Women occupying positions on GAA club executives were almost as rare as hens teeth up to a few years ago, but the trend of male-dominated committees is gradually changing and more females are getting involved in the running of clubs all over the country. One such person is Niamh Regan who is the secretary of the Rathmolyon club in south Meath and who can see no reason whatsoever why more women shouldn't take the decision to become actively involved in the day-to-day running of their local club. Niamh is in her second year as Rathmolyon secretary, having learned the ropes in the role of assistant-secretary, while she also served on the club's finance committee for a spell. "More women should definitely get involved with GAA clubs," Niamh stressed. "Why shouldn't they? After all, it's certainly a very good institution to be a part of and is a vital aspect of the local community. Such involvement with a club brings out the best in people and there's also the advantage of getting to know people through the club. "My brothers were involved with the local club, so it was a case of 'if you can't beat them, why not join them?' I did just that and I really enjoy every minute of my role as club secretary with Rathmolyon. It's very rewarding work, though it can be very time-consuming and can become extremely busy at certain times of the year, especially when it comes to dealing with fixtures and the distribution of match tickets. "Of course, the bad weather we had was also a bit of a problem this year, but it's all part and parcel of the day-to-day running of a GAA club and you just have to get on with what you have to do. "I'm also very interested in the juvenile end of things in the club which is a vitally important area. It's great to see young players coming up through the under-age ranks and I firmly believe that it's very important that we encouraged them in every possible way. After all, these are the players of the future, young lads who aspire to be the Mike Cole's of future years, and they have dreams of playing for the county team down the road." Men also tend to completely dominate the top tables at County Board level all over the country, but Niamh firmly believes that this is a situation which is set to change in the coming years also. "I feel that more women should definitely aim to become involved at County Board level in the GAA," she added. "After all, variety is the spice of life and there is a very genuine interest in Gaelic games among a large number of women. I definitely believe it's something that we will see happening to a far greater extent in the next few years. And it can only be good for the GAA itself." Rathmolyon's very helpful and enthusiastic secretary would, of course, like to have more success to record in her 2002 secretary's report to the club's members, but she remains very hopeful that success will be achieved in the not too distant future for the club's hurlers. The senior team failed to advance from the group stages of the Jubilee Cup title race. They were drawn in a section that also included reigning champions Trim, Killyon, Dunboyne, Longwood and Kildalkey and finished their campaign out of contention on three points after achieving one victory and one draw. Unfortunately, they also suffered three damaging defeats which knocked their hopes of making it to the semi-finals on the head. Rathmolyon recorded 2-14 in their opening Group A assignment against Trim, but even that very useful tally wasn't sufficient against the champions and The Village went under by four points on a 4-12 to 2-14 score line. It wasn't exactly the start to the SHC title race they would have hoped for, but their most encouraging performance of the championship campaign was just around the corner as they easily defeated Kildalkey by all of 12 points (2-16 to 2-4) at Trim to charge back into contention for honours and issue what had all the appearances of a serious warning to the other title contenders. That great natural talent Mike Cole was one of the stars of a highly impressive performance as he finished with a very useful personal tally of 2-6, despite being switched to centre halfback in the second half. His brother Gary, who scored two points, was another of Rathmolyon's most outstanding performers on an evening when the club's supporters might have been forgiven for thinking they were about to take the senior championship by storm. Longwood had lost by seven points to Killyon in the second round, but they still managed to put something of a dent in Rathmolyon's qualification hopes when holding them to a draw next time out (Rathmolyon 1-13, Longwood 2-10) and, unfortunately for The Village, it just didn't get any better after that. Indeed, it got a great deal worse. Dunboyne, who were to go on and reach the final where they lost out to Kilmessan, edged them out by only two points (1-11 to 1-9) in a fourth round match and that well and truly signalled the end of Rathmolyon's hopes of making it to the semi-finals of a championship they had last won in 1996. But by far the most disappointing result of the competition for Rathmolyon came in their final group match when they were on the receiving end of a 32-point hammering against Killyon, going under by 6-22 to 1-5. It certainly wasn't the way any club would have wished to conclude their interest in the championship, but secretary Niamh Regan remains optimistic and upbeat about the future. "They are a great team of lads," she added. "Unfortunately, different things went against them during the course of the championship this year. I felt sorry for them and I am hopeful for the future. They did quite well really, but they could have done better and are not that far off the level they need to be at in the senior grade. "We have lost some of our more experienced players and we are now depending on a number of young lads who have to be given the required time to develop in the senior ranks. These players will gain invaluable experience and will develop because of their involvement at that level of hurling." The Rathmolyon junior team experienced a mixed bag of results in the JHC. They achieved victories against Ratoath (2-7 to 0-7) and Kilmessan (3-6 to 3-3), but were beaten on four occasions - by Navan O'Mahonys (3-8 to 2-6), Athboy (1-11 to 0-7), Dunboyne (1-11 to 1-4) and Blackhall Gaels (2-7 to 1-3). Tweet

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