Clare Ladies Board March County Board Meeting Venue: West County Hotel Date: Tuesday March 11th Regrading: Miltown Ladies, Coolmeen Ladies and The Banner Ladies were each successful in having several players regraded for the 2008 season. These clubs field two teams at adult level. The Banner Club was however unsuccessful in its attempt to have Niamh O'Dea regraded from senior to junior for the coming season. Despite a plea from Banner delegate Dr. Paul McKenna that as a fourteen year old O'Dea should not be forced to play senior football the request was rejected. Transfers: Thirteen players requested transfers from Shannon Gaels to the newly formed Kilrush ladies club. Eight of these were uncontested however five player transfers were contested by the Shannon Gaels ladies club secretary Carmel Bohannon. On a vote of the delegates present Shannon Gael's objection was upheld on a count of 27 - 9 and the transfers were refused. The new Kilrush ladies club also has several successful transfers from Cooraclare ladies. Assists: Several players from Kilmurry-Ibrekane were granted permission to assist Miltown at adult level for the 2008 season as the Quilty side will not have an adult team in 2008. Féile: Eleven clubs have expressed an interest in participating in the 2008 Clare Féile. The Newmarket and Banner clubs are to assist in organising this competition which must be run off before the 1st of May. County U-14's Grave dissatisfaction was expressed by the executive and delegates at Munster Council's decision to fix Saturday's U-14 Munster Championship game for a Waterford venue. Munster Council secretary Marie Halvey informed Clare secretary Michael Fitzpatrick that she had conducted a toss in her office and that she had deemed Waterford to have won the toss for home venue. Neither Clare nor Waterford was aware of this 'in camera' toss taking place and neither county was represented at the 'event'. Traditionally Clare and Waterford have played their underage games at a half-way venue. The journey to Dungarvan on Saturday will be over five hours for some players in West Clare and this is very unfair to young girls. County U-16's Team manager J.J.O'Dea pleaded with clubs not to organise games at the same time as county training. Training for U-16 county team is at 11.00am on Saturday mornings and is currently being held in St. Flannan's College, Ennis. County Minors Team manager Davy Browne expressed his concern at the poor level of interest amongst players to represent their county at this level and asked the clubs to encourage players to turn out for training. He acknowledged that this was a difficult time for some players given that many are sitting their Leaving Cert this year. A challenge game this weekend had to be deferred due to lack of numbers available to play. County Seniors: Team coach David O'Brien informed the meeting of the team's progress in the Suzuki league and of the upcoming important fixture in Cooraclare on Sunday against Westmeath. The match is fixed for 2.00pm despite RTE teletext stating 2.30pm Development Officer Report: County development officer Mary Keane announced plans for upcoming training sessions for club administrators and officials. Clubs will be informed of a date shortly. Ms. Keane also informed delegates of plans to organise a 'Fundamentals' seminar for underage club coaches and also of a 'Level One' coaching course for ladies football. Treasurer's Report: Treasurer Christy O'Connor cautioned the meeting that expenditure must be kept in check and that the best deals should be sought when booking hotels, busses etc. The county's finances are in a reasonably healthy state at present but county team expenses were mounting. He also expressed disappointment that all the major financial institutions in Clare had been written to by the county board with a request for some support and that only the Ulster Bank had replied with any measure of financial assistance. He thanked ESB Moneypoint, Shannon Ferries Ltd. and TM Printing for supporting the board financially. He hoped local support could be improved and requested delegates to assist where possible. PRO: County PRO Dr. Paul McKenna requested clubs to make every effort to get match reports to him or to file them directly with the local media. He can be e-mailed at [email protected]. Match scores can also be texted to Clare FM Sports Dept. by texting the word 'score' followed by match result to 53131. Dr. Paul McKenna, PRO Clare Ladies Football www.bannerladiesfootball.com [email protected] 086 6036385 Tweet

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