LEINSTER LGFA President Trina Murray is the new President-elect of the Ladies Gaelic Football Association.
The Westmeath native was elected on Saturday as Uachtarán Tofa at the 2024 LGFA Annual Congress, held the Falls Hotel in Ennistymon, Co. Clare.
Murray defeated Down’s Seamus O’Hanlon on a 82-26 vote.
A clerical officer with Westmeath County Council, Murray will officially take over the reins from Mícheál Naughton at the LGFA’s 2025 Annual Congress, which will be held in county Donegal.
Murray will become the 14th different President of the LGFA since its inception in 1974, when she officially assumes office next year. The Moate native is the fifth female LGFA President, following previous terms served by Mary Wheatley, Helen O’Rourke (current LGFA CEO), Geraldine Giles and Marie Hickey.
“I’m overwhelmed,” Murray said today. “It’s a huge honour for myself, my family, my club, my county and my province. I’m looking forward to the role that lies in store and I will assist Mícheál in any way that I can over the next year.
“These are exciting times for the LGFA and we can look to the future with a huge sense of optimism, as we approach our 50th anniversary on the 18th of July.”
- You can read more from LGFA Congress and rule changes on the Ladies Football social media accounts.
Meanwhile, both CEO Helen O’Rourke and President Michéal Naughton spoke out about last summer’s player protests, and the imminent player charter on the road to integration.
“It did leave an awful bad taste,” O’Rourke told LGFA Congress. “We lost some very good people, volunteers within counties. We’re out the other side of that, I hope. It was very difficult for us as an Association.
“At national level, we will invest €1.2 million into the player charter. This will be on top of the €1.35m that the Government will invest. Our players are to the fore in everything that we do. I’m delighted to welcome Tom Parsons (GPA) here tonight. We have to go with what the finances are and what we have within our Associations at the moment.”
O’Rourke also welcomed new GAA President Jarlath Burns, Camogie Association President Hilda Breslin and CEO Sinead McNulty. ”We try to avoid the major clashes but we only have a certain amount of weekends,” she said. “I’d urge ye (county boards) to work with the Camogie Associations within your counties as well.”
“We decided not to engage in a media war of words and we conducted our business quietly and in our boardrooms, as has always been the case,” Naughton added on the player protests.
“Since then, we have been working extremely hard on a minimum standards player charter and that’s a process that hasn’t been without its challenges either. We understand from our discussions with our county boards how much they have been impacted by the increased demands of inter-county players and we should never lose sight of the fact that they make up a small percentage of our overall playing base.
“I sincerely hope that we do not see a repeat of what happened last summer and that the months ahead are dominated by the positive events on the field of play, and not off it.”
- With reporting by Ladies Gaelic football and Emma Duffy
