'Skorts vs shorts didn't start today' – camogie club co-founder recalls 1970s uniform threat
Wicklow People
Today at 06:00
The co-founder of a Wicklow camogie club that was threatened with expulsion for wearing shorts back in the 1970s has said that mindsets within the Camogie Association have not changed since, and that the 'skort' controversy typifies the long-standing disconnect between players and county and national representatives.
Amidst the player protests and calls to action that saw last weekend's Leinster Junior Championship final between Wicklow and Louth postponed, the raging skort dispute has brought back memories of games played in swelteringly hot wool pinafores that felt like 'wearing an Aran sweater' for Kiltegan Camogie Club founder Mary Kelly.
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Irish Examiner
11-08-2025
- Irish Examiner
An outstanding camogie rivalry again delivered. Someday the sport's association might seek to harness it
The midweek soundbites of Camogie President Brian Molloy didn't land. The gauntlet thrown down to all those who weighed in on the skorts protest was ignored. The masses refused to be guilted into attendance. The president and the rest of the Camogie Association posse were naive to think the strong words of last week would ignite a response by foot. The camogie product has never been stronger and yet the year-round promotion of this product still lags a distance behind. That the latter statement still has to be made, in the wake of a second successive final thriller, is regrettable. The focus should be elsewhere and we will shortly steer it that way. Yesterday's crowd of 28,795, while still the second highest for a Camogie final, was nowhere near befitting the enthralling and physically ferocious fare served up. Of the four All-Ireland senior finals of the past month, yesterday was out on its own under several different headings. None of the previous three produced a contest of this nature. None of the previous three produced drama of this nature. As we wrote last year and we write again now, the players in maroon and their contemporaries in red can do little more to entice patrons through the turnstiles. Add to that list the referees. They too can do little more. This final was refereed from another world. Think back to the whistle-obsessed officiating of the many Cork-Kilkenny deciders in the middle of the last decade. Finals ruined by referees. Finals are now being raised by referees. The leniency shown is continually lifting the game to new heights by enabling players to express themselves both in strength and in skill. Yesterday was the latest example of such. That is not to say Justin Heffernan scored a perfect 10 with his performance. Anything but. He missed a blatant push by Galway corner-forward Caoimhe Kelly on Cork goalkeeper Amy Lee that ended with the former firing over for a four-point lead. On the Galway side, Sabina Rabbitte was somehow called for overcarrying as Libby Coppinger hung out of her. Both sides will have other grievances. Both sides did air their grievances. Ger Manley labelled Heffernan's performance 'shocking', Hannah Looney's red card 'very harsh', and the winning free 'a dive' by Carrie Dolan. Whatever about the first and third of these assessments, the first-half injury-time red card was a red card. Interpretation is off the table there. Cathal Murray, meanwhile, was infuriated with the interpretation of the charging rule for a second year in succession. On this occasion, Mairead Dillon and Dervla Higgins had second-half frees given against them when carrying possession into Laura Treacy. 'That rule has to change. It's absolutely crazy,' said Murray. The above incidences, though, were in the minority. The physicality allowed propelled proceedings forward. The physicality allowed propelled this final onto the top shelf of camogie deciders. Midway through the second period, Mairead Dillon presented herself in the face of Treacy. The Cork centre-back wasn't allowed out. She handpassed to Méabh Cahalane. The Cork captain got a similar unforgiving searching. In too many previous finals, the whistle would have been blown and the hand raised for a Cork free out. The whistle, as was the case so often yesterday, never came. Cork were turned over. Carrie Dolan was fouled. Carrie Dolan converted for a four-point Galway lead. 'We welcome physicality, we want physicality. Them girls are three nights a week in the gym, I'm sure Cork are too. We want the game to be played like that,' said Murray. 'Justin is a good referee. He'll always shake hands and say, 'I'm going to let it go as much as I can'. In fairness, most of the referees are doing that. You don't want a game of frees like we had in the past, but I do think it was an unbelievable game of camogie. You don't get a chance to enjoy it because you're running up and down the line, but it looked like an unbelievable game and Cork are unbelievable champions the way they came back at us.' Galway seethed during the two-week build up over how Cork were billed as untouchable rather than unbelievable. Ailish O'Reilly, the sole Galway player to start all four of their modern-day final victories - 2013, '19, '21, and '25 - became the latest All-Ireland winning player of recent weeks to speak of perceived disrespect. 'It felt like we were just coming up to show up and they were just going to be handed the trophy. We were so riled up,' said the forward who has scored in all four final wins. Galway have never needed perceived disrespect to stand equal with Cork. This was a relationship they took control of in the 2019 semi-final and dominated for eight successive games before the shift in sands two summers ago. Aggression was the central theme in the Galway gameplan. Always has been when the opposition wear red. Stop the Cork running game at the start line. Physicality at source to prevent possession snapped and short passes played. Crucified was Cork's short puckout game. Aggression stifling athleticism. Within the opening eight minutes, Amy O'Connor and Hannah Looney spent time on the deck receiving treatment. Orlaith Cahalane lay stretched just past the quarter hour. Galway were tackling right on the edge. At times, such as Aoife Donohue's goal-preventing pull on O'Connor for the saved penalty, Galway went past the edge. Cork were sore and unsettled for it. Next to nothing was being pulled. That was until Galway's aggression unnerved Cork to such an extent that Cork's nerve snapped. Late in the first-half, Ashling Thompson played a ground pass to Saoirse McCarthy. The half-forward was swallowed robustly whole by Derval Higgins, O'Reilly, and Siobhan Gardiner. Possession broke to Donohue, Thompson fouled her. Carrie Dolan converted and Galway were five in front. Two minutes later and in the same area in front of the Hogan Stand, Katrina Mackey was the latest in red to be swallowed. She handpassed to Laura Hayes. Such was the pressure applied, the half-back dropped possession out over the sideline. Niamh Mallon clinched her fist in pumped delight. When Carrie Dolan charged into the back of Looney just before the ensuing sideline was struck, the Cork midfielder put her fist across the faceguard of Dolan and was duly sent off. And yet, the numerical advantage almost didn't count. From a position of a woman up on the field and five up on the scoreboard, Galway almost threw the final away with their four second-half wides and shots sent short. Cathal Murray, unlike 12 months ago, ran the bench early. One of those, Sabina Rabbitte, was a lone outpost in the full-forward line. She won delivery after delivery. Captain Carrie won the game-winning free and then showed phenomenal steel to convert. Cork were camogie's standard-pushers of recent years. Galway were the sole stone in their shoe. There was no shaking them here. Galway rattled them physically and mentally. Galway again raised themselves to new heights in attempting and succeeding in conquering Cork. The wait for a red three-in-a-row and bridging the gap to the early 1970s runs on. The fifth and sweetest for Galway. Camogie's outstanding and only rivalry again delivers. Someday the Camogie Association might seek to harness and capitalise upon it.
RTÉ News
10-08-2025
- RTÉ News
Familiar foes meet in decider after tumultuous summer
The 2025 All-Ireland camogie final provides us with a comfortably familiar pairing after a season of upheaval. Whatever the outcome this weekend, we know that both posterity and the casual observer will likely remember the 2025 camogie season for ' skortgate '. The saga is sure to be allocated a couple of minutes on Reeling in the Years whenever they get around to making it. It was a controversy that could easily have been averted. Throughout 2024, it was clear from GPA surveys that the consensus among the players was for a change in the regulations to allow shorts to be an option. Nonetheless, at last year's Congress, Camogie Association delegates rejected two motions that would have allowed for choice. That teed up this summer's protest, which wound up generating international headlines and led to female parliamentarians donning shorts on the plinth in Leinster House. The Dublin-Kilkenny joint-protest ahead of their Leinster championship encounter kicked the controversy into a higher plane, sparking a crisis which saw the Cork-Waterford Munster decider being deferred after the All-Ireland champions released a statement indicating they would refuse to play in skorts. Brian Molloy, the association's first-ever male president, called for a hastily arranged Special Congress where the matter could be resolved. Despite expressions of pessimism from players and ex-players, it was clear which way things were headed. A whopping 98% of the 133 delegates voted to allow change - leaving only three or so delegates who were willing to torpedo the entire season in order to insist on the maintenance of tradition. This week, Molloy invoked those two crazy weeks in May as a challenge to supporters to come out and support the games in person. "This time the message should be to all of their (camogie players') followers, and all of their constituents because there were a lot of politicians, senators, TDs, Ministers involved, they need to communicate the importance of actually physically supporting the players, not just verbally supporting the players, and that means turning up to Croke Park," Molloy told the Irish Examiner this week. "Demonstrate physical, tangible support for the women that in May they called on the Association to support." Camogie finals have tended to lag well behind women's football finals in attendances. Football deciders have regularly attracted crowds in the 40-50,000 range, with a couple of finals delivering crowds in excess of 50,000. By contrast, All-Ireland camogie final day has only witnessed one crowd north of 30,000, for the relatively novel Cork-Waterford final in 2023. At least part of this is attributed to the strength of Dublin - and to a lesser extent, Meath - in women's football. Notably, the 2024 football decider between Kerry and Galway saw crowds plummet to just over 30,000, with the Dublin-Meath final last week generating a crowd of 48,000. At the end of it all, the final is a repeat of last year's decider. Indeed, no final pairing has been as common as this one in the past three and a half decades. This will be the ninth Cork-Galway All-Ireland final since 1993, which was the latter's first appearance in a final since the early 1960s. Cork, who have none of the scar tissue in finals that now hangs over their male counterparts, are aiming for a three-in-a-row and seeking a 31st title which would take them five clear in the roll of honour. It was the strength of their bench that proved decisive in last year's showdown, with subs Sorcha McCartan - from Down - and Clodagh Finn together landing the last three points of the game after Galway had drawn level following a second-half surge. There was a bitter dispute over the ultimately decisive goal, Katrina Mackey failing to make contact on the ball with her hurl as she hustled it over the goal-line. Ger Manley's side made exceptionally light work of Group 1, amassing a score difference of +90, with only Clare avoiding a double-digit defeat (0-21 to 1-09). They were troubled by Waterford in the second of the Nowlan Park semi-finals, with Beth Carton hitting 1-03 as the underdogs led 1-07 to 0-09 at the break. However, the wind was always a factor and Cork's superiority told in the second half, even if the 10-point margin in the finish was a little flattering to the champions. Substitute Orlaith Mullins, who replaced McCartan, rustled up 1-02 in the dying embers to put a further gloss on the scoreline. Saoirse McCarthy and Mackey carried much of the scoring load in the semi, registering 0-07 and 0-04 respectively. Cork are especially strong in the middle third where the highly experienced and decorated duo of Ashling Thompson and Hannah Looney exert a major influence. Cork camogie's hex around the 'threepeat' exceeds even that which affected the Kilkenny hurlers for years - this being an exceptionally first world problem admittedly. They've done the back-to-back seven times since the beginning of the 1990s - indeed they rarely win All-Ireland titles in singles. But they haven't mustered three on the bounce since their four in a row team of the early 1970s (1970-73). "Everyone you talk to is talking about it," said Amy O'Connor this week, when asked about the three-in-a-row bid. "For ourselves, you have to acknowledge it. It's an unbelievable position to be in but it's not something we're going to focus on too much. "It's another final. Every final you get to you want to win so we're not trying to go out and specifically focus on the three in a row, we're focusing on the final and trying to win that." For Galway, it's been a season of renewal which has seen longstanding manager Cathal Murray usher in a new crop of players while overseeing an uptick in performance. The westerners, who last won the title in 2021, beating Cork in the final, rather crept into last summer's decider, squeezing by Waterford and Tipperary in the knockout stage. By contrast, they cut a greater dash this year, registering impressive wins over Waterford, Kilkenny and Dublin in the group phase and then accounting for Tipp by seven points in the semi. This is all the more impressive given the turnover in personnel. Three-time All-Ireland winner Niamh Kilkenny, player of the year in the 2019 victory, stepped away in the off-season, while experienced inside forward Niamh Hannify also left the fold. On top of that, Murray has lost both Aine Keane and Niamh McPeake to injury. But there's been an influx of youth with the teenage trio of Caoimhe Kelly, Olwen Rabbitte and Ciara Hickey all nailing down places, Kelly hitting 0-02 from play in the semi-final. Murray also presided over Galway's triumph in the inaugural All-Ireland Under-23 title, where they beat Cork 1-11 to 1-08. The former Sarsfields player, who guided his club to the Galway SHC title in 2015 before taking over county camogie job in late 2018, has copper-fastened his managerial credentials and is seeking to garner a third O'Duffy Cup triumph in what has been a highly successful reign. Intriguingly, both sides will have Down women in action, Portaferry's Niamh Mallon - goalscorer against Tipp - lining up against former inter-county teammate McCartan and seeking a first All-Ireland senior title in her second year with Galway.
Irish Independent
10-08-2025
- Irish Independent
Peter ‘Chap' Cleere: If you weighed in during the skorts debate, get yourself to a camogie game
Players need fans to turn up — and to call out the lack of funding for key facilities Today at 00:30 This afternoon, Cork and Galway line out at Croke Park for the camogie final. It's the highest profile the sport will have had since May and the skort debacle. Remember that? As a camogie coach with four daughters who play the sport, the solution to me was immediately clear: allow players to choose between shorts and skorts. Choice is key. It prioritises players' comfort and performance. Once the ard chomhairle of the Camogie Association belatedly came to this conclusion, the media buzz died down, as did the public discourse. Interest in camogie dropped off. This leaves the players and volunteers to fight the same battles they were fighting back in April and for years before the skort issue. These battles are tough, and they are numerous. Firstly, camogie is underfunded and under-resourced. Insufficient investment in facilities, training programmes and development initiatives is hindering the game's growth at all levels. The discrepancy in the amount invested in hurling and in camogie is stark. This has been called out over many years. But, unlike the skorts, no one rings Liveline about it. I have never seen a headline in a national newspaper expressing outrage at training conditions. Where is the outcry about the lack of access to high-quality pitches, lighting and other essential infrastructure? What about clubs and counties that prevent our camogie stars accessing the top-class facilities reserved for hurlers? Investment is critical for developing talent and encouraging participation, and a lack of it is affecting player morale more than skorts did. In comparison to other sports, especially men's hurling and football, camogie is barely visible in the media. If senior inter-county camogie got the amount of press attention throughout the championship that it got during the skort debacle, imagine what it could do for the game. More consistent coverage could increase public interest and drive sponsorship for teams. Regular live broadcasting would expand the fanbase, leading to higher viewing numbers, which in turn leads to higher advertising revenue for the broadcaster. It is a win–win. But it is also a chicken and egg situation in that the current sporadic broadcasting of matches makes it difficult to expand the fanbase, which then makes it difficult to argue for increased coverage. ADVERTISEMENT Learn more I note that Coimisiún na Meán's Gender Equality Diversity and Inclusion Strategy commits to the promotion of women's sports. Since the publication of the strategy, there has been an obvious increase in the number of women's rugby and soccer matches broadcast live on Irish TV. There has not yet been a major increase in coverage of camogie. I hope this changes. The final and greatest battle we are facing is our apathy, reflected in low attendances. So many people were up in arms about the skort issue yet how many of them would turn up to support their county team or local club? We expect girls and women to represent parish and county but don't feel the need to cheer them on. If people don't feel valued, they walk away, and we can't be surprised that they do. I see this in Kilkenny; I'm sure other coaches across the country see it too. What camogie needs is for us to be passionate, not performative. If you weighed into a debate about skorts or posted a message of support on social media, why not call for our female athletes to get the same care and supports as their male counterparts. Better yet, buy a ticket to a match. Peter 'Chap' Cleere is a Fianna Fáil TD for Carlow-Kilkenny and a member of the Oireachtas Committee on Sport Do you want to share your opinion on the issues raised in this article? Email to submit a response of up to 300 words to be considered for publication in our letters section
