*A selection of the crowd in Hennessy Memorial Park, Miltown Malbay for the 2023 final between Banner Ladies and West Clare Gaels. Photograph: Burren Eye Photography
CUSACK PARK is to host a double header of the senior ladies football final and men’s Clare SFC final after club delegates from ladies football clubs outvoted the County Executive.
A novel pairing of Kilmurry Ibrickane and St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield will be the curtain raiser to the men’s final in Cusack Park on Sunday October 27th following a very tight vote which finished 21-18 in favour of the move to go before the men’s game. The proposal to play the game in Cusack Park is one which took the top table by surprise and leaves them trying to organise logistics in advance of the marquee game.
There was considerable debate during Tuesday’s two hour and thirty three minute meeting at Fr MacNamara Park on the date and venue for the Senior A fixture which was initially set to be a double header with the Senior B final between Banner Ladies and Kilmihil.
Addressing the meeting, Chairman of Clare LGFA, Seán Lenihan informed delegates the fixture was provisionally fixed for Sunday October 27th, “that is the same day as the football final, I don’t think we should be clashing and we should do everything we can to avoid that”. He said he had suggested to the four clubs involved that the game take place on Bank Holiday Monday (October 28th) and that alternative dates of the 20th which is the weekend of the camogie finals and the Saturday October 26th were put to him.
Secretary Frank Culleton said he sent out an email to the four clubs, “nobody said they wanted to go with Monday”. Kilmurry Ibrickane’s Ger Talty said correspondence was sent in from the clubs.
“Our option is Saturday 26th or Monday 28th,” Lenihan told delegates. Enda O’Flaherty of St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield queried if it was “an option to play before the men’s final. We could get the curtain raiser if we could agree on the gate”.
Lenihan responded, “We get on very well with the GAA, we had a double header in Doonbeg last year, it was Kilmihil vs West Clare Gaels and Kilmihil vs Naomh Eoin in the men’s but it didn’t really work out. We’ve decided Doonbeg as our venue,” the Chairman is said. “Doonbeg is the only club to pitch their venue to us, the question is do we go with Saturday or Monday”.
Kilmihil’s Monica Callinan questioned if there was not a rule in place saying the county championship must conclude seven days prior to the provincial championship which meant the Bank Holiday Monday was not an option. Fixtures secretary, David O’Brien said this was a five day ruling but Callinan flagged that it was seven and that they had already outlined they had an issue with player availability for the Monday. The Chairman said they were confident the powers that be would allow them to hold the game on the Monday if they made a special request.
Theresa Roseingrave of St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield stated, “if you’re going to request clubs to abide by the rules then the County Board and the Executive needs to be abide by the rules”. She said the Board has ignored players with how they handled the three week delay to the championship. “When the refixture of the senior championship, why did the Executive sent out the 27th as the date for the final to be played. In the midst of the three weeks the Executive at no point has apologised to players who changed dates for weddings, christenings and C-sections”. She continued, “at some point, we need to stop and look at the players at the centre of this, they have been blaguarded”. She urged the top table, “illustrate the behaviours you want us to respect”.
Chairman Lenihan responded, “we do abide by the rules. I don’t understand why you’re saying we need to apologise. We didn’t decide to delay the thing by three weeks, an issue arose, we had to follow procedures and it was”. He added, “there was no decision made to blaguard the players”. He said dates were put out “with the best will in the world”.
Dorothy Meenaghan of Banner Ladies suggested fixing the Senior A final “first thing early in the day so they can go to watch the match”. Lenihan replied, “you’re almost insulting the senior final by having it early in the morning”. “I’m not insulting anybody. I’m a positive person by nature and I try to have a solution,” Dorothy said while voicing criticism that their semi-final was initially fixed for 12pm on Sunday last but was later pushed back to 2pm. “12pm was only suggested to allow people to go to 12pm in Banner, 2pm in Kilmihil, 4pm in Doonbeg. It would be a dream for those of us who wanted to go to the games,” the Chairman said.
Talty said it was a “historic” occasion for Kilmurry Ibrickane to be in their first senior ladies final. “It is a big deal for the parishes and the girls involved”. He commented, “When County Boards and officers have to make decisions, there isn’t an understanding in clubs as to why decisions were made, there was no explanation on why not to play on the other dates. If camogie clubs not affected directly by it and if teams are happy with 20th then it should not be ruled out, the 20th gives all sorts of options”.
October 20th was the only date “ruled out” because it is a camogie weekend, the Chairman explained. “It is hard enough making a decision with ten people in the room never mind forty,” he added while suggesting the four clubs go outside the meeting to discuss the matter further. The fixtures secretary said there was an “oversight” by listing October 27th and a potential clash with the men’s football final, he said if there is a camogie replay it will take place on October 26th whereas the ladies football will be a result on the day.
Former fixtures secretary Deirdre O’Dwyer suggested that the Senior A final be played with the U14A cup on before it. “The problem is U14 admission is lower than the senior,” treasurer Geraldine Kelly pointed out.
“A county final should never be fixed against the men’s final,” ex Clare manager David Browne said. “We have two new teams in the final and congrats to both of them. It is our showcase of the year, are we going to go up against the senior men. Go for Saturday 26th if four clubs, chat it out and come back to see if we can do it or not”.
“Rules shouldn’t come into it,” remarked Wolfe Tones’ Bernie Regan on the notion of clubs ruling out playing on the Bank Holiday Monday, “a lot of neutrals will want to go to it”.
Lenihan told the meeting that he and the Executive share the preference of having a double header involving the four senior teams and that the game be played on the Saturday or Monday, “I’ve spoken to the media, I think we will get great coverage”.
Correspondence has been issued by Kilmihil to say they will be without players, Callinan reminded the meeting, “we have camogie players involved”. The Chairman questioned which camogie finals were to clash with the ladies football, where he was informed that Galway camogie player Dervla Higgins who plays football with Kilmihil was involved with her camogie club that weekend. “That is outside our county,” the Chairman said. “It is still a player welfare issue,” Monica noted.
At this point following lengthy discussions, representatives of St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield, Kilmurry Ibrickane, Banner Ladies and Kilmihil left the meeting to try reach an agreement on the final date after county board officer Síle Murphy pointed out that the debating was “getting ridiculous”.
Addressing the meeting on his return, Doora/Barefield’s O’Flaherty stated, “we talked about the girls because the girls have been missing from this conversation, the sacrifices and the not-knowing, the changing dates and not-knowing dates. We want to play in Cusack Park as the curtain raiser to the men’s final. Clare GAA will facilitate us, they will agree the gate, that is what we have agreed”. He said the Senior B final could proceed “but not in Doonbeg”.
“We need to check with Clare GAA,” Lenihan said to which O’Flaherty remarked, “it is already done”. “You didn’t have the authority to do that,” the Chairman flagged. “We had a decision made on the venue, you could get a bigger crowd in Doonbeg than Cusack Park”.
The collection of fees from the gate “is a big problem” that has been created, Browne highlighted. “It won’t be a problem. What we agreed was an average of last five county final plus an additional €1,000,” said O’Flaherty. Browne said, “going back to the last four or five finals. Kilmurry Ibrickane and Doora/Barefield will have the biggest crowd at the county final, there is no way the gate will be the same, it will be a few thousand more”.
12:30pm would need to be the throw-in time, O’Flaherty told the meeting which was also informed Kilmurry Ibrickane and St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield were agreeable to play on October 28th while Kilmihil “will do our best” to field a team on the day, Callinan said.
“I think we’re doing ourselves a disservice. We’d get a massive crowd on our own. The deal will be hard to hammer out,” the Chairman said. O’Flaherty replied, “If we’re discussing the money then we’re not discussing the girls. If we go into Cusack Park we’re trusting them to do the right thing”. Lenihan said he would talk to Clare GAA Chairman, Kieran Keating. “We could work it out. I’m still back to the girls. Of the 40 girls, you’re denying them the opportunity to play in front of a crowd of 4,000 or 5,000,” Doora/Barefield’s O’Flaherty said.
Teresa Morrissey of Kilmurry Ibrickane said, “we were asked to come up with a proposal, that is the proposal”. Meenaghan said of Doonbeg as a venue, “we’ve had many county finals there, we’ve never had a problem there” to which Callinan pointed out, “you just said ye wouldn’t play senior b final there”.
Clubs involved in negotiations were thanked by the Chairman who said, “ye were asked to determine a date, we spelt out a double header in Doonbeg so the Monday is back in play” to which the four clubs said it wasn’t. O’Flaherty said a solution had been provided to which the Chairman said 4,500 LGFA members need to be looked after.
“Prices haven’t been discussed. There’s been a lot of discussions. If the finances work, can we explore it,” O’Flaherty stated and he was told by Lenihan, “you should not have engaged with Deirdre (Murphy) or Kieran (Keating)”. The Doora/Barefield clubman responded, “I can engage with who I want. It was not on behalf of LGFA”.
A counter-proposal of Saturday 26th October was then issued by Lenihan, “I thought the four teams could agree themselves, it is not in the interest of Clare ladies football”. Regan said, “everyone wants to see the right thing done. Has to be a secret ballot if going to a vote”.
Proposals were then put to the floor, one as a curtain raiser to the men’s final and the other from the Executive to play a double header in Doonbeg on October 26th. Fergus Rovers’ Alan Culligan warned clubs they could be “rushed off the field very fast in Cusack Park” and made play an 11am fixture. “We’ll be the poor and second class citizen, we’ll be horsed out, we might not have time for presentation, we don’t care about the money and our supporter will be made pay extra money, Deirdre Murphy fair play to her is hard task masker,” the Chairman said.
21 delegates voted for the Cusack Park double header and 18 for the Doonbeg double header. “We’ve voted on something that we don’t know can happen,” said Doonbeg’s Edel Conway. “I wasn’t engaging on behalf of the Board,” O’Flaherty said. “You had no authority to engage with Cusack Park. I’m a democrat. That is the decision, we now have to hammer out the best deal for our people,” Lenihan advised delegates. “I think it is wrong decision. Doonbeg have been very good to Clare ladies and they are now suffering”.
Ex county secretary, Monica Callinan said in response, “with all due respect, we’ve had utmost respect to insist Doonbeg recognised as official venue. That has changed in recent years with league games fixed elsewhere. It is no reflection of Doonbeg”.
Concern was then voiced by Meenaghan that the weather may disrupt what was agreed following the vote with the risk of the game being moved from Cusack Park.
