Louth ladies gearing up for LGFA Congress
LOUTH Ladies GAA are finalising preperations to host this year’s annual Congress of the Ladies Gaelic Football Association.
Ladies Football GAA delegates from the 32 counties and from units in England, Scotland, Europe, Canada, Australia and New York will descend on the county on the first Friday evening of March 2018.
The Congress, which runs for three days, will take place in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dundalk and will get underway at 8pm on the Friday. It will run all day Saturday with business finishing on Sunday morning.
It is a fitting tribute to Louth Ladies football, 25 years on from the founding of the game in the county.
It is the first time the Congress is being staged in the county and is a tribute to the standing of Louth Ladies football at national level that it fought off stiff opposition from four other Leinster counties Dublin Meath and Kildare to host the Congress.
This was down, in many ways, to the persuasive powers of two men who are widely respected in the association the length and breadth of the country, Central Council delegate Pat Carr and current Louth chairman Dermot Woods.
‘I spoke on the discussion about the hosting of the Congress at last year’s Congress, in Donegal,’ said Dermot Woods.
‘It was Leinster’s turn and we felt that it was appropriate that we got to host it on our 25th anniversary.
‘It is testament to the standing of Louth Ladies GAA at national level that Congress backed our call.
‘We are really looking forward to hosting what is a big event. When you take in all the delegates from all the counties and abroad and the executive there will be in the region of 170 delegates attending the Congress.
‘We have a special committee in place under the stewardship of Sonia Gernon to organise the event, and I am confident that they will have everything in place for the successful running of Congress.
‘The first (Louth) board was formed in early 1992, which is 26 years ago this year, and I got involved two years later,’ explained Dermot.
‘My club Naomh Malachi set up a team in 1993 and that got me involved,
‘After a while I started going to county board meetings and from that I got cajoled into taking on different jobs.
‘And 24 years later I’m serving my third term as county chairman and I have held many other positions down the years.’
He held the position of Chair first in 1997 and he is into his second year of a third term.
Twenty five years on from Micheal Heaney and Peter Mulligan first setting the wheels in motion, Louth ladies football is in a good place.
‘The Adult team have had a promising start to the League under former Fane Rangers star and ex All-Ireland winning manager of Monaghan Ladies Miceal McKeown and are very much looking forward to the start of the Leinster Championship in late May,’ Dermot noted.
‘It’s a very young team who will get better with time and will benefit from a strong management which also includes Gerry Reilly, Lorraine King and Brigid Russell.
‘The game took off from the word go with huge crowds attending our county finals and winning an All-Ireland title in 1998 in Croke Park under the guidance of Tony Melia, Dermot Agnew and Joey Kirk was a big help.
Louth reached the Intermediate final twelve month’s later with Alo McGrath in charge and saw off Cork and Kerry on the way to beating Wexford in the final.
Louth lost the Junior All-Ireland final of 2010 to Limerick and again in 2012 to Antrim, before they finally claimed a third All-Ireland, the Junior final of 2015.
Under the guidance of Meath native Martin Connolly, they finally climbed the steps of the Hogan Stand, for the second time after overcoming Scotland in the final.
An All-Ireland minor title in 2011 and number of under age provincial titles have been added to the trophy cabinet in the intervening years.
‘We’ve had great players and some very good people working with teams down the years and it took a lot of hard work and commitment from a lot of people to take us where we are today,’ concluded the Louth chairman.