Second chance for Mayo ladies
The Westerners will find out tomorrow night if their bid to compete in this year’s provincial competition is successful. Mayo’s case will be heard by the Association’s Central Council at a specially-convened meeting in Tullamore.
The Mayo County Board withdrew the team from the Connacht and All-Ireland championships in May following the resignation of manager Pat Costello.
No successor to Costello could be found and the players were told that they could not organise their own training sessions for insurance reasons.
An appeal was submitted by Mayo’s clubs last week and forced the postponement of last weekend’s Connacht final.
And the Mayo players resumed training last Friday night after receiving permission from Ladies Association CEO Helen O’Rourke.
“The latest on it is that a Central Council meeting on Wednesday will decide one way or another. The clubs have appealed the county board decision but it was thrown out by the Connacht Council on a technicality,” said Pat Quill.
“We have fast-tracked the appeal and brought it direct to our Central Council meeting, which will decide on Mayo.
“We regret any team not playing in the championship.
“Every other county in Ireland are playing in their respective championship.
“Players want to play but the Mayo county board had their own reasons for deciding not to.”
The 2010 TG4 Ladies Football championships were officially launched yesterday at Croke Park by Tourism, Culture and Sport Minister Mary Hanafin.
This year marks the tenth year of TG4’s sponsorship of the Ladies Football All-Ireland Championships and the tenth year of the ladies football finals being televised by the national Irish language broadcaster.
TG4, who became the title sponsors of the Ladies Football Championships in 2000, will broadcast 15 live championship games over the summer.
It has also been confirmed that ladies football will go global with the introduction of a new internet-based channel promoting the game.
TG4 chiefs are spearheading this exciting new development and Pat Quill added: “We would like to have more people in attendance at our matches but sometimes we’re too critical.
“Apart from women’s world cup soccer, we are the biggest world sport for ladies participation.
“We’re also a relatively new organisation and hopeful of maintaining and increasing numbers.”
Draw for the Senior Championship Round One qualifiers: Down v Kildare; Connacht fourth place team v Kerry; Tipperary v Meath; Tyrone v Connacht third place team.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
