Manager of Abbeydorney, Mary Roche, has urged for a reasonable resolution as parallel scheduling has seen 10 of her players stuck between participating in a Munster football and camogie semi-final this coming Saturday. This scheduling dispute has resulted in the representatives from Munster Council LGFA in Kerry stepping down from the provincial council.
11 of Abbeydorney’s players are affected by this conundrum, although one remains injured. Saturday has Abbeydorney taking on Mungret from Limerick in a women’s Munster junior football semi-final at their home ground at 1pm.
Out of these athletes, seven also participate in camogie for Cillard, who are lined up to play against Croagh/Kilfinny in Kilmoyley during a provincial camogie semi-final at 2pm, just an hour away. An additional three Abbeydorney footballers play camogie with Clanmaurice, clashed to play against Moneygall in Tipperary in a Munster intermediate semi-final at 2pm. Clanmaurice holds the All-Ireland intermediate club camogie championship from last December, even with just 17 players on their team.
In an attempt to allow their players to participate in both sports, Abbeydorney has proposed to sacrifice home field advantage and is prepared to compete on any of the bank holiday weekend days. Nevertheless, by Tuesday evening the issue remained unresolved.
Roche said, “Honestly, we are still in the dark. All we are seeking is to provide the players the chance to compete in both, but at present it appears they might have to make a choice, which is considerably unfair.
Reasonableness should take the lead. I realise there are two distinct committees but we just yearn for them to collaborate, communicate and offer the players a shot at both.
“Our players have expressed their readiness to compete in two games the same day, it’s clearly not optimal but we are amenable to any plausible solutions.”
It’s not the inaugural time that such a conflict in scheduling has surfaced in recent times involving dual-discipline players in women’s football and camogie. The decision of Kerry to withdraw its members from the Munster LGFA illustrates their dissatisfaction with the current circumstance.
The latest development amidst the ongoing county representative issues in Munster club championship matches has led to a regrettable resignation by our Munster LGFA executive members, according to a recent communiqué. This decision was deemed necessary and is effective immediately.
Our role as Kerry LGFA executives is always to prioritise our clubs and extend help as required. In unity with Kerry Camogie, we urge the Munster LGFA to collaborate with Munster Camogie fixtures, with the goal of devising a solution that ensures every player gets a fair chance to represent their county, which may be a once in a lifetime opportunity for some.
Acknowledging the potential difficulties to completely implement this, we beseech all parties concerned to explore every possible avenue before reaching a conclusive decision.
The press release was endorsed by the Kerry LGFA chairperson, Nora Fealey, along with Anne Marie Russell, chairperson of Kerry camogie.