Cavan ladies footballers in strike threat

News

Damien Donohoe

The Cavan ladies senior football team are considering not playing their final National League fixture because of a dispute over expenses and gear.

Captain Neasa Byrd and teammates Aishling Sheridan and Lauren McVeety claim the ladies board has not fulfilled an agreement signed on January 15 and that Dublin-based players are being left out of pocket to the point where some cannot afford to attend training.

They claim that other than one pair of shorts and one pair of socks per player, no gear has been provided, with round six of the National League approaching.

Relations between the parties appear to have broken down, with attempts to resolve the issues proving unsuccessful.

“You don’t want it to be a toss-up between playing for Cavan and being out money. It’s a horrible situation to be put in,” Byrd said.

Twenty of the Cavan panel are Dublin-based, with only one in full-time employment. The players car pool to get to training but they say that expenses – at a rate which is a fraction of what the men’s team get – were paid for just two weeks.

The players state that team manager, Gerry Moane, paid for a bus out of his own pocket and that other members of management have given money to players to cover travelling costs.

The ladies also say they offered to run a coaching camp over Easter to try to raise the money themselves.

“We were told no, it would have to be passed by the executive and the finance committee and that wasn’t a road we were going down,” Byrd claimed .

Cavan ladies board has declined to comment.

See tomorrow's print edition for full story.