Camogie Development News

The May sunshine topped off a fantastic day in Portlaoise GAA, Rathleague on Wednesday 16^th May as the Leinster 7 a side Junior Novice Development Finals took place. These finals were the pinnacle point in what has been a busy month for these schools in qualification and training. On the day we had 14 schools from 6 Leinster counties take to the fields of Portlaoise to fight it out in four distinct divisions. These schools qualified from their regional venue blitz days held on Wednesday 2^nd and Thursday 3^rd May at 3 GAA Centres of Excellence which saw over 350 girls take part. Wednesday saw over 200 young women represent their school proudly with the following teams coming out on top:

Division 1:     Grennan College (KK),            Boyne CS of Meath (Runners Up)

Division 2:     Colaiste Pobail Osrai (KK),     St.Kevins of Wicklow (Runners Up)

Division 3:     Duiske College (KK)    St.Marys Arklow of Wicklow (Runners Up)

Division 4:      Presentation College (Car) Our Ladys College of Louth (Runners Up) 

A very successful day was had and much thanks must go to the schools, players and teachers for their efforts. The added bonus of each of the four division winners receiving a new set of school camogie jerseys was a very generous prize from Leinster Camogie Council – the teams were thrilled when they heard the news. Finally, each of the teams going home yesterday all received a dozen sliotars each from Cul Sliotars in Kildare, again massive thanks to Neil in Cul Sliotars for such great support – the schools were delighted and hopefully this will encourage camogie to continue in these developing schools.

Brendan and Aoife (Boyne CS)

Colaiste Pobal Celebrate

Division 2 Presentation

Over the past 3 months, Wexford have run a number of secondary school camogie blitz days in Ferns GAA Centre of Excellence for 1^st year students. This age group are a group that Wexford Camogie are keen to encourage continued participation in and these blitz days offered schools a day of camogie each month to build towards. This included a 7 aside group and a 10 aside group to cater for all schools and ran on 21^st March and 18^th April with the final day taking place on Wednesday 9^th May. Many thanks to the teams who attended each day with over 8 schools consistently coming along to take part and over 70 girls playing on the last day. The final day saw Gorey Community School win out the 10 a side competition against Loreto Wexford who had earlier beaten Gorey by a single point in the group game. In the 7 a side competition, Meanscoil Gharman ran out competition winners. Much thanks to Ferns for the fantastic facilities and the schools for your commitment and enthusiasm each day. Also, well done to Wexford Development Officer Joe Roche for the organisation of each of the days.

Gorey Winners of 10 a side 9th May 2018

Meanscoil Gharman

Our workshops continue to roll out across the counties as we head into the busy season for clubs ahead of all the Summer action. On Wednesday 9^th May, Wexford ran a Caman Have Fun workshop in Bunclody for coaches of 6-8year olds, whilst on Wednesday 16^th May, Carlow ran the Caman and Play workshop for coaches of 15-17yr olds delivered by Mark Cooney in Presentation de la Salle, Bagnalstown. In refereeing, Laois ran a successful First Whistle Course with 12 new young referees from a host of Laois clubs completing the course. We look forward to seeing them in action at underage Go Games in the Summer. On Saturday 19^th May, David Herity delivered an excellent and well received Goalkeeping course to goalkeepers and coaches in Kinnity GAA,Offaly whilst up in St.Slyvesters club in Dublin, tutor Ted Walsh delivered a foundation coaching course. There are a number of upcoming workshops etc on the horizon in Leinster. This includes:

·         Wednesday 23^rd May – First Whistle Referee Course in Borris Focus Centre, Carlow 7.30pm-9.30pm.

·         Wednesday 23^rd May – Caman Have Fun (6-8yrs) Workshop in Drumcullen GAA, Offaly from 7pm-9pm.

·         Wednesday 23^rd May – Games Sense Workshop (16yrs+) in Glynn Barntown, Wexford from 7pm-9pm.

·         Saturday 26^th May – Goalkeeping Workshop in Dublin – Venue TBC from 11am-1pm.

·         Wednesday 30^th May – Spring Series Workshop TBC in Kilkenny 7pm-9pm.

·         There will also be referee courses (Foundation/Refresher/Conversion) coming on stream in Wicklow, Wexford, Laois and Offaly in the coming weeks

·         Level 1 Coaching Course – 8^th/9^th/10^th June in Westmantown Gaels, Dublin