Let the games begin
Camogie action to get underway at the end of July
THERE’S an air of welcome positivity emanating from the Wicklow Camogie camp as lockdown slowly and cautiously comes to an end and sporting bodies look ahead to fixtures that a few weeks ago looked like nothing more than distant dreams.
Wicklow Camogie Chairman Ivor Lehane says that it is very likely that the camogie fixtures that were arranged prior to lockdown will go ahead as planned with action getting underway at the end of July all going well.
‘It’s been a long time coming. In terms of Return to Play, there’s been a tri-party coalition between the LGFA, Camogie and the GAA in terms of the Return to Play protocols and when things are coming back, guidelines around that, all the online learning and all that stuff. We’re very much aligned with that.
‘From a club point of view, we’re kind of lucky in that we had done out our fixtures schedule early before all this happened and it’s looking like our championship will run to plan in terms of the dates we had previously selected for under-14s, 16s and adults. So, that would be due to start at the end of July, that’s what we’re planning.
‘We’ll get the championship done, and we’ll probably look to run a winter league as well for those age groups. We’re somewhat reliant on what the inter-county fixture schedule is going to look like and how that might impact us. But our plan is to keep on playing as much as we can, and on into 2021 if needs be. I think there’s a sense that people just want to get back at it, they want to get back playing, there’s a hunger there so we’re going to try and figure all that out as we go,’ he added.
Like all sporting bodies, Wicklow Camogie are trying to discover exactly how many teams will be competing in this year’s competitions and are expecting to have all those details back from clubs early this week so that concrete plans can be put in place.
‘All the clubs have to resubmit the teams that are coming back because there might be – for lots of valid reasons – a lot of clubs might decide that certain players or certain teams weren’t going to opt in which might reduce numbers so we’ve an ask out to all clubs to confirm back by this week what that looks like for them.
‘For some of the teams who might be on the cusp of not having 15 (players), they might want to go into some kind of 12-a-side championship format. We had actually scheduled to run both a 12-a-side and 15-a-side league at under-14 level this year because there had been a request from a number of clubs who wanted to field on a 12-a-side format. The idea was that we would assess that but we didn’t have that luxury. Depending on what the clubs come back with we might have a 12-a-side format. We’ll see.
‘In the same way, we were expecting to have a number of additional Junior teams this year. Kiltegan and Knockananna were talking about entering second teams, and Arklow Rocks were hoping to get one out. So, that was going to make the Junior championship a lot bigger, it would have been seven instead of four.
‘We kind of done out our schedule in light of the fact that we were going to have extra teams. It might not transpire that some of those clubs who were entering a second team might not have the numbers to do that. We just need to figure that out,’ he said.
In terms of the younger players, Ivor Lehane says that the camogie body are erring on the side of caution and giving the process a little bit of time just to gauge how well things are going with the older age groups ahead of getting the younger players back on the fields.
‘We’re being a little bit more cautious in bringing the Go Games (8s, 10s and 12s) back and it was predominantly to get a feel for how it would work out for the older teams. Given it’s a lot more hands on with the younger kids, we just felt that it was nigh on impossible to try and do social distancing with those age groups. And the feedback from a lot of clubs was that they were going to wait and let the older teams come back and get a sense how that was working out. We’ll have some sort of schedule for the Go Games, probably August and September.
‘We’re hoping to run a series of indoor activities during the winter as well. It might keep them all interested and occupied over the winter.
‘We were hoping to get an idea to try and promote a more social aspect of camogie (for adults). We’re trying to come up with a format that would allow adults come and play camogie in more of a social setting where if they want to try out camogie and see if we can get a seven-a-side or nine-a-side thing going between clubs. We’re looking at that as well,’ he added.
One very disappointing development in recent weeks was the decision by the Camogie Association to cancel the All-Ireland Minor championships in which Wicklow were performing quite well after early games in frightful weather.
‘We’d already braved some of the worst weather in the entire year to play some matches (in the All-Ireland Minor championship). We’ve a really strong panel of really committed Minors. They’ve been training since last November, doing S&C, and they’re a result of the development initiatives over the years. We were very disappointed in that (that the Minor championship was cancelled). We were part of the way through the championship. There were probably another three or four games to run. They’re talking about having some sort of provincial championship instead. I think it would be better for loads of different reasons for them to see that through.
‘It was disappointing that they just seemed to pick the Minors.
That’s the age group, it’s your last time playing at an underage level, for a lot of those girls it might be their last time playing at an inter-county level, college gets in the way, everything else gets in the way. It’s a sad way to end the year if that’s how it pans out.
‘I know there’s been a lot of noise generated, I don’t know if they will stick to their guns and leave it that way and come up with some sort of provincial tournament offering which can be difficult for developing counties like us.
‘There’s no point putting us into a Leinster championship because all the other teams for the most part are all playing at one or two grades above us and It wouldn’t do anything for us as a developing county to go in and play in a championship we can’t compete in,’ said Ivor.
‘From an adult point of view, we were due to be in the Nancy Muray Cup this year. Again, there’s question marks and whether there will be enough counties to go ahead with that. And if we did go ahead with that, I’d hate to think that the Minors would be put off by the bad taste in the mouths from having their own championship cancelled. They’re a fantastic group of girls there who have come up along together and I think it’s only fair that they see out the championship. We’ve voiced our concerns and that’s as much as we can do for now. Whether they come together again nationally and look at that decision, time will tell. All we want to do is keep that group together, keep them playing, let them back together for a couple of games as a unit, and, hopefully, if the decision stands to keep the Minor championship deferred, hopefully the provincials will give us something meaningful to aim for.
‘The adult league was cancelled so we have to wait and see what happens. The Nancy Murray Cup is a new tournament this year and it’s aimed at developing counties. We played in the Premier Junior Championship last year and as much as we wanted to fulfill everything, the year didn’t do us a huge amount. Certainly, it was great for the team because they learned about what it takes to get out and play against some of these teams and the difference in ability between some of those stronger counties and us.
‘We were not going to be in a position to say nationally that, ‘look, guys, I think nationally you need something more aimed at developing counties unless we took part in what was there on offer and we were striving to get back playing at adult.
‘We did quite well last year, we picked up the Leinster Junior and it was all learning, all developing and we were taking all the positives. Until we got to the end of that we couldn’t say ‘have a look at some of those results’. And the championship was run on score difference, so you can imagine what that meant for counties coming to play Wicklow. ‘They put five or six or seven goals past them so we’ll have to get even more’. That was difficult to be part of.
But there were more positives than negatives and there were a number of developing counties looking for something different as well and there was a proposal to run the Nancy Murray Cup for counties like Mayo, Cavan, Louth, ourselves and Tyrone, those sort of counties,’ he said.
Lehane also revealed that Wicklow Camogie have entered into an inter-county teamwear partnership with Gorey-based company Bodibro that has resulted in the Wicklow team receiving a brand new kit.
‘We have a new inter-county teamwear partner now. Bodibro in Gorey have come on board with us. They’ve very kindly supplied us with a whole new adult match kit and a whole load of additional money so they’ve been fantastic partners for us.
‘They’ve really helped us with all that funding for match kits. We’ve new jerseys, new skorts, new socks, new half zips,’ he said.
Wicklow Camogie have also unveiled a brand new website in recent weeks.
‘We launched a new Wicklow Camogie website recently as well. I think most people will go to it looking for fixtures and we need to work on it to develop it. For now, it’s not a bad start. There’s a lot going on even though there’s nothing going on,’ he joked.
‘We’re also rolling out an online concussion training course to all clubs. We got a great deal from www.concussioncoach.ie which clubs paid a small amount towards and county board funded the remainder, which means we can provide training for two coaches in every club at every age grade from under-8 to adult, as well as all inter-county coaches and they all get a certificate of completion,’ he added.
Looking ahead then, the clubs of the county are due to come back this week ahead of the County Board meeting this evening (Wednesday) with information regarding how many teams will be taking part in thie year’s championships.
The County Board are then planning on hosting an online draw the following week to pick who is at home and away and plug that into the fixtures schedule and display them in the Wicklow People and their brand new website.
So it’s full steam ahead for the Wicklow Camogie championship which will hopefully get underway at the end of July that will see Donard-The Glen defending their Senior crown after their dramatic victory over Knockananna last season.
With the lockdown disrupting the plans of all clubs it makes for an interesting few weeks ahead to see who will adapt and improve in the short timeframe before the start of championship action and it makes this year’s championships at all levels probably the most open in recent years.