By Ann Cannon, PRO, Ladies Football
On Friday 13th May our U12s played on a beautiful summer’s evening against McHale Rovers (we discovered they are made up of ladies from Crossmolina, Lahardane and Ardagh).
We had 23 players line out and as always with this group of young ladies they did the club proud with their skill, determination and great sportsmanship. This game was played at the Community School pitch and a special thanks to Andy Walsh for ensuring the pitch was in perfect condition and also to Terry Duddy and Mary Langan for getting the portable goals moved from Flanagan Park and back again.
At the same time on Friday in Flanagan Park our U10’s were training with the young ladies playing football in the Gaelic4Girls Programme. There were over 40 young ladies in total.
Gaelic4Girls is an 8 week programme aimed at increasing participation in Ladies Gaelic Football. Well done to everyone involved, it is great to be in a position to allow these girls the opportunity to try out Gaelic football in a fun and safe environment.
On the following Saturday morning we had a great turnout – 16 under 6 girls and 12 under 8 girls. These young ladies train and play matches with the boys and will be playing in go-game leagues shortly. The grounding in the skills of Gaelic football these young girls are getting will ensure their future enjoyment playing the game.
Some of our young ladies having a water break during training on Saturday morning May 14th.
A big thank you to Declan Burke, Ryders Chemist, Main St ,Ballinrobe who donated First Aid kits for the Ladies U10 team and all other underage teams in the club.
As can be seen from the above, the future of ladies football in Ballinrobe is bright and this is due to the hard work of our players, their parents, coaches and ladies committee members. Well done to all.
The next U12’s Ladies game is tomorrow evening Tuesday 24th at 7pm in Westport at the Sacred Heart School, Castlebar Road (just up from the Castlecourt hotel). Meet in Ballinrobe at the pitch at 5:50, to be at the pitch in Westport for 6:45pm.
As always, gumshields are mandatory. Also, players cannot wear jewellery or hair slides.