Injury Time . . . with Jerome O'Connell

LIMERICK’S ladies football side play in the TG4 All-Ireland junior football championship semi-final this Saturday - the girls are one win away from a final in Croke Park and live television coverage and yet the players and management have had to undertake fund-raising efforts to purchase team gear.
Already this season the girls each paid €25 to purchase socks and togs.
The recession has hit all walks of life, but perhaps there is some generous soul that can come to the aid of the team which carries Limerick’s last hope of an All-Ireland in 2009.
Just 48 hours before their All-Ireland semi-final members of the county panel and others will be bag packing in Dunnes Stores in the Parkway this Thursday night.
Last Sunday night 10 members of the panel were joined by six Limerick senior footballers for a charity ‘Jigs & Reels’ event in The Bailey pub on O’Connell St. in Limerick City.
I had the honour of being one of the judges on the night when John Galvin and Siobhan Moloney were crowned champions.
Well done to Galvin, Pa Ranahan, Stephen Lavin, Diarmuid Carroll, Stephen Kelly and Johnny McCarthy for lending their support to the girls.
Representing the ladies football panel on the dance floor were Theresa Mulcaire, Margaret Lynch, Janet Garvey, Hazel Fogarty, Olivia Giltenane, Leahy Kidney, Emma McGuire, Katie Campbell and Sinead Fitzpatrick.
The event was organised by player Olivia Giltenane, with Ger Downes as MC and Ray Nash as DJ.

Eyesbrows raised
EYEBROWS have been raised by the departure of five part-time Limerick GAA coaches.
For the last number of years the five have provided coaching to over 20 primary schools in the Limerick City area and to a number of schools in west Limerick.
Eamonn Cregan, Gerard Murnane, Brian Kelly and Bernie Hartigan worked in the city areas while Gerry Molyneaux covered the west.
The five were each working 15 hour weeks.
It now appears the void will be filled with a realigning of the full-time coaching staff of seven.
Ger Downes, Adrian O’Sullivan and Pat Culhane are to cover the schools of the city area, while Ollie Coffey, Sean Herbert and James Ryan (Limerick senior hurler) will cater for the schools of the county - all under the auspices of Noel Hartigan. One new temporary position is also to be created to supplement the seven full-time staff.
It also appears that county board officials are to seek a return to the club-school link of a number of years back. On that occasion clubs put money towards a coach for their local schools and the amount was matched by the county board.
If my memory serves me correctly the take-up would need to improve if this initiative is to prove beneficial.

No team sheets
THERE was much unrest last Sunday evening when no team sheets were available for either of the county senior hurling championship relegation play-offs.
The clash of the county champions of 2005 (Garryspillane) and 2006 (Bruree) was always going to draw a crowd to Fitzgerald Park Kilmallock while a healthy attendance was also present in Ballyagran for the meeting of Knockainey and Tournafulla.
After paying into the game, many supporters were left disappointed by the absence of a team sheet.
The importance of the team lists should not be overlooked and adds greatly to the promotion of GAA.

Extra training
AS the Summer Camps come to an end this week across Limerick, 40 of the top underage hurlers and footballers have received the boost of extra training provided by the Munster Council.
Each year, the provincial council provides funding for two days of intensive training to the under-14 panels of the five counties.
Two weeks ago, full-time coaches Adrian O’Sullivan and Ger Downes and Jim McGrath (Doon) accompanied the hurling panel to Cork where they stayed and trained in Cork Institute of Technology.
Last week it was the turn of the footballers under the guidance of underage coaches Michael Crowley (Monaleen), Diarmuid Sheehy (Cappamore), Brian O’Connell (Oola) and Ger Downes.
The footballers were coached by former Kerry manager Pat O’Shea for the two days.
Limerick coach Donie Buckley was also among the list of expert coaches for the football programme, while Limerick City Hurling Development Administrator Pat Culhane was one of the coaches on the schedule for the hurling sessions.