The Cavan LGFA have said that "making change does not happen overnight" in a statement released to clubs following the decision of the senior team not to fulfil Sunday's league fixture with Tyrone due to an ongoing dispute with the county board.
The Breffni women were due to face the Red Hands in Newtownstewart but, with no resolution to a disagreement over expenses, opted to pull out of the game.
Earlier this week Cavan confirmed that strike action was being considered over their claim that the county board are not paying agreed expenses.
Captain Neasa Byrd told the We Are Cavan podcast that a charter had been negotiated between the players and the county board in January, but that there have been issues with certain aspects of the plan ever since.
However, in a detailed statement to clubs within the county, the Cavan LGFA set out a timeline of events that, they claim, demonstrated that they have "endeavoured over the last three months to support our players and members."
The statement said that after a charter had been negotiated between the players and the county board had been agreed on 15 January, a financial issue regarding players travelling to county duty from Dublin arose.
"On the 30th January, we received an email from the senior team Female Liaison Officer. This outlined that they requested travel expenses for four cars travelling down from University in Dublin.
"In an act of good faith, subject to a full executive meeting where the finances could be discussed and finalised, a once-off payment was paid to the cars 1st February.
"At the full executive meeting following this discussion on the 2 February, at that moment and upon disclosure of the Senior Team expenses, it was not a feasible option at this particular point in time, as there was an alarming increase of 101% on the same period in 2022 on the senior team.
"This was not proportionality being offset by income. This was open to be reviewed as per the charter in April."
After a request for a fundraising camp over Easter was rejected by the county board, who had cited a required eight-week notice period from Croke Park as well as their openness to facilitate it in the summer months, in late February, representatives from the county team requested a meeting on 9 March.
The county executive turned down a request to meet the entire squad and management having indicated that they would meet player representatives and then management at a further date, before executive members did meet player representatives, along with GPA CEO Tom Parsons last Thursday following the We Are Cavan podcast.
"We believed that there was positive engagement from all parties, and a positive commitment to engage further on all the issues that were raised. The proposals which were made were seemingly agreed to by all," the statement continued.
"On Friday afternoon, we were contacted for confirmation on the finetuning before the proposals were brought to the full group for clarification that evening. On Friday night, we received feedback from the wider group. New proposals were made by the players.
"Despite our honest endeavour as a committee, and to our greatest sadness, at 1pm on Saturday, we were informed that the players would not be fulfilling the fixtures.
"Croke Park advised us to inform both players and management that the Government Intercounty Scheme Funding, which includes player expenses, would not be fulfilled as per their guidelines.
"As a point of clarity on gear, girls were sized and fitted. This includes playing gear, match day gear and training gear. This is with the manufacturers currently.
"By Saturday evening, we believed that all matters had been resolved, and we would continue to work together for the future development of Cavan Ladies Football.
"Making change does not happen overnight, and we have endeavoured over the last three months to support our players and members."
The players’ statement released announcing their refusal to play the Tyrone match indicated that they felt that commitments had not been followed through on.
"We have made numerous attempts to have the minimum standards set out in the agreement adhered to but unfortunately this has not happened.
"We are not prepared to play until the issues have been fully resolved as we have been let down as regards promises and commitments previously."
