a member of the Four Masters club hails from Castleconnor and is son of the late Breege & Edward Naughton, Carns, Culleens, Co. Sligo.
Michèal has been involved in ladies football for the last 25yrs, he first got involved with the Four Masters Club in Donegal Town at underage and led the Four Masters club to their 1st senior title in 2006 and back to back in 2007.
In 2009 Michèal got involved with the Donegal County Ladies and led them to their first Division 2 title, Ulster Intermediate title and an All-Ireland intermediate title in 2010.
Michèal was also awarded the prestigious “Bord Gais National Manager of the Year 2010”. Micheàl also managed the All-Star team to Toronto in 2012.
The Sligo native, who is the current Vice-President of Ulster, had previously served as the 9th President of Ulster Ladies GAA.
Michèal has held a number of positions in the Donegal County Board, were he was Chairman on a number of occasion, treasurer, Ulster and Central Council Delegate.
The Ulster LGFA have endorsed Naughton’s bid for the post, which carries a four-year term.
The LGFA congress takes place in March in Loughrea, County Galway.