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NEWS & SHORTS www.ladiesgaelic.ie | WINTER 2019 | 5 TG4 ALL-IRELAND CHAMPIONSHIP 2020 The 2020 All-Ireland series will consist of two groups, with six teams in each, and the top two teams from each group will progress straight through to the All-Ireland semi-finals, following a minimum of five games. Dublin have been drawn in Group 2 alongside the 2020 Munster Champions, next year's beaten Ulster and Connacht Finalists, Ulster's fifth team, and a Munster semi-final loser. Group 1 will contain the 2020 Ulster and Connacht champions, the beaten Munster Finalists, a Munster semi-final loser, and the beaten Ulster semi-finalists. The bottom team in each group will contest a relegation play-off, unless they are a provincial winner, and thereby exempt from relegation. The Provincial Championships must be organised on a knock-out basis, with the winners placed accordingly in the All-Ireland series groups. The 2020 TG4 All-Ireland Senior Championship will commence on Saturday, July 4th. The semi-finals have been scheduled for Sunday, August 23rd, with the top two teams in each group featuring. The All-Ireland Final will be played on Sunday, September 13th. On Sunday 6 th October, clubs from all over Ireland gathered for the start of another phase of the LGFA's Club2gether programme. Club2Gether is an exciting LGFA club development initiative, now in it's third phase, aimed at strengthening club structures. This initiative focuses on developing areas such as volunteer recruitment and retention, governance & officer training, sponsorship and fundraising, games development, as well as planning for the future to ensure sustainable structures are in place going forward. The 15 clubs chosen to participate in this year's programme are; Aughawillan (Leitrim), Ballinrobe (Mayo), Caulry (Westmeath), Crossmaglen (Armagh), Kinsale (Cork), Leitrim Gaels (Leitrim), Na Fianna (Kildare), Naomh Muire, Íochtar na Rosann (Donegal), Oola (Limerick), Slaughtmanus (Derry), St. Manchans (Offaly), St. Ultans (Meath), Thomas Davis (Dublin), Timahoe (Laois) and Tullogher-Rosbercon (Kilkenny). Day 1 of the programme kicked off with guest speaker, Marian Bergin, to put participants through their paces when it came to communicating, exploring different styles and types of communication, which style each person in the room identified with, and how to communicate with people who identified with other communication styles. Day 1 finished with clubs learning more about the volunteer recruitment process and how to set up proper volunteering structures within your club. Our 15 Clubs reconvened on 23 rd November for Day 2 of the programme, where the focus was on sponsorship, with LGFA Commercial and Communications Manager, Jackie Cahill, facilitating a lively discussion and question and & answer session, before moving on to learn about fundraising, good governance and retaining and recognising the good work of existing volunteers within your club. Each club can avail of free training for their club officers and coaches, resources to assist with building sustainable structures, and following the programme's end, access to support in implementing a basic two- year plan with the aim of increasing the retention rates of volunteers, which in turn leads to the overall effect of clubs becoming a more vibrant and active part of the local community. Chairperson of Ladies HEC, Donal Barry, presents DCU captain Anna Rose Kennedy with the cup following victory over UL in the Senior Final at the 2019 Gourmet Food Parlour HEC Freshers Blitz.