Limerick camogie protests fail to force reprieve for All-Ireland minor championship

LIMERICK protests against the cancellation of the All-Ireland minor camogie championship have failed.

In the past week statements from the Limerick minor camogie panel and Limerick County Camogie Board hit out at the lack of an All-Ireland minor championship in the revised Covid-19 fixture list.

In response to a letter from the Limerick minor panel, Camogie Association CEO Sinead McNulty confirmed there will be no u-turn.

“Unfortunately due to the disruptions to this year’s calendar as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic the difficult decision was ultimately made to cancel the All-Ireland stages of the 2020 minor championships. Just so that you are aware, there were more than 45 games remaining in this competition,” outlined McNulty.

“Provincial minor championships however will take place in 2020 during the inter county window starting from October 17,” confirmed the head of the Camogie Association.

“In light of the challenges posed by Covid-19 the focus of the Association has been to firstly return our game to activity at Club level, at all ages, which will take place from now until mid-October as outlined in the ‘Safe Return to Gaelic Games’ roadmap. This will allow all members of the Association to have the opportunity to participate in the game this year once it is safe for them to do so.”

She added: “The focus at a national level has been to provide a programme of games to all members, across all levels of the Association in so far as is possible in the allocated time 2020. This has required many competitions to be altered and unfortunately several competitions cannot to be completed in the ‘usual way’ in 2020.”

McNulty explained: “Given the limited time frame in which to run competitions at all levels in the remainder of 2020 it is not possible to run this year’s All-Ireland minor championships outside of Provincial level particularly given the crossover of many minor teams with adult inter-county teams which will also take place during the inter-county window from October to December. The minor championships will still take place at a Provincial level to facilitate a programme of games to this age group. You will get the opportunity to wear your county jersey again and play with your minor inter county team in October – you have the opportunity to become provincial champions”.

”We appreciate that the cancellation of many competitions this year is of great disappointment to those involved however due to these unprecedented times many such difficult decisions have had to be made so as to maximise the opportunities for all members of the Association to participate in camogie in the remainder of 2020.”