Competition structures ratified at Bord na nÓg

THE reconvened meeting of Bord na nÓg football, the first ordinary meeting of the year, dealt with a lot of business last week including ratifying the competition structures.

 

The meeting ratified the board’s competitions control committee (CCC) for 2013. The members of this committee are John Smith (board chairman), Niamh Madigan (board secretary), Sean Lyons (board vice-chairman), Flan O’Reilly (referee), JJ O’Dea (Kilfenora) and Susan King (Coolmeen).

Féile 2013
THERE was a request from clubs to have groups compete in Féile this year.  This request was turned down as, historically, group teams are not permitted to compete in this particular competition. There will be changes in the running of the Féile competition over the next number of years nationally according to the president of the GAA who appealed to counties at a recent Central Council meeting to consider sending new clubs to the national festival. 

For 2013, Bórd na nÓg Peil have made some changes to the competition. The games will be 15 minutes aside and the final will be 20 minutes aside and only clubs with a panel of 24 will be permitted to enter Féile in 2013.  The competition will be run over one weekend and is provisionally scheduled for the weekend of April 13 and 14. There will be three clubs in each group and the teams will be seeded. There will be an open draw for each group. The top three teams from the groups will go through to the semi-finals along with the team with the highest score over the three games to make up the fourth team. The venues and the game times will be decided at a later date.

U-14 Championship
THE U-14 Championship is set to begin on Monday, June 17 and Wednesday, June 19. Division 1 will have two groups 1A and 1B with 10 and nine teams respectively. The top two teams in 1A and 1B will go forward to the Division 1 semi-finals, with the third and fourth placed teams going to the Division 2 semi-finals. The fifth and sixth placed teams will contest the Division 1 Shield semi-finals, while the seventh and eighth placed teams will contest the Division 2 Shield semi-finals.

U-16
THE U-16 Championship Division 1 and 2 will start this Saturday.

The date depends on weather conditions and the availability of pitches. It will continue at 12 noon on Saturdays until the weekend of March 31 when games will move to Monday evenings.

There was a long discussion on the U-16 groups for 2013. It was decided that Division 1 will consist of eight teams and will have seven rounds. All rounds will run together and the top foour teams go forward to semi-finals. Due to the volume of the teams wanting to participate in Division 2, this division will be divided into two groups. 

Group 1 will have seven teams and group 2 will have six teams. To accommodate the number of teams, there will be a shield for this division to ensure all teams get an adequate number of games. The top team in each group will go forward to semi-finals. Teams placed second and third in each group will play quarter-finals and the winners go onto semi-finals. The fourth placed teams will go to shield semi-finals and teams placed fifth and sixth will play off for shield semi-finals. 

Group 1 will include Clooney-Quin, Kilmurry-Ibrickane, Shannon Gaels-Kilmihil, Kilfenora-Liscannor-Michael Cusack’s, Kildysart-Coolmeen, Corofin and Éire Óg, while Group 2 will include Lissycasey, Doonbeg-Kilkee, Clarecastle, Cratloe, Banner and Kilrush.

There is also an extra division in this championship for teams who are struggling with player numbers. This division is scheduled to begin on Wednesday evening, April 3.

Minor Championship
THE minor championship is due to start on Wednesday, July 3. Minor Division 1 will have 10 rounds and the top four teams will go forward to semi-finals. In Division 2 and 3, the top four teams will also go straight to semi-finals. 

Club Forum
LAST year’s club forum recommended that coaches be hired to coach in the schools in the various areas. Two of these have been in place since last September, while two new coaches have been hired under the Jobbridge scheme to cover the Cill Ceathair and An Tuaisceart areas. The new coaches are Cillian Malone from Kilfenora and Graham Kelly from Miltown. 

A committee has been set up to review the underage structures in other counties. The committee will comprise of John Smith (chairperson), JJ Crowe, Michael Griffin, Eamonn Keane and Seán Chaplin. They intend to visit Tipperary, Galway, Laois and Tyrone over the coming months to look at the structures they have in place at underage level.

Rural and Urban Committees
TWO committees were set up to review both rural and urban clubs. These committees will get information regarding player numbers going forward and pass it on to the county board who in turn will report on to Munster Council.

The rural committee members are Billy Archbold (chairperson), Susan King (Coolmeen), Michael O’Shea (O’Currys) and Joe Kelly (Cooraclare), while the urban committee members are Michael McNamara (Éire Óg) Mike Murphy (Doora-Barefield), Donal Vaughan (Clarecastle) together with a  representative from the Banner club.

Coaching and Games Conference
CLARE GAA Coaching and Games Conference (Developing our Youth Players) will take place this Saturday at St Caimin’s school in Shannon.

Registration will be at 9.15am and the meeting encouraged clubs to send officials and/or mentors to the conference.