A Louth GAA Ladies County Board meeting will take place this evening to try and resolve an explosive row that has erupted between the ladies senior panel and the management team.
An email sent by the Louth Ladies Senior Team to the Chairperson of the Louth County Board and Executive Committee made it clear that they did not want the current management team of Paul Hanlon, Alan Page and Darren Clarke to return for the 2025 season.
That trio have been at the helm since September 2023 and earlier this year they led the Louth Ladies to the All Ireland Junior Football final which they lost to Fermanagh (1-11 to 0-12). Recently, they were reinstated by the executive committee to manage the team for a further two years.
That decision has enraged layers who say they will not make themselves available for the 2025 season unless the board engage with them and listen to their concerns over the current management structure.
The email sent by the players to the Louth County Board, listed a number of concerns from the majority of the squad and made it clear that they would not be happy to see the same management team reinstated for the 2025 season. The results of the vote were as follows; 26 no, 2 unsure, 1 yes.
Those concerns included what they saw as
‘Lack of feedback, communication and guidance from management to players.
‘Lack of professionalism displayed by the management team
‘Not utilising grant money allocated to senior team Lack of commitment
‘Not taking on board player concerns and poor player/manager relations.
The players voiced frustration at the recent decision by the executive committee to reinstate the current management team for the next two years. According to their email they had voiced their frustrations with regards the management team as far back as August and were left astounded that their concerns had not been listened to.
In response to that email a letter from the current management team stated that they had tried to organise a meeting face to face with the ladies team without success. They said they found it ‘disrespectful and immature, that the team were not willing to meet with them as adults and discuss whatever problems they felt they had.
The email stated that the issues and concerns raised by the girls were ‘very vague’ and they defended accusations of lack of feedback, lack of professionalism, not utilising grant money, lack of commitment and not taking on board player concerns.
The row must be of great concern to Louth County Board who face a mutiny from the Ladies Senior Panel if they insist on keeping the status quo with regards to the current management set up. Chairman of the Louth Ladies Gaelic Football Association Liam O’Neill confirmed that there will be a meeting this evening but stated he would not be commenting until after tonight’s meeting.
“All that I say currently is that there’s a Co Board meeting on Wednesday evening and all should be decided at that meeting. I am aware of both letters being circulated a)players to better and b)managements response. But currently as I’m sure you can appreciate,we will not be commenting any further until after Wednesday’s meeting,” stated Liam.
