Every Man Needs A Good Woman

They say no mans life is complete without a good woman. Well, I had 8 of them to entertain for an hour and half last Saturday morning. The two time European Ladies football champions (from two attempts) are managing their own affairs this year after the smash and grab reign of Willie Cashin.

Led by Laura and ably supported by Caoimhe and Grainne, they are ploughing on with training whilst trying to find a replacement for Willie. One of the difficulties they face is that every member of our club is a player and so there are no people with time available to be dual assigned to playing and coaching, unless they do both for the same team.

I offered to help them out last Saturday with a session and thankfully for my ego they accepted. Although the turnout was less than half of what they normally get so that had a balancing effect.

I’ve had some experience with girls in the past, all in hockey circles. When I was in college I had a nicely paid gig coaching in a school in Cork and also coaching the UCC Ladies seconds. The pinnacle was being Phil Oakley’s assistant with the Munster Under-21 ladies in 2005. All were enjoyable experiences and I recognised how seriously that girls take sport once they commit to it. They listen attentively to their coaches and go about their business properly.

The Belgium GAA ladies who came along on Saturday were no different. We rattled through a good few drills in the hour and a half with only the occasional lapse for a chat! In fairness, they are very serious; maybe ‘mildly intense’ is how to best describe them. They moved through all the drills well even if the sister combo of Mide & Caoimhe tested my patience with their brazen disregard for my cones!

They have many injuries this year but I’d still back them to make it three in a row. They won the last two years with a bit of distance between them and the rest of the pack. It’s always hard to keep the motivation up but their reduced resources this year should be the spur they need. Those who attended on Saturday certainly didn’t show any signs of complacency.