Cork to back Kerry and Galway hurling motions at GAA Congress

Cork will support motions relating to Kerry senior hurling and Galway minor hurling at this weekend’s annual GAA Congress.

At Tuesday night’s monthly county board meeting at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, delegates were taken through the list of motions that will be debated at Congress in Croke Park this Friday and Saturday.

While Galway compete in the Leinster senior and U20 hurling championships, at present the county enter the All-Ireland minor championship at the quarter-final stage, playing a round-robin competition with the beaten Munster and Leinster finalists. They are seeking to be allowed to compete in either of the provincial championships, with a decision on that to be made by the GAA’s Central Council.

Cork will back that proposal, with county board secretary/CEO Kevin O’Donovan saying that “the hurling family is small enough and we should be including rather than excluding”.

Another motion, jointly sponsored by Kerry County Board and the Munster Council, looks to change the current situation with regard to promotion from the second-tier Joe McDonagh Cup – the final of which Kerry lost to Antrim last year – to the All-Ireland SHC.

As things stand, a Kerry win in the Joe McDonagh would result in them taking on the fifth-placed Munster SHC side in a play-off for a place in the following year’s competition. However, any other county winning the McDonagh Cup automatically swaps places with the side finishing sixth in the Leinster championship.

Under the Kerry/Munster proposal, the Munster and Leinster championships would have a combined maximum of 11 teams, one five and one six, with Munster counties taking part in the Munster championship and all others in the Leinster championship. At the end of each year, the team finishing bottom of the six-team group would be relegated.

If that motion was passed, a McDonagh Cup win for the Kingdom would see them added to what would become a six-team Munster championship, with the sixth-placed Leinster side dropping to the Joe McDonagh and that provincial championship featuring five counties the following year. The side finishing bottom of the six-team Munster championship would be relegated the subsequent year.

In encouraging Cork support, O’Donovan said that it was fair that Kerry should have access to their own provincial championship and the county will be behind the proposal.

Congress is expected to pass a return to even-numbered age-grades within counties, something Cork had committed to for 2024 at December’s annual convention. Paul McCarthy (Kinsale) asked if that move could be brought forward to 2023 but county chairperson Marc Sheehan said that, for logistical reasons, it could not as a plan for 2023 was already in place.

A Wexford motion which would relax the rules around U20-eligible players playing at senior inter-county level as well as U20 – as long as they only played one game in a seven-day window from Friday morning to Thursday evening – received Cork support.

Another motion from Wexford, described by O’Donovan as “well spirited” seeks to make it mandatory for every club to have at least one hurling team from U7-U10, didn’t receive widespread support or opposition and a decision was left to the 11-strong Cork delegation.

Two Tipperary motions were opposed, one regarding tie-breakers in round-robin competitions and the other which would allow a player to make one substitute appearance without it barring him from playing at a lower grade.

All of the Central Council motions will be supported, including the one which prevents players apart from the midfielder being between the two 45m lines for the throw-in (currently they must not be between the 65s) and one which increases the penalties for the shaking of goalposts by defending players as a free is being taken. In such situations, the referee will be able to allow the free to be re-taken or award the score if he feels one would have resulted.

Towards the end of the meeting, chairperson Marc Sheehan told delegates that, for the upcoming Allianz Leagues double-header at home to Limerick (football) and Westmeath (hurling) on Sunday, February 26, Cork would wear the logo of ARC Cancer Support Centres on their jerseys in place of main sponsor Sports Direct.

Earlier, Shamrocks registered their opposition to the transfer requests of two of their players, Harry Andrews and Seán Kidney, who wish to move to Carrigaline.

Transfers granted out of Cork included Carbery Rangers’ Robert Hegarty to Limerick, Cloughdv pair Eoghan Clifford and Mark Walsh to Lancashire and Australia respectively, Kilmurry’s Joe Ryan to Australia and Pádraig O’Farrell of Midleton to Canada.

Douglas have added former Kildare under-age player Eoin McIlroy, while Jerome Fitzgibbon of Glanworth has been permitted to hurl for Leitrim.