Spotlight on Lindsay
A debt of gratitude is owed to Brendan O’Dowd and Gerry Hogan who both gathered up the cuttings of hedgerow at the side of the field last week. The work of both men has added to the picturesque view at the side of the field and freed up the drains.
The GAA is going through changing times. In past times, the women’s committee’s main objective was to make sandwiches and tea after training. Roisín Jordan became the first chairperson of a county board in the country followed by Tracey Kennedy in Cork. A new precedent had been set. Lindsay Murphy has acted at club secretary for over twenty years and her loyalty to the club, having no previous experience of GAA never mind the club, is testament to the women. I posed a few questions to her on her involvement.
PRO: Lindsay did you have any knowledge of GAA before you came to Ireland? Lindsay: No, I don’t think I had even heard of the GAA before 1997. After meeting Pat at the beginning of the year I was first introduced to this very different world when I was taken to a pub in Bishop Stortford, where they had Setanta Sport, to watch my first game of hurling. I had absolutely no idea about the game but was given a run down by the Telecom Eireann lads, Kieran from Sligo, Neilie from Limerick, the “Mullingar Heffer”, the “Sweet Little Man” from Roscommon and the giant red headed Mayo man, Joe and fellow Mayo man “The MP”.
Pat, known as “The Bod” in those far distant days was no help whatsoever, he was just glued to the TV! As the weeks went on I watched more and more hurling and football, still can’t get used to using the word soccer for what I thought was football, gradually realizing that this hurling game was and is the best game ever.
PRO: Did you ever see Pat wearing the Tallow jersey? I came over to Ireland with Pat in August 1999, so he was still, just about, playing senior under Johnny Geary’s management, I believe.
I’m not like Pat and cannot remember dates and scores from decades ago, so I couldn’t tell you the first game I saw but I know he didn’t score a hat trick! I was at the supposed ‘retirement’ game in Barcelona and remember the line, “I can say I retired in Barcelona and not Ballysaggart”, although I do also remember another strange game with Pat playing full forward against Timmy Sheehan in goals several years later, it must have been an oldies game played in Tallow.
PRO: Since your interest brightened up to all things GAA did you ever venture to Ruislip to watch a game? No I didn’t get to see any live GAA in England, at that time I was working all over the country in a pretty high pressure job so the weekends were recovery time and it was Setanta Sport that kept me informed, along with Pat’s work buddies. Pat did venture to Ruislip to see a Mayo club match but that was before he met me. I was living in Surrey a few miles from Twickenham Rugby ground, Sandown Park and Kempton so there were lots of other sports to venture off to, we also went to several Saracens games in Vicarage Road, watched West Ham beat Leeds in Upton Park, much to my delight and Pat’s horror as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was shocking, so it wasn’t all GAA then!
PRO: What was the first Tallow game you attended? It would have been the first game after 2nd August 1999, as I said before I don’t have this GAA memory bank and couldn’t tell you where or when!
PRO: What was your first involvement in Tallow GAA and how did it transpire that you got involved? My first involvement was a social event, not long after moving here, the American Tea Party, Pat and I were on Liam Mulcahy’s table where I met Colin Cunningham for the first time and listened to Willie O’Hara trying to convince me that the teapot he had with him was the original one from the Boston Tea Party!
I think it was 2001 when Liam Moroney approached me in one of the local watering holes after one of the committee meetings and asked me if I would like to get involved with the club as secretary. At that time Fiona McDonnell was the secretary and was preparing to stand down so I agreed to take the role of joint secretary with Fiona, who went on to show me what was involved until she stood down at the next AGM.
My first chairman was John McDonnell and our committee meetings were held in St Patrick’s Hall, before the development of Páirc Eamonn de Paor, with the meetings often continuing across the road in Lukie’s. There was a lot happening under John’s chairmanship with the development of the grounds and clubhouse being the main event. In those early 2000’s the demand for Munster Championship tickets was huge, quite often not receiving enough tickets to fill the demand and sorting the tickets was a huge task as you never receive a block of seats, the allocated seats were scattered around the venues. John would ride shotgun alongside Mairead Sheehan and myself when the tickets and money exchanged hands.
PRO: Were there many other women involved in the time? As mentioned previously Mairead Sheehan was already the club treasurer when I joined the committee, Fiona McDonnell was also actively involved at the time along with Audrey Sheehan. As the years have gone on there are far more women playing very active roles within the club, Billie-Jean Sheehan as membership officer, Veronica Henley is the welfare officer, Georgina Cunningham is the medical officer, Kate Ryan is the children’s officer and is also the club’s representative at the County Board meetings. Donna Buckley also plays a huge role in the club working on the lotto and always helping out with every event the club holds. There are also plenty of ladies helping out in the club at events etc (hope I didn’t miss anyone out!).
PRO: How have the gatherings and meetings changed with the digital age and different people? When I first began as secretary we used to send meeting notices in the post every month and they were held in St Patrick’s Hall, attendance in those days was always good and the notes from the meeting were hand written into large books. Fixtures of club matches were displayed on posters in shops along with news on ordering tickets for inter county games, it was still hard to get people to leave messages on my answer phone for ticket requests!
These days we use WhatsApp and group texts to inform of meetings and ticket ordering to committee and club members, I think we have a slightly younger demographic in the club’s committee but meetings aren’t always well attended, you do tend to see the same faces every month, it would be great to have more involvement from the younger generation
PRO: Fixtures they seem never to be down for a time period, only thrown upon clubs. How have you found them over the years and your worst encounter? Fixtures always seem to be a nightmare, the senior hurling team get the original dates for the first two rounds, which run over two weekends, sometimes with only six days between each one, then we are left for months until round three, then once again they could be thrown at us over a short period of time. The junior fixtures seem to be thrown in around these dates and at a rush towards the end. Last season we had a junior hurling semi-final fixed, the date and venue was changed at the very last minute plus we were asked to supply two umpires and linesman, this, to me, was totally unacceptable for any championship game especially as the game could have been played at a later date, another rushed fixture, I know it is the same for all clubs but something like this seems to happen every year, wouldn’t it be great to have an official fixtures calendar for the whole year, for every grade and adhered to? We can all dream.
PRO: How do you find the county board to deal with? The biggest problem dealing with the board is the fixtures, as mentioned earlier, that does include the Western Board. I have found the current county secretary a lot easier to deal with in the manner of responding to queries and generally trying to assist in matters, I’m not always in agreement though!
DÉISE DRAW
With the current Covid restrictions it is expected that the 2021 Déise Draw will commence in July. The formula will be similar to last year with six draws, ending in December. I will notify all when I have full clarity on the situation.
TALLOW GAA LOTTO SUPPORTED BY KEARNEY’S CATERING
29/3/2021 jackpot €16,000, no winner. Numbers drawn were 1, 11, 22 and 26. Consolation prizes €25: Aidan and Ava, Bunty Cashman, Nicky Connolly, Aisling Ross (online). Promoter: Ann Tobin.
Sponsored by Goalpost Ireland Tallow.
RETURN TO PLAY
All underage players can return to play from April 26 for non-contact training in groups of 15. This is welcome news from the government and it is a chance for our juveniles to get back to the field. We are still currently waiting on fixtures from the Camogie Association but we will keep in touch with parents and players as soon as we know anything concrete.
REGISTRATION
All juvenile players returning on April 26 must be registered with the club along with having their Covid-19 health questionnaire complete. Under no circumstances can a child return to play without this. To register your child, our Foireann site is up and running. You can both register and fill out the health questionnaire there. Links to the site have been distributed to each person as of now so if you have any questions on how to use this, please let the club know and we can answer any questions you might have.
NEW CAMOGIE RULES
We have some new rules in 2021 for camogie following the Congress meeting on April 10.
Summary of changes to rules: Handpass goal- no longer allowed. Drop of the hurley - no longer allowed. You cannot cross the 20m line for a penalty. Minimal contact will be allowed. Penalties for persistent fouling. A quick free from the hand inside your own 45m line is allowed (indirect). Only 1 player on the line for a penalty. A quick puck out is allowed. These rules come into force in 30 days.
CLUB MEETING
Tallow Camogie Club will be holding a club meeting on Monday, April 19 at 7.30pm. This will be held over Zoom. Any members who are interested in attending, let us know through our social media page and we will distribute the link.
HELPING OUT
We would like to thank all the people who have volunteered this year to help out with all our teams. As everyone knows, the more people that help out the more enjoyable it is for everyone. We still have openings to help out on our U12, U14 and minor team. If anyone is interested, please let the camogie club know and we will be happy to include you. There are many ways to help out on these teams, big or small. A high-level list is included below:
Training/managing the team. Selector/ attending training sessions to help the main trainer with the training session eg putting out cones, encouraging girls, helping trainer to select the team. Driving juveniles to matches. Washing jerseys and skorts. Covid Officer. First Aid.
We would encourage all girls (15 and over) who may be interested in helping out with the main coach/ manager to let us know. We would be more than happy for you to get involved and get a taster of what it is like to train teams. Every little helps and the more people we have volunteering with the club, the more we can continue to grow as a club.
TALLOW GAA LOTTO
Play lotto online on Clubforce. 12/4/2021 jackpot €16,100, no winner. Numbers: 2, 6, 23 and 26. Consolation prizes €25: Adam Pratt, Elizabeth Henley, Aidan Murphy, Michael McGrath (online). Promoter: Tom Feeney. Next draw 19/04 at 9pm, jackpot €16,200.