*Clare Camogie chairperson Fergal O’Brien addressing Convention. Photograph: Joe Buckley
SERVING as secretary of Clare Camogie was “one eye opening experience”, the annual Convention heard with views still mixed on the split season with a vote to change the age of players eligible to play adult competitions defeated.
Secretary Gillian McNulty described her first year in the role as “one eye opening experience. I went into this position after a lot of persuasion from the current Executive”.
Gilllian thanked her predecessor Ann Sanz for assistance during the year and she also paid tribute to assistant secretary Josephine Casey.
The secretary reported that there had been 13 board meetings and four Munster Council meetings as well as numerous executive, fixtures, grading, finance, referees, field, and development committee meetings during the year under review.
“Our links with Clare GAA have grown stronger with them being very generous to us in allowing Clare Camogie the use of Cusack Park, Caherloham, Clareabbey and Ballyline whenever we asked”, the secretary reported.
She went on “to acknowledge the work of Deirdre Murphy as COO within Clare GA. Deirdre has been a good friend to Clare Camogie and we wish her well in her future endeavours”
Minute’s silence:
Before the business of convention got under way on Monday night a minute’s silence was observed “as a mark of respect to all who lost loved ones during the year” with particular reference to the families of the late Catherine Tobin snd Olivia Tuohy.
Mixed views on ‘split season’:
In her report to convention, fixtures secretary Ann Marsh McMahon noted that “this is the fourth year of the ‘split season’ approach and the views seem to be still very mixed depending on what perspective you look at it from. As in previous years, the camogie fixtures calendar needs to work with this.
“As the inter county season runs from January until the first week in August we need to provide meaningful games during the inter county season for the club players. With camogie LGFA and GAA sharing th same window for club championship we need to structure the u-14, u-16, u-18 and adult championships in a balanced way within a short time frame”.
Online presence growing:
In her report to the meeting PRO Brid MacNamara stated that “our online presence continues to grow. Facebook, Twitter and Instragram all saw an increase in followers throughout the year” before noting that the organisation now has 7,284 (Facebook), 6,395 (Twitter) and 4,152 (Instragram) followers, an average increase of 13% followers since last December.
On being re-elected she advised the delegates that 2026 will be her last year in the role.
Increased membership:
Registrar Kevin Walsh reported an increase in membership in the year under review. “The numbers exceeded 5000 in 2024 and the figure for 2025 is 5343. This does not happen by accident, it involves a lot of diligence, good work and efficiency by each of the club registrars”. He concluded his report by reminding clubs that “all players must be registered by the end of March”.
Motion lost:
A motion from the Éire Óg club which sought to change the age to be eligible for adult competition to over 16 (it’s currently over 15) failed to win the support of the delegates.
The motion was proposed by Mary McMahon who noted the demands on players. “The demands are massive on payers in this age particularly if they play ladies football. A lot of parents are not happy that 15 year olds are playing adult competition where the game is a lot more physical”.
Fixtures secretary Ann Marsh McMahon seconded the proposal but delegates voted 25 to 21 against the motion.
