In 2007 Cavan's Under 14s won the Ulster camogie title while the Lacken club lifted the provincial intermediate trophy. Developing the game in the county remains a stiff challenge though. The numbers game is one common to most sports played in county Cavan. Camogie is no different and winning over the hearts and minds of young girls makes the ball go round. Beefing up the player numbers is among the primary objectives of every club worth its salt and those at the coalface of camogie in Cavan are only too conscious of that reality. For instance, less than ten years ago there were nine senior camogie clubs in the county. In 2007 there were just four. Catherine Gaynor, outgoing Secretary of Cavan County Camogie Board, doesn't begin to mask the challenge that is facing the ladies' game in Breffni-land. "Camogie is struggling to recruit more players and clubs and is getting it hard to retain the players we have at present," the Killygarry native explains. "We have been losing out in the recruitment stakes to ladies football but we have begun to address this issue and the new board is working hard at recovering ground. "We have realised that we have to look after the girls better, in terms of gear and refreshments, to keep them interested and keen to represent their county." Like quite a few of her colleagues on the county board in 2007, it was a year of change for Catherine as she stepped down as Secretary but remained on the committee. Outgoing chairperson Tom Mortell relinquished his role after a ten year stint and was replaced by Madeline Argue as the new county board team sought to hit the ground running. A strategic planning meeting was held last November with a view to garnering ideas on how to improve the sport in county Cavan. "We're lucky in that there's a very good working committee in place and everyone is very determined to improve the situation and I think we're heading in the right direction. "Ger Gribben, the person appointed by the Camogie Association to develop the game in Ulster, has been a fantastic asset and we hope to make progress with his help." While Catherine is wont to call it as she sees it, whatever the vista, she is also someone who feverishly works at identifying silver linings on the darkest of dark clouds. In this respect, she was heartened greatly by the success of the Cavan Under 14 development squad in careering their way to the Ulster Shield Championship title. "To go the whole way and win Ulster was a great achievement for the under 14s and we were all very proud of them," the now long-time Ballinagh resident declares. "Those girls (under 14) have a lot of talent and showed a lot of promise and potential last year and, really, all 30 of them represent the future of camogie in Cavan to a large extent. "We hope to put in place a development squad each year with the 2007 Under 14 development squad stepping up to make up the most of the Under 16 development squad this year. "It's important that we try and get a good assembly line of players from under eight upwards and if we can do that we should be able to compete at every level in the years ahead. "It was very encouraging to see upwards of 500 girls playing camogie during the school term last year but we've got to build on that this year again and keep them on board." While the county board's determination to build from the bottom up is admirable, the shop window that is the senior championship is in need of refurbishment, Catherine avers. The fact that only Lacken, Castletara, Drumgoon and Ballinagh contested the blue riband competition in 2007 is a source of disappointment to all at camogie's coalface in Cavan. Catherine would dearly like to see more clubs step up to the plate and aspire to challenging current kingpins Lacken and leading contender Lacken in the coming seasons. Apparently, the hope among the county board is that the likes of Crosserlough, who won the Senior Shield Championship in tandem with Denn, may advance to senior status. "The standard of camogie was quite high in 2007 and there was a lot of skilful, exciting camogie which was great to see and hopefully there'll be even more of the same this year." With the boost afforded the game in Cavan by Lacken's success in winning the Ulster intermediate title, Catherine and Co. are hopeful that the club scene continues to mushroom. Lacken did their county proud on the provincial circuit despite losing out initially to a very strong Keady side (Armagh) in their opening foray. Relocation to the intermediate championship brought the sky blues better luck and at the tail end of August, victory over Armagh's Tullysaron got them back on the winning track. In mid-September, the Cavan champions were pitted against Ballinascreen from county Derry for the honour of being crowned provincial champions. Despite looking as if they were going to be overrun in the early stages, Lacken stuck to their task brillantly and a goal against the run of play served to propel them to the title. Unfortunately, the county team didn't deliver the same sort of satisfaction quotient unfortunately although team-manager Rory Donnellan and his backroom team did their very best. A defeat first time out away to London in the national league wasn't what the doctor ordered but the Cavan girls bounced back brillantly to defeat Louth in their second round match. Sadly in their next match, an understrength Cavan team went under to Westmeath and a further defeat in the third round to Meath capped an indifferent season. In the subsequent Ulster Junior Championship, Cavan played some of their best camogie of the year to get the better of Tyrone by a solitary point in a gripping encounter. Again, ill-luck was to strike the Breffni girls when they fell short of putting together back-to-back wins when going under to a far more forceful Down side. However with 2007 interprovincial stars like Anne Donnellan, Miranda McIntyre, Rosie Crowe and Annie Lynch on board, Cavan can look forward to better tidings this year. Catherine (nee Smith) would dearly love more volunteers joining the cause of camogie in the coming year though she concedes that the recruitment of new mentors is difficult. "The county board is trying to get people who will make a commitment to promote and develop the game in different parts of the county and to get teams up and running. "We would love to see more than four teams contesting the senior championship because it isn't good that the likes of Lacken and Castletara are so dominant each year. "The problem we have, like other sports, is getting people to assist in the recruitment of players and then to look after the teams. "We find that so many players who played in the past just aren't prepared to put something back into the game which is disappointing and something we'd like to see change. "It would be great if, in the future, we had clubs back playing the game in Bawnboy, Bailieboro, Cootehill and Lurgan for instance because that would make the game so much stronger," Catherine concludes. Tweet

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