Club Info / History
Passage West Ladies Football Club was set up in 2005. Numbers have grown consistently since then and currently girls are competing at all age groups in the Mid Cork Division with teams at U8/U10/11/12/13/U14/U16/U18/U21 & Junior. Since its recent beginnings Passage West Ladies Football Club has had great success reaching many divisional finals, winning the U16 Mid Cork “B” championship in 2006. In 2009 the Junior team won the County 12-A-Side. In 2011 our U12 girls were crowned County Champions and our U16 Ladies won Mid Cork. In 2012 Passage won the U16D County Final and were unlucky at U13 and U14 levels having reached League and Championship finals in both. The under 18 won the mid Cork title in 2012. The club has been represented at County level by Sinead O’Reilly. Sinead captained the Cork Minors in 2010 to Munster glory and was a member of the successful U14 & U16 Cork team winning 4 All-Ireland’s. Recently Sinead has been playing her part with the Cork Senior B team. Younger members of the club have also been part of the Cork Development Squads in recent times and we hope to see them make the County team shortly. In 2013 Erin Mc Eveney represented Passage West on the Cork under 14 football team which they won the Munster title / All Ireland title and the All Ireland County blitz in Mullingar. In 2011 the Club took part in Féile na Peil and were the host Club to St. Pauls from Antrim. Erin Mc Eveney made the Cork under 16 panel in 2014 when they won the Munster and All Ireland final. Erin made the under 16 panel again in 2015. In 2015 Rachel Sheehan represented Passage West on the Cork under 14 team when they won the Munster title and the All Ireland County blitz in Mullingar. They reached the All Ireland Final but were unlucky to be beaten on the day. Passage West won the County under 14 title in 2015. The junior team won the mid Cork League in 2015. In 2014 Passage West under 18 team won the double in league and County Final. This year Passage West under 14 team won the Autumn Mid Cork League. They also reached the All Ireland Féile shield final in the A grade. In 2016 Passage west won the Autumn league and reached the All Ireland Feile final in the Shield in the A grade. The Passage West under 14 team won the County under 14 and mid Cork Autumn league in 2017. Passage West won the county under 16 D championship in 2018.
Rachel Sheehan represented Cork in the under 16 in 2016, 2017 winning the Munster title in both years and under 18 in 2018 winning the Munster title. Rachel made the under 18 team again in 2019 winning the Munster and All Ireland title.
2012 Achievements
To date in 2012 Passage West Ladies have won the U16D County Championship and have reached the finals of League and Championships at U13 and U14 age groups. Congratulations to our Minor ladies who were successful in their hunt for success in the Championship.
Social Media
Over the past 24 months the Club have embraced the Internet and launched a revised Club Website. The website continues to be a work in progress which shows the interest and the input received for improvements. Website need to constantly evolve and be active. The Club have also gone live on the Social Media Highway with both Facebook and Twitter accounts set up and used to promote the Club and its activities.
Club Activities
While the Passage West Ladies Football Club is primarily focused on the promotion of football/sport/fun/respect for the girls in our area, it is really more than just a Football Club, it is the heart of our community as you will see below. For a relatively new Club, we have been very busy, and continue to seek new challenges under the guidance of Francis McEveney, Chairperson of the Ladies Football and Camogie section of the Club. We have been extremely lucky to have a great bunch of parents/volunteers also involved to help out with the Club activities, from coaching, driving, preparing pitches, etc to hosting, baking, fund raising. Without these individuals our Club would not be thriving the way that it is. The Club are blessed with the fantastic facility of 3 playing pitches which are always kept in top condition by Ned Harrington and his team. Following the hosting of St. Pauls for last years Féile, the club have travelled to Belfast to spend the weekend playing a blitz in St Pauls. A wonderful relationship has developed between our two clubs, with St Pauls visiting us again recently to take part in our Blitz in September. In September the Club hosted a football Blitz for u8’s and u10’s, with clubs throughout the country invited to take part. 40 clubs attended with almost 900 girls and 500 mentors/parents to take part. This was deemed to be the biggest blitz for this age group in the country this year and we would like to acknowledge the assistance from both the Cork and Munster Ladies Gaelic Football Associations. While most clubs were from Cork, we had a team from Clare attend and our friends form St Pauls also made the long journey from Antrim. 10 pitches were set up and all teams played 3 matches. Lots of fun was had and the girls were delighted to meet Cork Senior Footballer, Juliet Murphy, as she paid a visit and spent time chatting with the girls and have her photo taken with them. The day went very smoothly thanks to the assistance of the large group of Club members who volunteered their time to assist. All of the girls got a medal as a token of thanks from the Club for making it such a great day.
This year we have seen a new group start up in the Club – our very own Gaelic4Mothers and Others. From humble beginnings this group have continued to grow and bring new faces to the Club. They must have more players than any other team in the Club, with approx 40 ladies turning up twice weekly from training. Having taken part in a few blitzes they travelled to Dublin to take part in the G4M&O National Blitz in October. They had 3 teams take part and had a fantastic weekend.
Having taken 65 girls to watch Cork take on Monaghan in their League clash at Pairc Uí Rinn last February, in October we brought a bus load of the girls to the All-Ireland Senior Ladies Football Final to watch Cork defeat Kerry. It was the first time many of the girls were in Croke Park but I am sure it wont be their last. This year the club also took notice of the rise in tragic accidents happening to players during training sessions and matches. A group was formed and defibrillator training was organised in the Club. 6 members attended and a list of other members who are also trained in its use is now kept at the Club along with our defibrillator. We hope it will never be needed but now we are at least prepared. In August we ran a Cúl Camp at the Club. This was very successful with approx 65 boys and girls attending to learn new skills and hone the skills they already had. The Club also carry out many activities for our community. Early in the year we organised for Club members to assist our Tidy Towns group on a Saturday morning. Tremendous work was carried out and we have been back again since to give a helping hand. In September we ran a Family Fun Day, with bouncy castles, rodeo bulls, races, art, environmental displays, pet farms, GAA Skills, archery, karate, DJ, food, etc. Every month we run a disco in the club for 10 – 12 year olds with all money raised going to different charities each month. We have organised and hosted many Fund Raisers for people in need of assistance (medical, financial, etc) in our locality. The Club have initiated a Community Award, and have a committee made up of people from across the community to review submissions and decide on the recipient. The Community Award happens every 2 – 3 months and awards have gone to politicians, musicians, a local nun, and other sporting organisations on the area.
Summary
From all of the above you can see that the Club are heavily involved in the promotion of Ladies Football, both on and off the pitch. The priority is for the girls to have fun, make great friends, have great experiences and continue to enjoy being involved in our Club. They are our future. The Club also promote the idea of “Community” and encourage the girls from all levels to get involved in helping to promote the Club. We have a wonderful bunch of girls across all age groups and they are all a credit to themselves, their families and to the Club.
