Gaelic Games

Catherine Neary believes lessons learned from camogie issues

Association president insists controversies of 2015 are unlikely to happen in future

Tipperary’s Sarah Fryday, Cork’s Amy O’Connor and Galway’s Rebecca Henelly at Croke Park for Thursday’s Camogie Championship launch. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho.
Tipperary’s Sarah Fryday, Cork’s Amy O’Connor and Galway’s Rebecca Henelly at Croke Park for Thursday’s Camogie Championship launch. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho.
Ciaran Gallagher
Thu Jun 09 2016 - 23:00

Camogie Association president Catherine Neary insists this year's championship will run smoother than last season after moving to rectify a number of high-profile issues.

The 2016 Liberty Insurance All-Ireland Senior Championship was formally launched in Croke Park on Thursday, with confirmation that this year's semi-finals and final will be broadcast live on RTÉ One television.

The championship throws-in next weekend with Cork opening the defence of their title against Waterford at Walsh Park in one of five senior fixtures scheduled for Saturday, June 18th.

The 2015 championship was nearly derailed by the coin-toss debacle over who would progress between Dublin and Clare, while dual players in Clare and Cork were later upset by fixture clashes before a 45 was controversially disallowed in the Wexford-Galway semi-final.

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“As administrators, the big thing is to learn and to listen to what you’re actually hearing,” said Neary.

Coin toss

“While you might want to do something there and then, it’s a matter of bringing that into the following year to make sure you don’t structure everything the same way again because you’re likely to fail if that happens,” added the Camogie president, who insisted that steps have been taken in an effort to avoid a repeat of the Dublin-Clare controversy when the fate of the counties was set to be decided by a coin toss before a play-off was belatedly scheduled.

“I think ultimately what will happen if we end up, there will be a play-off if we can’t separate the teams, but I think the fact that we’ve introduced the three points for a win and one point for a draw will lessen the chances.

“What we’ve decided to do is learn the lessons of the past but also try to bring as many criteria in place to lessen the chances,” she added.

Tomorrow week's senior games have all been scheduled for a 5.15pm throw-in to avoid a clash with the Republic of Ireland soccer team's Euro 2016 match against Belgium, while the Camogie Association have also worked with the Ladies Football Association in an effort to avoid conflicting schedules for dual players.