Kilkenny legend Ann Downey says the latest Government restrictions will double the length of her training sessions.
An All-Ireland winning camogie player and manager, Downey broke the mould some months ago when she was appointed as manager of the St Patrick’s, Ballyragget hurlers, who operate at intermediate level in Kilkenny, having previously enjoyed success with many of the same players at minor and under-21 level.
But enthusiasm at the resumption of club games over the past month or so has been dampened by last night’s Government announcement that no spectators will be allowed to attend sporting events, while training sessions can only take place in groups of 15.
Downey said: “It’s disappointing for the people that would want to go and see the games, but we have to follow the guidelines. I think the health of people is most important.
“The fact we can still go down to train and play games I think is a real bonus. Obviously for our supporters that are not able to attend matches, it is disappointing, but most of the games clubs are broadcasting by Facebook.
“I know it’s not the ideal situation to be in, but at the end of the day it’s the safety and the health of our players, we have a duty of care to our players, the chairman and secretary and everyone involved in the club are very conscious of that.”
Limiting the training to 15 essentially means that Downey will have to put on two sessions in the one evening.
The ruling is somewhat perplexing given that matches will still proceed, with 30 players on the field at any one time.
“It makes the training session longer,” Downey explained. “We’ll probably be in the pitch at half past six and if we’re out of it at nine o’clock… we’ll probably do two sessions of 15.
“It’s what we had to do before we went into the round robin of the league. You can play backs and forwards, it’ll be all hands on just throwing balls into a backs and forwards scenario but it’s the same for every club.
“Every club will be in the same boat. We just have to get on with it.”
Ann Downey features AIB’s The Toughest Summer, a documentary which tells the story of Summer 2020 which saw an unprecedented halt to Gaelic Games. The series is made up of five webisodes as well as a full-length feature documentary to air on RTE One on Tuesday, August 25 at 10.10pm. Ann Downey features in the fifth webisode that will be available on AIB’s YouTube channel from 7am on August 20 at www.youtube.com/aib.
