Caman to Munster Date Announced!
The Camogie Association’s annual Caman to Munster blitz event has been announced as Saturday April 1st in Mallow Co Cork. This event is for U12 club teams and every club that registers for the day will be in the draw to take part in the National Caman to Croker day in April.
Register Here by March 20th.
Camogie Development News this week:
· Road to Croker Challenge
· Mini Games at AIB Club Finals
· Feile na nGael draws to be streamed live
· Carlow/Kildare Post Primary Schools League
· U18 Strike for Glory Inter County Programme
· Kilkenny Foundation Course
· Galway Level 1 Course
· Meath Foundation Course
· Kildare/Meath Referees Course
· Ulster GAA ‘Empowering Female Sport’ Conference
Road to Croker Challenge
The Road to Croker Challenge is an initiative that aims to make links between clubs. The initiative is designed to help player retention in clubs by providing a fun day that encourages team bonding and friendships. The day also provides the opportunity for young players to see sportswomen perform at the highest level in Croke Park- role models of our sport.
As part of this initiative, the Camogie Association organised challenge matches at under 14 level for teams on their way to Croke Park to see the AIB All Ireland Club Finals on March 5th. 18 challenge games were organised in total as part of the initiative. Both host and travelling teams then received tickets to attend the AIB club finals.
Johnstownbridge Kildare & Clarinbridge Galway
St Kevins Dublin & Omagh St Endas Tyrone
For more pics see:
Mini Games at AIB Club Finals
144 girls from 12 teams played in Croke Park at half times of the AIB All Ireland Club finals on March 5th.
Teams involved were:
Eglish, Tyrone Myshall, Carlow
St.Colums, Cork Naomh Brid, Carlow
Tullogher, Kilkenny Drom Inch, Tipperary
Sarsfields, Galway Slaughtneil, Derry
Erins Isle, Dublin Creggan, Antrim
Carnmore, Galway St.Johns Middletown, Armagh
St Colums Cork
For all team pictures see:
Feile Na nGael Draws Streamed Live For 2017 Competition.
The Unveiling night for the Feile Na nGael Draws will be held in the Dolmen Hotel Carlow, on Thursday March 9th 7.30pm.
Those who cannot attend and our keen to see who their counties are paired with can follow the night’s event live with the event been streamed live on the GAA Feile Facebook page at 7.30pm.
Carlow Kildare Post-Primary Schools League
Over the past few months, a post-primary schools league took place involving “novice” camogie schools from both counties who wanted games but had never participated in a post-primary schools league previously. This initiative was the brainchild of Carlow camogie player and teacher at Athy Community College, Jennifer Murphy, who drove the initiative supported by Carlow and Kildare Camogie Boards and the Camogie Association.
The participating schools were St.Leo’s College, Carlow, Presentation College/ Gaelscoil Carlow, Athy Community College / Ard Scoil Trinóide, Athy and Pipers Hill College, Naas. Following the round robin league, the finals were played at Athy Community College, kindly facilitated by principal, Mr. Richard Daly. Two great finals took place with Pipers Hill getting the upper hand on the Carlow school combination in the shield final with the Athy team finally prevailing over St. Leos in a hard-fought cup final. However, the real winners on the day were the 80 girls who participated in this league. Camogie Uachtaráin Catherine Neary was kindly on hand on the day to oversee the presentations and to add her encouragement to this initiative.
Shield Finalists – Pipers Hill Naas & Carlow Schools Combination
Cup Finalists – Athy Kildare & St Leo's Carlow
The Camogie Association ‘U18 Strike for Glory’ National Competition 2017
This weekend March 11th 2017 will see the beginning of a new camogie U18 initiative called ‘Strike for Glory’. This is the first year of the programme and is a follow up from the very successful ‘U16 progress to success’ programme piloted with developing counties in 2016. The basis of this programme is to provide transition into minor inter county camogie and eventually into adult intercounty championship.
The counties participating are in the Tier 3 ‘Grow the Game’ category for Camogie and need to experience appropriate levels of competition. These are counties that have not participated regularly in u18 competition in recent years at provincial or national levels despite participating in the successful u14/15 blitz structure.
Game schedule for the programme
Blitz 1 11/3/2017 Abbotstown
All 5 teams attend, 4 matches, 15-minute half.
Donegal, Monaghan, Kerry, Mayo and Wicklow.
Blitz 2 26/3/2017
Venue to be confirmed.
4 matches, 15-minute half.
Donegal, Monaghan, Kerry, Mayo and Wicklow
The two blitzes competitions will seed teams.
1st 2nd and 3rd placed Teams will have a direct place in the semi- final.
Team, 4, 5 will play in a knockout quarter final round. (depending on distance half-way venue)
Semi –finals will see team 1st and 2nd teams from championship blitz being on opposite sides of the draw plus 3rd place team and quarter final winners (depending on distance half-way venue)
Quarter final 1/4/2017
Semi-final 8/4/2017
Final 22/4/2017
Good Luck to all counties participating.
Wicklow U16 Progress to Success Team 2016
Kilkenny Foundation Coaching Course
A foundation coaching course took place in Blacks and Whites Kilkenny on Saturday 4th March. A total of 21 coaches completed the course under the guidance of April Purcell. Well done to all who attended.
Galway Level 1 Coaching Course
The first weekend of the Galway Camán Get Hooked Coaching Course took place in St.Cuans college in Galway on Friday March 3rd and Saturday March 4th with 22 coaches. Thanks to tutors Ger Gribben, Richard McNicholas and John Mullins. The final date will take place this Saturday March 11th.
Meath Foundation Coaching Course
Leading Ulster Camogie tutor Lisa McAliskey ran an excellent Foundation level coaching course at the excellent facilities of Kilmessan club, Co. Meath. Lisa was supported on the course by new tutor, Elizabeth Broderick, from Donaghmore Ashbourne club. It was an excellent course with major focus on coaching and creating the “thinking player”, with the 14 participants challenged to question and review their existing approach to coaching our young players.
Kildare Meath Foundation Referees Course
A Foundation Referees Course to qualify referees from Kildare and Meath to officiate at club level took place recently at Blackhall Gaels club, Co. Meath. Top refereeing tutor Frank McDonald went through the rules of the game with special focus on the more important areas of the games and how to deal with them as the “person in the middle”. Frank drew from his vast experience and also used a very interactive format which gave great learning on the subject to the 22 participants.
Ulster GAA Empowering Female Sport conference
Ulster Camogie, Ulster Ladies Gaelic, and Ulster GAA Handball have joined forces for a female Sport Conference. The conference will take place on Saturday March 11th 2017 in the Armagh City Hotel and is part of a wider programme of activity supported by the Department for Communities, aimed at increasing female participation in Gaelic games.
The conference aims to help boost participation through raising the profile of our female Gaelic athletes & raising the skill set of our volunteers. A full house is expected as players and officials will converge on Armagh for the event that will provide a unique opportunity for our Ladies Footballers, Camogs and Handballers to come together in one forum to showcase the impact of female Gaelic athletes as role models in our communities.
Keynote addresses will be delivered by Ann Downey (Kilkenny) and Juliet Murphy (Cork), two ladies with unrivalled experience in their fields, who will bring a guaranteed high level of quality to the day. Ann, the current Kilkenny Camogie Manager, has 12 All Ireland Camogie titles and Juliet is the holder of 8 All Ireland Football medals. Additional guest speakers include Aisling Reilly, two-time World GAA Handball Champion and Aoife Ní Chaiside, AIB All Ireland Senior Club Camogie Championship Winner with Slaughtneil and Jennifer O’Leary holder of 4 All Ireland camogie medals, 6 national league titles and 8 All-star awards.
Registration has now opened and people are urged to register early to avoid disappointment as places will be reserved on a first come, first served basis. Delegate costs are £15/€18 per person and special discounts will be available for groups & schools by contacting Julie or Ronan at 028-37517180.
A series of practical workshops will be delivered by high profile coaches and professionals on topics including:
· Mental Health Awareness
· Strength and Conditioning
· Player Retention/Post Playing involvement
· Disability Inclusion
There will also be sport-specific workshops for Ladies Football, Camogie and Handball.
To book your place now visit www.ulster.gaa.ie/conferences2017.
