The GAA recently unveiled details of a new National Bursaries scheme for students attending Higher Education colleges as part of its ongoing commitment to Player Welfare.

The new scheme will be open to members of the Association who are attending a full-time Higher Education course (except those who hold another GAA-related or college scholarship/bursary) and who are active participants in their Higher Education club.

Such students may often feel the necessity to work during their college years, but these grants will now allow them to work with their College GAA Club in a variety of areas without having to find work outside the college.

Speaking today, the GAAs Player Welfare Manager Paraic Duffy said: "It is envisaged that recipients will be selected on the basis of their playing commitment and administrative or coaching commitment to the college club. 20% of all awards in each province each year will be granted to students excelling in the areas of coaching and administration."

He continued: "While there will be a cap placed on the number of awards granted per college, the number of students involved in hurling and football activity within the college will be taken into account in deciding the number of awards made to an individual college."

It was confirmed that the proposed Bursaries will be administered by the respective Provincial Councils and that applications for the scheme will be considered by a sub-committee in each province, which will include representatives nominated by the Provincial Council and representatives of Comhairle Ard-Oideachais/ Higher Education colleges.

The President of the GAA, Mr Nickey Brennan, described it as an exciting development for the Association and said that in total, the GAA would be investing €260,000 in the scheme in its initial year. He explained that the Provincial Councils would be contributing €155,000 of this amount and that the balance would come from central resources.

He said: "At the beginning of my Presidency, I announced my intention to introduce Player Welfare initiatives that would reconcile with the policies, ethos and structures of the Association. As part of this process, we asked the GAAs Comhairle Ard Oideachais to submit proposals relating to the provision of bursaries to Third Level Colleges. It is in this context that we are in a position to make todays announcement and I am delighted that we are now in a position to assist many of our young GAA players, coaches and administrators in meeting the costs of their 3rd level education."

The President went on to pay tribute to the voluntary work of students with their College GAA Clubs and said that the bursary scheme would assist students, who might otherwise have to work to meet the costs of their education, in devoting more time to the promotion of Gaelic games in their respective colleges.

 

 

18-Oct-07 by GAA.ie

FIXTURES PROGRAMME 2008.

CONNACHT SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP 2008

 

Pre-Lim.

Sunday 11th May – Extra Time

New York v Leitrim – Gaelic Park

 

Sunday 18th May – Replay Saturday 24th May

Galway v Roscommon – Pearse Stadium

 

Sunday 25th May – Replay Sat 31st May

London v Sligo – Ruislip

 

Semi-Finals

Sunday 15th June Replay Sat 21st June

Galway/Roscommon v Leitrim/New York in Carrick-on-Shannon / Pearse Stadium

 

Sunday 22nd June Replay Saturday 28th June

Mayo v Sligo/London – McHale Park

 

FINAL Sunday 13th July

 

 

 

15-Oct-07 by Brendan Doyle – PRO

The draw for GAA Football and Hurling Championship for 2008 was made this evening in Croke Park and was aired live on RTE.

The following is the format for the 2008 Championship season:

 

Connacht- Football

Quarterfinals:

Leitrim v New York

Sligo v London

Galway v Roscommon

Mayo – Bye

 

Semis:

Mayo v Sligo/London
Leitrim/New York v Galway/Roscommon

 

 

Leinster – Hurling

Dublin v Westmeath
Offaly v Laois

Semis
Wexford v DB/WH
Kilkenny v LS/OY

 

Munster – Hurling

Clare v Waterford

Semis:
Cork v Tipperary
Limerick v CE/WD

 

 

Leinster – Football

A – Kildare v Wicklow
B – Meath v Carlow
C – Longford v Westmeath

 

QFs:
Laois v A (KE v WW)
Wexford v B (MH/CW)
Offaly v C (LD/WH)
Dublin v Louth

Semis:
LS/KE/WW v WX/MH/CW
OY/LD/WH v Dubs/LH

 

 

Munster – Football

A – Limerick v Tipperary
B – Clare v Waterford

Semis:
Kerry v B
Cork v A

 

 

Ulster – Football

Prelim – Antrim v Cavan

QFs
A – Fermanagh v Monaghan
B – Donegal v Derry
C – Tyrone v Down

D – Prelim v Armagh

Semis
A v B

C v D

 

 

14-Oct-07 by Brendan Doyle – PRO

 

On Sunday May 11th 2008 Leitrim play New York in gaelic Park in the first round of the 2008 Connacht Championship. It will be 5 years since the last trip to New York and on that occasion the Leitrim Supporters Club arranged a group package deal for supporters. It has been decided that a similar arrangement will be put in place for 2008. The finer details will not be announced until the end of January when a committee will be in place to manÓge the task. Please note that further information will be available here on the website and in local press in the New Year.

 

 

12-Oct-07 by Brendan Doyle – PRO

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many congratulations to Maeve Quinn who was today honoured with the Irish Independent Jurys Sportstar of the Week award. This is a wonderful recognition for her dedication and an example to all. All involved with Ladies football in the county salute you and thank you for what you have given to Leitrim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

28-Sep-07 by Brendan Doyle – PRO

 

The podcast section was originally planned for next month but due to the wonderful achievement of the Ladies Team I couldnt resist the opportunity to capture the golden moments in audio format and so Ive released this new section ahead of schedule.

This pre-release has proved very effective as there has been a large numbers of visitors visiting the podcast area and downloading the audio files.

The overall aim is to provide regular audio clips for you to listen to online or for you to download and play back at a time that suits you on a device that suits you. Regular podcasts will be produced covering all areas of interest to visitors to this site. All podcasts are created in MP3 format as it is the most widely accepted and compatibale audio format.

I would like to thank the local radio stations and commentators covering Leitrim for their permission to use their material to create the podcasts related to the Ladies All Ireland win. We are not finished with the Ladies podcasts yet as more interviews are expected on local radio over the weekend and I intend publishing them on this site.

While a small number of gaa related audio files are available from Radio Stations I believe, from the limited research Ive performed, that Leitrim GAA is the first County GAA site to produce and provide its own podcasts. A quick search has shown that we are the number 1 site onÓgoogle for gaa podcasts !

– Brendan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

28-Sep-07 by Brendan Doyle – PRO

The Ladies All Ireland Intermediate final will be shown on Setanta Ireland tonight from 9:30pm to 10:30pm

 

 

26-Sep-07 by Brendan Doyle – PRO

 

We are delighted to announce we have recordings of the commentary of the full match and also last nights Sports Beat programme in the form of podcasts available on this website . The podcasts are provided courtesy of Shannonside Northen Sound and are available for download or for you to listen online via the Podcast link on the left hand menu.

 

Thank you to Shannonside for making the recordings available.

 

 

25-Sep-07 by Brendan Doyle – PRO

 

Following last nights County Board Meeting Des Dolan was ratified by Club delegates as the Senior County Team Manager for 2008. This will be Dess fourth season at the helm with Leitrim Senior football team and we wish him the best of luck for the forthcoming season. The rest of the management team including the selectors will be ratified at the next meeting in October. In the mean time Clubs are asked to forward nominations for the posts of Senior Team Selectors, Junior Manager and U21 Manager.

Other news from the meeting was the announcement that Jim Meehan will step down from his post of County Board Treasurer at the end of the year and Gerry Mahon also announced his decision to step down from Central Council after 25 years in office.

 

 

11-Sep-07 by Brendan Doyle – PRO

The highlights of the Senior Championship Final will be shown tonight at 8:30pm on TG4.

 

 

06-Sep-07 by Brendan Doyle – PRO

RTE to show Aughawillan on Summerpride on Tomorrow night (Wed, 5th Sept) @ 8.30 RTE 2

From RTE Website :
Programme 9: Aughawillan GAA Club in Co. Leitrim

Theres a saying in Aughawillan that, whenever a babys born in the parish, they always ask, "Is it a boy?". And well they might because Aughawillan is such a tiny parish (in a county that, itself, has a small population) that they need all the potential players they can get, and its the same for the ladies team.

The club was started in 1936, reached senior level in 1939, but suffered due to emigration and died out in 1963. In 1971 it was, again, revived and included players who had moved up to Dublin since 63. One such player is Frank Darcy who, with wife Phil, talks about how they managed, children in tow, travelling to Leitrim each weekend so he could continue to play.

Seán Ó Suilleabháin, a local historian, gives the history of Aughawillan, and also featured is Maeve Quinn, captain of the ladies football team.

The programme also looks at Leitrim county football on the back of the teams Connacht Football Final win the previous year against Mayo (in 1994) – a very special win for them. GAA All-Star Mickey Quinn and Tom Gannon (Leitrim Captain in 1927), talk about what its meant for the county.

Other contributors include: Patsy Prior, team coach; Pat Flanagan, club chairman; Syl McGovern, club secretary; Tommy Moran, Leitrim county board secretary and club member, Des Quinn.

Unfortunately, since this programme was first transmitted, both Syl McGovern and Tom Gannon have died.

 

 

04-Sep-07 by Brendan Doyle – PRO

In recent days we have had requests to our Guestbook regarding League football and the promotion/ relegation from specific Championships.  In each case the CCC have issed a reponse and the following are their responses:

League commencement:
"Clubs may expect league games to resume asap early in September. League games will resume when more teams are eliminated from Championships. As of yet with 5 championships on the go there are still 45/56 championship teams involved in competition over all grades."

Championships –  Relegation & Promotion:
"In response to the query the answer is that in the event of St. Mary’s winning the IFC then there will be no promotion/relegation from SFC to IFC at the conclusion of the 2007 championships. At the conclusion of the JFCB and JFCC round robin stage the team in first place inÓgroup 1 will play the second placed team inÓgroup 2 in SF1 and the team in first place inÓgroup 2 will play the team in second place inÓgroup 1 in SF2. There will be no Quarter Finals. The teams that finish in fifth place inÓgroups 1 and 2 will play off to decide relegation fro JFCB to JFCC 2008."

 

 

23-Aug-07 by Brendan Doyle – PRO