Kevin O'Donovan urges care with regard to underage grade debates

Cork County Board secretary/CEO Kevin O’Donovan has cautioned delegates against “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” when it comes to debating the future of underage grades.

At last weekend’s annual GAA Congress in Mayo, a motion relating to the introduction of an U19 age-group fell narrowly short of the 60 percent threshold required while one regarding the minor grade reverting to U18 was withdrawn.

It is likely that a special Congress will be convened for what O’Donovan said at Tuesday’s county board meeting at Páirc Uí Chaoimh would be “a final, proper debate”.

While acknowledging that is support in Cork for the restoration of U18 and U21 rather than U17 and U20, O’Donovan advised against drastic measures.

“Everything will be decided,” he said, “whether minor is U17 or U18, whether the next grade will be U19 or U20 and if minor is adult or underage.

“I know that there are people praying that U18 and U21 would come back in the morning, but there may be a price for that. Decoupling is very important when it comes to organising fixtures and it could be that U18 players wouldn't be unable to play at adult level.”

O’Donovan also pointed out to delegates that one motion passed at Congress which may have gone under the radar was a change regarding a player’s ‘first club’, to which he becomes tied. Previously, this was the club he played for at U12 level, but now it is the club for which he plays Go Games and this could be as young as U17. “I’m not sure everyone has thought through the full extent of this decision,” O’Donovan said.

A letter from the Imokilly divisional board was read to the meeting. Delegates there had raised the subject of cashless entry to games and it was felt strongly that this alienated older supporters and removed their independence. The letter called on Cork to take the lead in this area and lobby Croke Park to review the matter.

Prior to the meeting, there was a suspension of standing orders for tributes to Donal O’Leary of Nemo Rangers, the assistant secretary of Rebel Óg, who died recently. These were led by Michael O’Mahony, chairperson of Rebel Óg, who summed him up as “an old-school gentleman”.

Meanwhile, Midleton selector Ger Fitzgerald feels that the recruitment of James O’Connor as coach for 2020 is a boost for the reigning county hurling champions but he is not taking any future success for granted.

The Magpies have confirmed their management team for the coming season, with Stephen Kane, a selector last year and manager of the side that won the 2019 county minor championsip, swapping places with Fitzgerald, who was boss as they ended an eight-year wait for the Seán Óg Murphy Cup.

Terence McCarthy remains as a selector while Chris Casey comes on board to replace Ian Kennefick, who has stepped down from his selectorial role as he is set to go travelling.

Cork legend Ben O’Connor was coach for the past two seasons but he opted out before Christmas and in his Lismore namesake Midleton have acquired a blue-chip operator. James O’Connor led Carrigtwohill to the 2011 SHC and Fr O’Neills to the 2019 Premier IHC while he spent the last two seasons with Kilkenny’s Ballyhale Shamrocks, winning the county championship on both occasions and only denied an All-Ireland club title by a late Ballygunner goal last month.

“We’re delighted to get him,” Fitzgerald says, “in fairness to him, he has a very successful track record.

“We had a great year last year and we were disappointed that Ben didn’t stay around but we understood his reasons for that. We’re absolutely delighted to get James, he’s a very astute coach and very experienced and we’re looking forward to the year.

“At the same time, he’s only the coach and that’s not under-estimating the job that we have to do.” Being the champions means that you’re seen as a scalp by the chasing pack and that’s an occupational hazard that Fitzgerald doesn’t mind having as they seek to retain the title for the first time since 1987, when he was a player.

“It’s certainly harder,” he says.

“There hasn’t been a lot of teams that have retained the competition in recent years – Imokilly did it and the Glen did it but it was a long time before them that anyone else did.

“You go from the hunter to the hunted, really – we’re probably not favourites for this year’s competition but we still carry that burden. That’s a great position to be in in lots of ways, you only get that pressure from being champions and you’ll take it.

“No-one ever refuses to win the county championship – we’ve been striving for a long number of years to do it and we’ve only won eight.

“Certainly, it changes the dynamic a little bit but that’s a challenge for us and we’re looking forward to it.

“We certainly feel that, with James on board, we’re in a good position to face it.”