BCSDN hosted their Girls GAA Winter League programme over the last seven weeks! This ever popular programme is into its eighth year. Since seven teams participated in the first year of the Winter League back in 2011, the programme has grown in size and stature and this year was no different with over 25 teams competing across two age groups.
The 2019 league kicked off on the 5th January! During the early stages, all teams competed in a round robin group format. Their position within the group standings determined whether they would compete in the Cup, Shield or Plate in the latter weeks.
The finals day took place on 16th February. The weather held up and the matched were played in good spirit with plenty of fierce competition and rivalry on show throughout the morning and afternoon! The U16s shield and cup semi-finals and finals took place during the morning. O’Donovan Rossa GAC were victors in the shield final against Naomh Gall GAC whilst in the cup final Naomh Pól CLG ran out eventual winners against St Brigids GAC!
The U14s comprised of 3 sections; the cup, shield and plate. First up was the plate final in which Ard Eoin produced a great display to defeat Naomh Séamas Clg. In the Shield final, Naomh Gall GAC A’s made up for the defeat their club sustained in the U16 Shield final earlier in the day by beating St Brigids GAC. Finally, just as they had earlier in the U16s section, Naomh Pól CLG defended the title they won last year by defeating a spirited Ceathrú Aodha Dhuibh CLG in the cup final!
“Firstly
on behalf of myself, Emma and the staff I would like to thank all clubs who
participated in the 2019 U14/16 BCSDN Winter league. This league continues to
grow from strength to strength so much so that we have now partnered with
Antrim LGFA and hope that with the help of our county and others this league
will only become stronger and more beneficial not only to the clubs but for
coaches and supporters alike. Many thanks to all again and we look forward to
seeing you all next year.”
(Seamus McKenna, Sport4Development Facilitator)
“The BCSDN Winter League is a very positive
girls only Gaelic Football sports development programme that has been developed
by BCSDN over 8 years. Not only does it provide structured game time; it also
creates the platform for newly qualified junior female referees to put their
skills into practice. In addition, some of the young people are linking into
BCSDN’s cross community Sheer SKILLs leadership programme, where they gain
recognised generic and coaching qualifications that they can use as volunteers
in their communities and clubs. Over the next number of years BCSDN plan to
sustain and improve this model of practice and work collaboratively with Antrim
LGFA and Gaelfast. If other Governing Bodies of Sport would be keen to develop
similar models of practice using their ‘sport’ as the catalyst, just contact
BCSDN on info@bcsdn.org or 028 90 297661.”
(Peter Shaw, BCSDN CEO)
Huge thank you to this year’s funders; Black Taxis, Ortus and Oneills, and to Paul Donnelly & Michael Culbert for their part in the presentation ceremonies. Also thanks to UTV and Belfast Media Group for coming to cover the day’s action.
A special mention
goes to this year’s All Stars! These are individuals of each team that the
BCSDN staff or club coaches identified as being committed to every match
throughout the seven weeks and made a positive impact among their team. The
matches are refereed by our Young Whistlers. The programme would not be
possible without the help of these girls that volunteer every Saturday. All of
the girls have themselves played in the league from a young age and therefore
understand the benefit it has had on their Gaelic Football pathways.