It gets worse.
On Sunday night, 15-year Limerick servant Dymphna O’Brien spoke of her grave disappointment that the championship final her and her club mates had been preparing for was fixed for 9 o’clock in the morning.
During that interview, O’Brien explained her dejection at the state in which Limerick ladies football currently finds itself. She was also just home from another example of the madness, watching the senior semi-final between Monagea and St. Albies.
“I was at a senior championship semi-final tonight and, after extra time, it went to a shoot-out,” O’Brien said.
“It was dark at that stage and girls had to kick points with car lights shining onto the field.”
The game took place in Rathkeale in Limerick and Monagea won in the end but it wasn’t until after extra time that the contest was decided. Having drawn level throughout both normal and extra time, the senior semi-final went down to a shootout.
Now, this is a ruling being rolled out in various competitions of men’s football and a championship semi-final in Toronto was decided by a 45′ shootout earlier in the year. Five men are put forward for the shootout and it’s sudden death thereafter.
It wasn’t too different in the Limerick ladies semi-final on Sunday:
- After extra time, a shootout was declared.
- The shots were taken from 30 yards out.
- Each team nominated five players.
The biggest issue though? They had no bloody lights.
Darkness had fallen over the pitch after a number of delays before and during the game. Floodlights weren’t in use so headlights were called upon from spectators’ cars.
Up for grabs was a spot in the senior championship final.
A Monagea player described the scene on a dark night – literally and metaphorically.
“The game starts and there’s a referee with no umpires,” she told SportsJOE.
“15 minutes in, a head knock sees a player taken away in an ambulance. The second half goes through to a draw so we’ve extra time but no lights to help the girls and it was near 8pm.
“It’s a draw after extra time so five girls were expected to kick points from 30 yards with the help of car lights to see.
“It’s an absolute disgrace towards Limerick ladies football.”
In an era where big brands like Lidl and Littlewoods and Liberty are doing amazing work in promoting female sport, there’s still a long way to go to just make sure, as a very fundamental principle, that the codes and counties themselves aren’t working against it.
Thanks to Máire Lyons for sending this our way. If you have any pieces of content you’d like to share with us, hit us up on Facebook or Twitter or send us an email at editorial@SportsJOE.ie.
