THE Ladies Gaelic Football Association has confirmed that it will run its 2021 TG4 All-Ireland Championships from the weekend of July 10th and 11th, culminating in the All Ireland Finals across all three levels at Croke Park on Sunday, September 5th.
The 2021 Lidl National Leagues will start on the weekend of the 15th and 16th of May and run to finals over the 26th and 27th of June.
Club Championships in individual counties will commence once a County side is eliminated from the Championship. League tournaments and summer cups will likely be organised for the vast majority of players not involved in inter-county action with adult matches expected to resume under Government guidelines in early June.
There will not be a Provincial Championship as part of the All Ireland series this year, with the LGFA Executive saying that Provinces may choose to run these off if an opportunity presents itself later in the year.
It is difficult to see how that would be possible without disruption to the Club Championships and may be a victim of the truncated season caused once more, hopefully for the final time, by Covid.
The draws for the 2021 TG4 All-Ireland Championships will be made shortly – with the 2020 semi-finalists seeded, as they were for last year’s championship.
The LGFA’s Management Committee also took the decision to pay match-day player expenses at 30 cents per mile for the travelling teams during the 2021 Lidl National Leagues.
Given that regulations currently envisage players travelling separately to matches, at least in the early stages of a competition, this will be important so that players are not out of pocket for competing.
The first round of fixtures has thrown up fixtures that minimise travel in certain pairings with Mayo V Galway, Monaghan V Cavan, Tyrone V Armagh and Laois V Kildare among them.
Dublin travel to Cork the following weekend in what is expected to be an evening fixture which would mean either a late return for the travelling team or an overnight stay.
The Camogie Association is currently polling its playing members across Club and County to determine if it will go ahead with the proposal for a split season that would put Camogie and Football dual players in conflict between club, county and code commitments, but which would allow for a stronger programme for club players during the summer months.
A weekend poll of County players suggested strong resistance for this.
We looked into the subject in greater detail on Sport for Business yesterday.
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