*Clare GAA Chairman, Kieran Keating. Photograph: Ruth Griffin
CLARE GAA has had big wins on and off the field in 2024, Chairman Kieran Keating has outlined in his report to County Convention.
At Wednesday’s Convention in Hotel Woodstock, Keating will be returned for a fourth year in the role of Chairman of Clare GAA.
In his report, he recalled, “When I spoke at last year’s Annual Convention, I expressed hope that this year might bring with it some silverware for one of our senior sides. Well, silverware doesn’t come more valuable than the Liam McCarthy, and it is with great pride that we report on a year which saw our hurlers annex both national titles, and put our county back on the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship roll of honour for only the fifth time in the 140 years of the Associations history”.
To have Anthony Daly (1995 and 1997), Patrick Donnellan (2013) and Tony Kelly (2024) climb the steps of the Hogan Stand to lift the Liam McCarthy following years of near-misses and setbacks in decades gone by underlines the need to savour success, he said. “It is not lost on those of us that remember the tough days of the 1970s and 1980s, when we feared we might never see us win one in our lifetimes, that we are truly blessed to have now seen four championships brought home in the past 30 seasons”.
Turning to matters off the field, the Cross native detailed that “a few significant events” have taken place in the last twelve months for the Association. They included the signing of a new agreement with Clare County Council to deliver a town-centre car park on the Cloister site.
Profits from Win A House in Lahinch and Croke Park grant aid were used to complete and reseed Pitch 3 at Caherlohan which is “available for use from this winter”.
Also at Caherlohan, a sports capital grant to the tune of €489,000 was secured for the proposed full-size astro, planning application was lodged for the worlks but further information has been sought by Clare County Council. Under the Large-Scale Sports Infrastructure Funding, Clare GAA received €3.2m for works at Caherlohan.
Funds from the Dalcassian Clare GAA Patrons Programme were put towards refurbishing the dressing rooms in Ballyline.
Over 14,000 tickets were sold for Win A House in Ennis resulting in profits close to €200,000 for clubs in the county and more than €650,000 for the County Board.
Cusack Park’s capacity has been increased to over 20,000 spectators, Keating detailed in his report.
Clareabbey, the official headquarters of Clare GAA were renovated with new offices and changing rooms now in place. Munster GAA grant funding augmented by an SEAI environmental grant award helped to fund the works which were carried out by Martin Murphy Construction and were officially opened at the end of October.
Keating stated, “These various projects have all contributed to the rising tide of Clare GAA and would not have been achieved without the hard work of our Head of Operations, Deirdre Murphy, all our staff, our volunteers and officers, and our local and national politicians who backed us at every turn. I would just like to pay tribute to the CEO of Clare County Council, Pat Dowling, who has been very supportive of Clare GAA in many ways over the years, and whom I would wish every health and happiness as he puts down the pen and retires from his role in the next few weeks”.
He continued, “In terms of our own staff and officers, we have had a few of our people also moving on from roles or responsibilities. I will leave it to Deirdre to delve a little further into the contributions of Rob Mulcahy and Shane Hassett, both of whom have moved to new challenges in 2024, but I would just like to acknowledge and thank them both, for what they have contributed to Clare GAA in recent seasons.
“Our long-serving colleague on Management Committee, Anne Hayes, retired from her role as PRO at the August meeting, and I would just like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the many years of service that Anne gave in various roles, including in particular her most recent officer role as PRO and prior to that, the term as Assistant Secretary to the County Committee”.
Financial support received by Clare GAA was acknowledged by the Chairman. “I would like to express thanks on behalf of the Board to all who contributed financially to Clare GAA this year, whether as patrons through our gates, buying our match programmes, buying the streamed feed of our matches, through to our advertisers and sponsors. Particular mention must go to our long-standing main sponsor, Pat O’Donnell, who continued his association with Clare GAA and has committed his support for the years ahead”. He also paid tribute to all competition sponsors for their ongoing backing.
2024 has been “a strong year of revenue growth” for Clare GAA, he said. “Delegates will see from our Treasurers Report and financial statements that we had a strong year of revenue growth, and that costs incurred in preparing our teams, putting games development staff in place and having the administrative resources required to support that extra activity, are all rising year-on-year. Our bottom-line of an excess income over expenditure of approx. €1m was commendable, boosted by profits from the Win a House in Ennis fundraiser. Thanks again to Dinny Cullinane, John McInerney, Caroline O’Connor and Cathal Kilmartin on our Finance Committee, PRO Aaron Carroll, Jean Meier and Michelle Moroney in Clareabbey and all the officers and volunteers and club members who have worked to make the draw and all our fundraisers a success. Just one other item to mention is the fantastic response to the various fundraisers in the past couple of months, which enabled the Board to send our hurlers on a well-deserved holiday in the USA”.
Keating who was one of the nine members responsible for drafting the five-year strategic plan for Clare GAA, ‘Saffron & Blue’ said that “just over fifty percent of the actions are now considered completed and a further twenty five percent plus are deemed to be in progress”. Last year, he said a third of the actions were considered to be complete.
Concluding his report, the Naomh Eoin clubman said, “I would like to finish by thanking once again all who gave so much of their time, endeavour, and no little expertise, to further the cause of Clare GAA in all its facets in 2024. Coaches of our development squads and our representative teams; club coaches and administrators; County Committee delegates and sub-committee members; volunteers who assist at Cusack Park and at various club grounds; Officers of the board and our sub-committee volunteers; our games staff, grounds-staff and administration staff in Clareabbey; and everyone who stood at a gate or by a goalpost, refereed our games or managed a scoreboard, ran the sideline or played whatever part asked of them.
“But as always, the fullest praise must go to the competitors in the arenas, to our players at all levels, from club juvenile players to inter-county senior squad members. On behalf of your County, I thank you for your dedication to the sports we love and acknowledge the wonderful entertainment and the moments of exhilaration you have given us in 2024”.
