West Cork ladies football celebrates successful year
The Hall of Fame award was awarded to the late Paudie Palmer by West Cork LGFA chairman John McCarthy and collected by Paudie's daughter Emily, with Libby Coppinger, guest of honour.
THE annual West Cork Ladies GAA awards night for 2023 was held in the Celtic Ross Hotel, Rosscarbery.
A plethora of players at both underage and adult level from the division received player of the match awards on the night for brilliant displays in this year’s finals, while Mary Power from Castletownbere was named the Volunteer of the Year for her dedication to Beara and Cork ladies football over many years.
The inaugural Hall of Fame award was awarded to the late Paudie Palmer and it was collected on the night by his daughter Emily.
The guest of honour on the night was Cork dual star Libby Coppinger who recently won her second All-Star award following another brilliant season with the Cork senior camogie team.
She was thrilled to be present for such an auspicious event.
"I love attending award ceremonies. Performing to the best of your ability in a final is always a bonus. It was pleasing to see so many clubs represented and it was great to see so many teams from West Cork involved in county finals this year."
The St Colum’s player acknowledged the great work that goes on behind the scenes with parents driving young players to training sessions and matches all over the county.
"My parents were brilliant. My mom was driving me everywhere. I really appreciated it.”
The dual star also urged the young players to enjoy playing sport, and to keep practising.
"I always stress to young players to really enjoy the time spent playing sport. I always tell players to listen to your coaches and to enjoy playing. I always urge players to keep improving as much as they can. It could involve improving your kicking with your left foot by 5% but you have still improved and that is all you are looking for."
West Cork ladies football received a huge boost last year with the announcement of a three-year sponsorship deal as the West Cork LGFA and Drinagh Co-Op joined forces. Drinagh Co-Op are the title sponsor of all West Cork LGFA championships from U12 up to the senior grade which is a total of 23 competitions.
The chairman of Drinagh Co-Op Donal McCarthy said they are ‘absolutely’ delighted to team up with the West Cork LGFA.
"There are a lot of rural areas in West Cork and football is very important to everyone. We are absolutely delighted to be involved in sponsoring ladies football."
John Mackessy, a divisional representative for the East Cork Board paid tribute to the West Cork LGFA committee members.
"The work the West Cork ladies football board have done is absolutely fantastic. The committee members work so hard and they promote ladies football on social media so well. They are the envy of Cork. They have endorsements from great sponsors. This is something that other divisions could only wish for."
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