Page 26 - 2020ClareCamogieBoardAGM

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familiar with. March 13 the country locked down and that was the end of in person
training for a while. We continued to train the girls via challenges and sessions
online for a few weeks but as the glimmer of hope that camogie would return in July
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and club championships would take precedence until September 14 , we halted our
involvement with the girls and wished them well in their club games.

We watched the u16 championship with great interest and also the Minor, Junior,
Intermediate and Senior games, as the girl born in 2004 was eligible for them
all. We were very proud of how our panel of players were playing and did our best to
see matches where time and restrictions allowed, as we were only bringing back a
panel to make one team for the All Ireland Championship. Given that the Camogie
Association had decided not to run the minor competition, we were absolutely thrilled
that the u16 competition was going ahead at all.

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On September 27 , with a panel of 30 players, we began the first of 6 training
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sessions we had planned that would run into the first round on October 24 against
Cork. The groups had been redrawn over the summer to reduce the number of
games and we had been drawn with Cork, Galway and Tipperary. At u15s we had
drawn with Cork, and beaten Galway and Tipperary, although they were in blitz style
matches, so we were very optimistic of our chances of progressing from the group
stage. This was also the first time that we had just one panel and all coaches with
eyes on the one team and we really, really enjoyed helping the girls improve all their
skills and gel as one team. But lockdown was to get us again, as 4 days before the
Cork match, all county matches were put on hold and county training is not permitted
at all at present. We don’t know at this point if there will be any games for this group
of talented, committed girls. It is such a shame that we didn’t get to see them
perform in a full match situation. They were certainly giving us headaches on picking
a starting fifteen and we would have really liked for them to see how they measured
up to other teams. It’s a case of wait and see now, but with the interruption in
training, we are never going to see any team play to their full potential this year.

Many thanks to all the clubs and parents who gave us huge support throughout the
year. Also, thanks to Joe, Marie Louise and Jimmy who often tried to help us find
venues. But mostly thanks to the girls who really bought into our plans and
ambitions. The numbers at training were close to the maximum every time, with
them generally giving it their absolute all, every time. We really appreciated
this. They were a delight to work with, taking on instruction, and buying into the
process consistently. We sincerely wish the girls all the best as they move up to
minor and we look forward to seeing them in a Clare jersey again.

Eleanor Walsh, on behalf of myself, Niamh, Billy, Aidan and Pat