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The Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) have said they felt they were “doing something brilliant” by winning the Irish semi-final yesterday against Croke Park amid harsh criticism about the circumstances of the late change of venue.
Responding to criticism from Galway coach Tim Rabbitt about the hasty nature of his warm-up due to the earlier serve, LGFA President Marie Hickey told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that her team “would have had a chance to go out. to the field earlier if they had. I didn’t spend that much time in the locker room. ”
Hickey confirmed that they did not seek more time to prepare by requesting the pitch time for the GAA play of the Mayo-Tipperary semifinal.
Cork booked their place in the 2020 decider, where they will now face Dublin, after beating the Tribeswomen 2-17-0-13 in a game that was mired in controversy.
The venue was changed three times, before a late call was made Sunday morning to move the game to Croke Park due to icy conditions at Parnell Park.
The LGFA contacted both teams at 11am and received cooperation from Galway and Cork after receiving assurances that there would be sufficient time for a full warm-up.
Originally scheduled to launch at 1.30pm, the start time was moved up half an hour as Croke Park was the venue for the Irish men’s semi-final between Tipperary and May later in the afternoon.
The late change meant TG4 was unable to show live coverage of the game, while Galway only made it to Croke Park 30 minutes before the throw-in.
Hickey rejected the suggestion that the women’s game is not taken seriously like the men’s and said the association was simply happy to bring the game to Croke Park.
“It was a very difficult situation that we found ourselves in yesterday. The bottom line was, did we cancel the game entirely or try to re-fix it for another location?” she said.
“Obviously, the time frame was too short to make that decision. When the two coaches were contacted around 11am, they were both happy to be playing at Croke Park.”
On the suggestion of a lack of preparation time, instead of changing the venue itself, Hickey said: “They [Galway] He spent a lot of time in the locker room and then went out onto the field. They would have had a chance to go out on the court earlier if they hadn’t spent so much time in the locker room.
“They could have been out on the field earlier.
“Our priority was the well-being of the player, getting the game played. In fact, we thought we were doing something brilliant by bringing the game to Croke Park.”
Hickey said the game was moved to a previous throw-in to avoid a potential clash with the men’s semi-final if overtime or a points run was required between Cork and Galway.
When asked if the LGFA requested a delay in the men’s launch time, Hickey said, “No, to be honest, we didn’t. We were so thrilled to be there in the first place, we just did.”
According to the president, suggestions that poor cooperation between GAA and LGFA is at the heart of this latest debacle are misplaced.
“I would say integration has never been closer than in recent years. We have secured county land for all of our county games. [2020] which would not have been the case several years ago.
When we talk about 20/20, when we talk about equality in the game, these types of incidents should not be happening
“There is a lot of cooperation between the two agencies, but it’s when a technical problem like this happens, people start pointing fingers and you don’t see the whole picture that happens for the rest of the year.”
Galway manager Tim Rabbitt said the situation that unfolded was “a joke” and regrets not leaving the court with his team in protest.
“We did not agree on a 13:00 [throw-in]”Tim Rabbitt told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
“We agreed that we would play it, that we would get there as soon as we could, once they assured us we had enough time. Whether the game started at 1pm or 1:10 pm, we weren’t worried about that.” once we were assured that we could warm up properly and were properly prepared.
“But the moment we hit the field, the LGFA officials, the referee, immediately in our ear.” Six minutes, you have six minutes to warm up. ”
“I don’t want it to sound like sour grapes, but that’s the moment we should have taken a stand. We should have left the field. We shouldn’t have continued until we had a sufficient warm-up.
“The disrespect that was shown once we got to Croke Park was completely unacceptable.”
Cork ran the entire run in the first half and enjoyed a healthy 2-05-0-04 lead at halftime, and when referee Seamus Mulvihill blew the whistle full-time, the margin between the sides was 10 points. .
Rabbitt admitted that Cork was the best team of the day, but asked the LGFA to make sure that what happened yesterday is not repeated.
“This should not be happening. When we talk about 20/20, when we talk about equality in the game, these types of incidents should not be happening and the LGFA has to make sure that this does not happen again.”
Cork manager Ephie Fitzgerald said it was the latest example of women’s sport failing to get the respect it deserves.
“All I want for them is for them to get the same treatment as the boys,” he said.
“My argument was and has been from the beginning, why are we making things difficult for ourselves? We talked about lifting the spirit of a nation. There was no one to see it today. I would have thought that if we could have gotten a field where we could to have traveled in one day, then that would have made it much simpler. “
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