Quill calls for amalgamated association for Gaelic games

Ladies Gaelic Football Association president Pat Quill will push for an amalgamation with the GAA if their sport was promoted on an equal basis.

There are calls for the two to come under the one umbrella, along with the camogie association, and the LGFA head insists it makes perfect sense.

“Yes, of course, it is something that has to be looked at,” Quill said at the Ladies All-Ireland finals Captain’s Day at Croke Park yesterday.

“If we were all starting out today it would be an obvious thing that we would all be under the one association.

“It is a process that has to be gone through and it is like anything else, there will be people for it and people against it. It is a positive development and at the end of the day we are all playing Gaelic games. There will be a process where all three associations will have to consult with their members and come back with a decision.”

He added: “As long our sport is treated promoted and developed on an equal basis I don’t see any problem.”

There was speculation Sunday’s three Ladies finals — Cork v Monaghan (senior), Cavan v Tipperary (intermediate) and Offaly v Wexford (junior) — would be pushed back a week to facilitate the replay of Cork and Clare in the men’s hurling final as controversially occurred when Galway drew with Kilkenny last year.

But Quill confirmed that this was never a concern for his organisation.

“Last year, when the hurling final ended in a draw, we knew we had to move,” Quill explained. “(GAA president) Liam O’Neill contacted us within a fortnight of that game and asked us if we were willing to stay where we were on a Sunday that he would put it to Central Council and they passed a motion that in the event of a hurling replay again it would be on the Saturday and we would keep our date.

“That made a huge difference to us in terms of our planning, which last year was disrupted but this year we were able to plan ahead. It is hard to know what affect it will have on (attendance).

“It’s better than what happened last year when we had to move lock, stock, and barrel out and to be fair to Liam O’Neill, he moved on that straight away and that’s important.

“The month of September is seen as All-Ireland month so it was very important to keep that and it was approved by Central Council and is set in stone.”

Quill acknowledges the Cork-Clare replay will be in the spotlight throughout the week but is keen to look at the upside of a triple-header that is expecting approximately 20,000 on Sunday.

“The build-up to the hurling replay is going to take up some of our coverage but at the same time we’ll still have the largest attendance in the world on that day for a female sport event.”