Paudie Palmer on Cork GAA: Club worry about player exodus in post Covid landscape

SOMETIMES the thought occurs that you could go down the bohereen of a weekly publication titled: The challenges facing the GAA.

Recently, we could have brought you blogs with such lofty titles as The Split Season, Concerts Take Precedence, Páirc Uí Rinn or sling your hook, and To Decouple or not to Decouple, that is the question.

Now the latest: The Foreign Exodus.

Over the past few weeks, the research department received stories reporting, that multiple members of GAA teams are about to up and leave in the New year, not to mention those that have departed as soon as their 2022 championship obligations were completed.

About a half a dozen members of St Mary’s club said their goodbyes in the immediate aftermath of exiting the West cork junior football and hurling championships. Seemingly Kilmeen GAA will experience the same scenario as soon as the bearded one arrives back in Lapland.

Dingle who had their most impressive senior championship outing to date in 2022 are reporting to the markets that a number of their squad are also seen to depart for offshore locations.

The opposition political parties will point to cost-of-living inflation and or the housing crises as the main reasons for this exodus. Obviously, I am not all sure why this mass exodus but there does appear to be an element of “they are all at it, why not me.”

RETENTION

In the short term at least, it will add to challenges facing many clubs in relation to numbers retention.

We will keep you updated on others who will be part of 'The flight of the Gaels'.

As mentioned last week, we have more or less moved on to the provincial club scene, where hopefully the six Cork representatives will shorten our winter experience by being successful in adding to their trophy captures.

Prior to that though, there are a few county championships yet to be complete at junior level.

The junior A football decider will take place on this Sunday in Páirc Uí Chaoimh at 3.30pm.

Firstly, and it may be somewhat non-PC to mention the hope that the surface won’t be adversely affected by the lineout play, mauling, rucking and scrummaging of the oval brothers tonight.

Anyway, Sunday’s encounter will be contested by the unique pairing of Cobh and Kilmurry, unique in so far as the Mid Cork side would have been in the fancied quarters, Cobh certainly would not.

For a number of years up to 2016, Cobh footballers were languishing in Imokilly JAFC and were on occasion in danger of going out of existence. 

Each year, they would lose the first and second round of that championship which were usually played within a week of each other around St Patrick’s Day.

If you were to order a blueprint for the demolition of football, this was it.

Sporting competition is pretty acute on the island with three soccer clubs, Cobh Ramblers, Cobh Wanderers and Springfield as well as a vibrant Cobh Pirates rugby club all endeavouring to seek their wares to the youth of the area.

It could be argued that about eight years ago, Gaelic football was below tennis in the sporting pecking order.

At the 2015 AGM efforts were made to regrade to junior B but it wasn’t successful, those who opposed felt that such a move would be the final nail in the coffin, what they probably failed to realise, that the said coffin was just short of a burial service.

REGRADE

Twelve months later, the AGM decided that there wasn’t much more to lose, so the move to regrade was successful. That year, they reached the County Junior B inter-divisional championship only to lose to Kilbrittain.

At least they won a few games and 12 months later they were again back in the decider and returned to the island with the laurels having overcome Cill Na Martra’s second team in the decider.

Now back in the East Cork JAC, they didn’t set the world in fire, but green shoots began to appear.

After losing the 2019 decider to Erin’s Own, they put a coaching team in place which brought a much need level of professionalism to the proceedings. They lost to Midleton in the 2020 semi-final and in 2021, they lost out to Bride Rovers in the decider.

Then on September, 18 they overcame the challenge of Castlemartyr, thus becoming the Imokilly Junior A champions for the first time in 34 years.

The general opinion was that would be the end of the trophy journey for this year. Well, others thought otherwise and as a result of victories over Cullen and Buttevant, they are unexpected participants in Sunday’s decider. With a number of their students based in the UK and the US, the hope is that their efforts to get them back in time will be successful.

They will wear the underdogs clothing but players such as John Gardiner, Conor McLoughlin, Sean Cummins, Diarmuid Kearney Fionn Duggan and Cian Spriggs will do all in their power to make it the most memorable day for Cobh GAA in the past 50 years.

Gaelic football has always been a huge part of life for the Kilmurry people.

Some would argue that their recent stay in the Muskerry JAFC championship has gone on a tad too long.

They have won five of the last 11 divisional final, but only reached the County decider once in 2012 when they lost to Rockchapel.

Their last victory in this grade came in 1986 and an individual who will be on the sideline on Sunday played a pivotal part.

It was against Valley Rovers played before a massive crowd in Bandon. I think it would be fair to say that the Innishannon-based outfit dominated possession but a few systems failures both on and the pitch enabled the teams to be on level terms on the home straight.

Enter one Con Barry Murphy, he won possession around the 45-metre line out by the sideline. He hadn’t scored up to then, I honestly don’t think that David Clifford would have attempted it.

Yes, from that distance, he landed it over the bar. Next the final whistle. 

Folklore states that it was his solitary score in a Kilmurry jersey. The legend was created there and then.

On Sunday, he will be part of his club’s backroom staff as they attempt to repeat the heroics of 36 years ago.

They are a good side and with players such as Fionn Warren, William Ronan, James O’Mullane, Liam Wall, Rory Duggan and Padraig Berhanu, they should plant the famed Kilmurry flag on top of their Everest.