Ladies eye attendance boost

THE numbers playing the game have mushroomed in recent years, but the challenge for Ladies Football now is to achieve another jump in attendance figures, according to Cumann Peil na nBan president Geraldine Giles.

Ladies football is the largest female team participation sport in Ireland, with over 130,000 registered members in 1,000 clubs around the country, but it remains on the fringes of the national consciousness.

Attempts are being made to combat that this summer, with TG4 due to air two games every weekend from July 27 through to a triple bill of senior, intermediate and junior deciders at Croke Park on September 28.

The All-Ireland minor final and two Intermediate championship semi-finals will also be aired live and Giles admits the priority now is increasing the game’s visibility.

“We need to be seen, but the difficulty we have is that we don’t have the crowds turning up in the numbers we would like,” said Giles at the launch of the TG4 Ladies Football Championships in Croke Park yesterday.

“If we can get the interest out there, people may turn out for the next game or the All-Ireland finals where they can make a weekend of it in Dublin if they see a provincial match.”

Seventeen ties will be shown live and the number of games in general has also increased, with the senior championship being restructured with the introduction of a qualifier system for those knocked out of the provincial system early on.

The provincial winners will enter the All-Ireland series at the quarter-final stage, while the provincial runners-up will meet the four winners from the first round of qualifiers, which was drawn yesterday.

The championship is already well underway, with the four provincial finals due to be decided over the course of the next two weekends, starting with the meeting of Monaghan and Tyrone and the Sligo-Mayo tie next Sunday. Cork and Kerry repeat their National League final meeting in Munster on Saturday July 12 in Pairc Ui Chaoimh, while Laois and Dublin complete the quartet the following day.

All-Ireland champions three years in a row, Cork are again the side to beat with the provincial finalists in Leinster and Ulster deemed to be their closest challengers at this stage of the season.

“The game is growing,” said Giles. “We have seen it this year too. Clare are flying in the intermediate and the senior championship is wide open when you see what is happening up in Ulster. Sligo are in a Connacht final as well, just two years after winning the junior title.”