On behalf of the camogie club I would like to wish all our players, mentors and supporters a happy new year. 1999 was another very busy year with teams involved in County U12, U14, U16, U18 and Junior competitions and City Division U11,13 & U15 competitions.

There were a number of highlights during the year. The Under 11 team won the City league in great style against Na Piarsaigh while the Under 14’s qualified for the quarter-finals of the county league but had to give a walk-over during the summer when many of our players were way on holidays. At the time of going to print the Under 16 team have qualified for the quarter finals of the league.

Up to now camogie teams consisted of 12 players in a shortened pitch but this year on a trial basis the number of players was increased to 15 using the regulation GAA pitches. I will review the impact of this in a later section of this newsletter.

In January ‘99 the GAA club opened an indoor pavilion and the camogie club held training on Mondays and Saturday throughout the winter.

This newsletter contains a short summary of the activities of the past year and an important notice to players about the AGM, the Registration night and Training.

This team took some time to settle into the 15-a-side game loosing out to Ballinhassig and Ballygarvan and beating Tracton. We also received a walk-over from Glen Rovers. In the championship we played against Milford, a club that has been having great success in all grades. This was played in Redmonds, in a very competitive spirit on a soft pitch due to the inclement weather. On the day we could not match the overall strength of the opposition but many players showed their undoubted ability.

Having reached the play-off stage of the ‘98 league we played Glen Rovers and at the end of the fifty minutes the game ended in a draw. In the replay we were defeated but put up a great show.

Claire Barry, Mary Harrington and Amanda O’Regan were selected for the divisional side, Seandun, to take part in the Senior championship. Seandun faced Fr. O’Neills in the first round and were beaten on the night by a young fast outfit. Fr. O’Neills went on to contest the senior final only to be defeated by Bishopstown.

This team was mainly made up of Under 16 players who found the age difference a big factor. However the competition was useful for the experience gained.

In the championship we faced Bishopstown who had just won the Senior championship for the second year running. The first game ended in a draw while in the replay we were narrowly defeated.

On the inter-county scene Amanda O’Regan was selected for the Cork Under 18 team. This competition is only held within Munster. In the first round Cork has a great victory over Tipperary who were fielding many of their All-Ireland winning Senior team, Waterford were the victims in the semi-final and Cork went on to beat Limerick in the final in a great game.

In the championship we won our first round against Buttevent and received a walk-over in the next round. However we were then defeated by Newcestown when we played well below our capabilities.

In the league we had some good victories and have qualified for the play-off stage of the competition. The core of this team is under -age again next year. Fiona McSweeny, Anne-Marie Downey, Emma Downey and Jane O’Leary are the only players in their last year in the grade and they gave great leadership throughout the year.

At the start of the season we entered the Pan Celtic tournament in Tralee. This was very successful as we played teams from all over Ireland. We reached the semi-final before eventually being beaten.

The ‘98 league over-ran into this year and we reached the final having beaten Sarsfields and Mayfield. However in the final we came up against a fine Milford squad and were unable to achieve a result on the night.

In the league we beat Na Piarsaigh, Bishopstown and Blarney and were beaten by Rockbawn. This was sufficient for us to qualify for the play-off stage of the competition. Unfortunately the County board insisted that we play in July at a time that many of our players were on holidays and we had no option but to give a walk-over.

In the feile, played on a blitz basis, we qualified from our section beating Cloughduv and Inniscarra and went on to play Milford in the county quarter-final. Again Milford were too strong for our girls.

This team was backboned by Louise O’Regan, Fiona O’Donovan, Ciara Kennefick, Natasha Flannagan, Amaya Dunworth, Helen O’Mahony and Laura Walsh.

This team has many fine players who should do well in the years ahead if they can keep up the effort. Some of the up and coming stars include Sarah O’Regan, Deirdre Murphy, Jenny O’Donovan and Audrey Flanagan.

The league for this age group has yet to be played.

In the Under 15 divisional blitz we were represented by Eilish Murphy, Emma Downey and Fiona O’Donovan on the Seandun team. This competition is part of the selection process for the Cork Under 16 team. Our players had a very good competition and learned a lot in the process.

This is only played as a City Division competition. The team played and won three challenge games in preparation for the league. In the league they qualified for the play-off against Mayfield who they had beaten in a league game earlier. On the day they could not reproduce the form and were beaten. However they were well served by Helen O’Mahony, Valarie Downey and Michelle Barry.

This team had a great season winning the city Division league and our own tournament. In the league they beat Barrs, Dillons and Bishopstown before recording a great victory in the final against Na Piarsaigh. The scenes of joy at the final whistle were worthy of an All-Ireland final with mentors Nuala Flanagan, Eileen Murphy and Billy O’Sullivan justifiably proud.

In a blitz tournament the girls beat Blarney, Bandon and Eirn’s Own to win the Christy Martin Cup in the first year of this competition. There are many fine players on this panel including Jenny O’Donovan, Deirdre Murphy, Lavinia O’Mahony, Rachel O’Sullivan, Emma Heffernan and Olivia Tobin.

Once again the primary school entered a number of camogie competitions in ‘99. While not enjoying the success of past years nonetheless the girls were involved in some great matches and the school can be proud of their efforts.

This is an important nursery for the camogie club and the success of the under-age section this year was helped in no small way by the great work done in the past. In particular I would like to thank Eileen Murphy for her work in the school and Mrs Cashman for her encouragement and support.

In colleges camogie the club had a number of players involved on the Christ King team. They reached the semi-final of the Munster Senior championship before going out to Coachford. In the Cork Colleges they are in the semi-finals against St.Aidan’s. Well done to all concerned and especially to Christina O’Regan who coached the team again this year.

The number of teams entered in competitions has increased substantially in the past few years with a great number of young girls now playing on a regular basis. This year the GAA club have build a fabulous new indoor facility and the camogie club have been allocated a number of hours. See Important Dates Section for details. Outdoor training will begin once the weather improves.

The club is fortunate to have a number of dedicated people who undertake the vast amount of work involved in keeping the Douglas parish to the forefront of the camogie scene.

The officers of the club in ‘99 were :- Mick O’Regan - Chairman; Eileen Murphy - Vice-Chairman; Mary Harrington- Secretary; Christina O’Regan - Registrar, Nuala Flanagan - Treasurer and Maria O’Sullivan - Vice-Treas. The committee was made up of Carmel Downey, Billy O’Sullivan, Breda Heffernan, Shirley Dunlea, Claire Barry and Lisa Buckley. With the number of players involved more help is always welcome so don’t be shy if you have something to contribute.

I would like to place on record our appreciation to the GAA club for the use of the facilities without which we would be unable to function.

As I stated earlier, the teams have gone from 12-a-side to 15-a-side this year. During the year the committee decided to review the playing strength of the club and to make plans for the future. It was agreed that we need to approach this from a few angles.

Firstly we held a meeting with our existing players to get their views on how they felt the club was performing. Many excellent ideas came from that event some of which have already been implemented.

A second initiative involves contacting ex-players with a view to getting them back playing. Players give up for a variety of reasons. Some drop out when they are doing exams, others give up when their pals stop coming, others start other activities that conflict with the times that camogie takes place. Once they stop playing they find it difficult to take the initial step to come back even though the original reason for leaving may have long since passed.

If you are one of our ex-players I would ask you to consider joining up again in 2000. If you played elsewhere or would like to start why not give it a try. If you have the right attitude there is no reason why you cannot succeeded in making a success of the game. The club will be actively contacting ex-players but we may not have all the relevant contact details. So don’t be afraid to drop down - you will be most welcome.