Football's future, Páirc Uí Rinn and Páirc debt some of the talking points from the Cork GAA convention

THE Cork GAA annual convention passed smoothly at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Tuesday night with formalities taking place.

Marc’s Sheehan’s three-year tenure as chairperson came to an end and he was replaced by Midleton’s Pat Horgan who served as an understudy to Sheehan over the last few years. Clonakilty’s Noel O’Callaghan is the new vice-chairperson as was flagged up in advance. 

Marc thanked everyone for their support while he was in the position as chairperson as he moves onto his new role as a Munster Council Delegate for Cork. The new figurehead Pat Horgan spoke of his delight and honour to lead Cork GAA.

The convention, which lasted just over three hours, started with minutes from last year’s convention and then went into the secretary’s report where Kevin O’Donovan spoke at length about all the latest issues, more on that in a bit.

It was then the treasurer’s report and then the chairperson’s address where Sheehan spoke for the last time as chairperson of Cork GAA.

It was then time for the Election of Officers which was known in advance. The two motions that were on the table passed. The first one, in hurling, a player is restricted from playing inter-county senior and U20 hurling championships within a 60-hour period and the committees in charge of the latter grade competition shall make such allowance where necessary in its scheduling.

The second motion was with regards the number of teams allowed in the club championship. Under Croke Park rules it’s not permitted to have more than 16 clubs in a particular championship which came into play this year, which Cork sought and received a deviation from Croke Park that allowed 22 teams contend for Premier Senior hurling and football honours.

Cork have now backed the new plan which states that in counties where divisional and/or college teams are permitted to participate in county senior championships, a separate preliminary competition, may be organised as a qualifier for a determined number of such teams to participate in the 16-team county championship.

Elsewhere at the convention, Cork County Board secretary Kevin O’Donovan has urged reform of football playing rules to arrest the slide of the game. In a wide-ranging annual report, O’Donovan says the time for talking is over and action must now be taken.

“Constant analysis and review by respective coaching units has led to death by percentages during games,” O’Donovan said.

“Possession is king, conservatism is rife. Yet to expect any coaching team to just send their team out to play naively is simply counter-intuitive in a must-win environment. Therefore, the focus must be placed upon current playing rules rather than appealing to the ethos of the same coaches from whom we ultimately demand success. However, it is encouraging to now see an overwhelming desire for change. Individual contests must be nurtured within our games and that teams must be either rewarded for keeping players in advanced positions or punished for maintaining overly defensive positioning. We must switch our approach from tinkering around the edges and instead introduce clear, simple, yet dramatic rule changes.

“Given the decreasing attention span of all viewers, combined with the increased competition for hearts and minds in terms of sporting options, we simply now have no other choice but to support the evolution of Gaelic Football into a more vibrant, unpredictable and creative version.” 

Another point of concern in the secretary’s report was Cork GAA's second stadium, Páirc Uí Rinn, with the future of the Boreenmanna Road venue in serious doubt.

“It is widely accepted that Páirc Uí Rinn has served as a key infrastructure unit in our organisation over many decades. It has served as an essential matchday venue, a key training venue for county teams and is a vital support facility for Páirc Uí Chaoimh. However, the current Busconnects proposals now raise a major question mark over its viability as a match venue.

“The removal of parking on Boreenmanna Road will simply mean that the stadium cannot facilitate the needs of any competitive fixtures in terms of access and parking. Therefore, major decisions will soon arise as we consider the future of the stadium.” 

Other points of interest was that Páirc Uí Chaoimh’s debt remains over €30 million mainly down to no concerts being staged at the venue in 2023. The County Board reported inter-county teams expenditure rising to €1.995 million, an increase of €381,000 on the previous season.

“Crippling energy prices along with fixed charges such as rates present major obstacles. Current stadium debt levels, now resting at over €30 million, continues to present a major challenge. In this regard a major positive from 2023 was the signing of a 25-year loan agreement with CLG which will allow a more long-term sustainable approach to repaying debt,” O’Donovan outlines.

It was revealed tonight that a debate on soccer being played at the Páirc in the future is in the pipeline.

Income wise, gate receipts from October 2022 to September 2023 were recorded at €1.461 million compared to €1.584 million in the previous 12-month period.

On the referees front, 2023 was another great success regarding recruitment with 43 new referees attending the Foundation Level 1 Referee Course. Last year 42 new referees did the course so it was another high uptake. All new refs will receive a referee buddy in 2024 as they begin their refereeing journey. It was also revealed by the County Referee Administrator Niall Barrett that over 80 referees were advised during the Cork club championship with currently 30 active advisors with the aim for 2024 for all referees to be advised. 

All in all it was a largely positive convention, but clearly while there has been positive steps taken on and off the pitch this year, there is still a bit to go.