*Anne Hayes. Photograph: John Mangan
The April meeting of Clare GAA took place at Treacy’s West County Hotel on Wednesday night when there were lively debates on a number of issues while the vacant PRO post was filled.
Clare GAA appoints a public relations officer:
Anne Hayes from Lissycasey is the new PRO of Clare GAA. At this week’s April board meeting she was unanimously elected to the post.
After secretary Pat Fitzgerald informed the delegates that she was proposed for the position by Shannon Gaels GAA club, chairman Kieran Keating confirmed her appointment.
Currently the assistant secretary, she informed the meeting that she will “be vacating the assistant secretary’s position” before announcing that she intends to appoint a PR committee, “A lot of well qualified people have expressed an interest in serving on this committee”.
“I have names of people who want to be part of the communications committee which is the same committee and I will speak to you on this”, chairman Keating said.
Earlier in the meeting, Ruan delegate John O’Sullivan asked “are we still without a PRO” to which the chairman replied “as of now we are still without a PRO but the matter will be coming up for discussion when we get to correspondence”.
The new PRO takes over from Crusheen’s Michael O’Connor who stepped down from the role at convention last November when he was elected to the vice chairman’s position
Corofin not happy with the process:
After Clare GAA chairman Kieran Keating informed the April meeting of the board on Wednesday night that Cian O’Dea’s appeal to be allowed assist Éire Óg in hurling was granted by the Munster Council last week, Corofin’s Ambrose Heagney said, “this is very difficult to comprehend”.
“Cian O’Dea has been an excellent servant to Corofin hurling for the past fifteen years. He is from Kilfenora and his father before him played for Corofin. We have no issue with him or with the club he is moving to but it’s very difficult to comprehend the logic of this decision” the Corofin delegate said.
“At his hearing he was represented by the club he is going to and not his own club,” Heagney noted expressing surprise with this.
Chairman Keating responded, “he is entitled to make this application and the decision of the Munster Council was veey clear. Our by-laws need tightening and that will be part of the remit of our clubs review committee”.
Stating that he did not want to get involved in this issue, O’Callaghans Mills delegate Robert Frost said “going down the road we have to look after the smaller club. He is going from a small club to one with a big population. We have to protect the small rural club. He is going to a club with plenty of players”.
Irish officer Flan O’Reilly said, “the issue of the isolated player has to be dealt with. This is just one case but it could be one hundred. In other codes players can play with who they like. The GAA must deal with this issue”.
“The isolated player issue is not easy to solve, there are lots of issues”, according to chairman Keating
Tubber’s Andrew Monahan told the meeting, “we have had a battle for four years to get a player and he has been turned down. Cian O’Dea is gone to a club with twenty times our population. It’s sad that the player we sought to get will probably never play hurling again. We were told that it was another club putting a block on the application. It’s frustrating for us. This issue needs to be looked at. There are clubs getting numbers in treble figures”.
Central Council delegate Simon Moroney who told the meeting that he is an Éire Óg club man said, “all he is guilty of is exercising his right. There have been some misrepresentations about this. He is employed by our club and doing excellent work. It is most reprehensible that the captain of our senior football team is treated like this”.
Ambrose Heagney repeated “we have no issue with Cian O’Dea. He has been an excellent servant to Corofin. We have no issue with the club he is going to. It’s the process we are annoyed with. He is a phenomenal athlete. We have an issue with the process and we are entitled to have”.
Under 19 or under 17:
A number of delegates at the April meeting of Clare GAA stated that it will not be possible to run an under 19 championship (hurling and football) in conjunction with the under 17 championship.
The issue came up for discussion after Coiste na nÓg football chairman P.J, McGuane and Coiste na nÓg hurling secretary Pat Gavin told the meeting when presenting their reports that their committees needed to know when the under 19 championship will be taking place so that they could finalise arrangements for the U17 championships.
“We need to know a start up and finish date for the U19 so that we can arrange the U17 competition”, Gavin told the delegates.
Inagh-Kilnamona delegate Paul Gannon offered the view “it will not be possible to run the under 19 and the under 17 for hurling and football side by side. We will need under 17’s to fill out our under 19 team”.
Feakle’s Mile Daly was strong in the view that “it will be much more important to run off the minor championships” and he suggested that it was likely that teams will withdraw from the under 19 competition.
Coaching and games officer Sean O’Halloran informed the delegates that at a recent meeting of that committee this matter was discussed and he suggested that if the minor competitions run into September/October, they will clash with schools competitions.
Gannon suggested that a deadline be put on when entries must be in for the under 19 competition.
Board chairman Kieran Keating suggested that “the CCC set out a proposed format and get it out to the clubs in the next fortnight”.
Junior B and C championships:
Confirmation as to what teams will compete in the junior B and C hurling and football championships in 2022 will be given at the May county board meeting, chairman Kieran Keating told the April gathering.
“We are still gathering information. We did have a meeting with club representatives after the last board meeting. A number of clubs indicated that they want to compete in the C competition but we have yet to receive formal applications from them”, the chairman said.
Kildysart development:
Permission to apply for a loan of €100,000 was granted to Kildysart GAA. In their application it was pointed out that with just one pitch and a growing membership it is congested and the plan is to develop a sand based pitch. They were recently sanctioned for a grant of €118,000 from the Sports Capital fund.
Permission was granted to Tubber GAA to sell a small portion (.25 acres) of land to the Kileedy community group for the development of a community play area.
Insurance concerns:
Meelick delegate Padraig O’Brien asked last week’s meeting “what are we paying insurance for. I get worried when I read insurance policies. I don’t want to see any club ending up in court”.
A number of delegates wanted to know what level of coverage they had in relation to holding children’s camps.
Chairman Kieran Keating said “the injury fund is separate and they must make sure that they are covered for challenge games, permission for which must be applied for”. He went on to say that the holding of camps came under liability insurance.
O’Curry’s delegate Michael Curtin pointed out that “there is a duty of care on officers and trustees in clubs. The biggest issue is the holding of unofficial events. You must let your county board know what is happening within your club”, he said.
St Josephs Doora/Barefield delegate Joe McNamara asked “does each participant in these camps have to be registered with a club. A lot of these camps are held when there are visitors and holiday makers in the area”
McNamara went on to ask “if there is a minimum age for coaches” and the chairman promised to get this checked.
Sixmilebridge delegate PJ. Fitzpatrick commented that it was wonderful “to see the pitch full of kids at half time” during the recent Clare v Galway hurling league game. “It makes a child’s day”, he said.
Chairman Kieran Keating remarked “insurance and the use of helmets has to be considered. Some day a kid will get a belt, that’s the nature of the world we live in. I would encourage kids to bring their helmets”.
Congratulations:
Chairman Kieran Keating extended congratulations to Scariff man Diarmaid Nash on his recent success in the All-Ireland senior handball championship. “It was a great achievement and congratulations to Diarmaid and his club (Tuamgraney). We don’t give enough attention to handball”.
“It’s been 42 years since the national senior title came to Clare”, handball delegate Mike Kelly told the meeting before going on to extend congratulations to Paul Rodgers, also from Tuamgraney handball club, on winning the All-Ireland under 14 title.
Assisting referees:
The Clare Sports Partnership is setting up a committee “to provide a forum to help existing referees, and recruit new ones”. The committee will include representatives from GAA, soccer, rugby, ladies football, camogie and basketball.
Newly appointed PRO Anne Hayes who is a member of the Sports Partnership committee told last week’s meeting “the GAA is the only organisation with a referee’s administrator. The aim here is to bring all of the sporting bodies together and there is some funding available for this project. Each organisation will be entitled to have two representatives on the committee”.
Clare referee’s administrator Seanie McMahon told the meeting “this is worthy of our support” before confirming that he and well known referee Flan O’Reilly will represent Clare GAA.
Committee reports:
Reporting on the activities of Coiste na nÓg Peil this season, committee chairman P.J. McGuane said 42 games were played in the under 17 league which concluded recently.
The Féile peil competition was played off over four days providing 32 games. The winners were St. Josephs Doora/Barefield(division 1), Cooraclare (division 2)and Naomh Eoin/O’Currys/St Senans, Kilkee(division 3).
He noted that a lot of clubs have new officers this year. “They need to be brought together for a night or two and given guidelines on what they are required to do”.
The Cooraclare man went on to express concern that “young lads are running up and down the field with two thirds of their gum shields sticking out. If something happens who is responsible, Is it the responsibility of the referee to intervene. It’s an accident waiting to happen”.
McGuane went on to say “the isolated player issue is the bane of underage competitions. A hurling game was called off three weeks ago and it was then re-fixed for a football weekend when it affected four teams. I always ruled that if you started as an isolated player with one club you stayed with that club. It doesn’t seem to stand up now”.
Coiste na nÓg hurling secretary Pat Gavin told the meeting that the recently concluded minor hurling league involved 41 games. There were eleven teams in A, nine in B and 4 in C. Feile na nGael will take place next week with all clubs competing in the competition which will have A, B and C divisions.
The Ogonnelloe clubman went on to tell the meeting “we need to know what is happening with the under 19 championship. We need a start up date and a date for the finals so that we can proceed with making plans for our under 17 competition.
He concluded by saying “the issue of ill discipline is concerning. In the seventy games played to date there have been 7 red cards and I understand there were more this evening”, he said
Culture and Irish officer Flan O’Reilly in his report appealed to clubs to support the Scór competitions. “Our Scór na nÓg competition which was fairly rushed concluded in Caherlohan recently with the winners going on to Cashel. The adult competition will take place in the Autumn and its an opportunity for clubs to participate. We have lots of musicians and singers in this county. I am asking clubs to get involved. There are people who may not want to play football or hurling but they could take part in Scór,” he said.
The Cratloe club man also advised delegates that “grants are available for students attending Irish colleges”.
Win a house:
Ticket sales for Clare GAA’s win a house in Lahinch have reached 6,900 of which 6,230 have been purchased online chairman Kieran Keating told last week’s meeting before expressing the view that he expects sales to reach 10,000, 11,000 or 12,000 before the draw takes place on May 31.
“We gave out 2,000 to the clubs and we have 650 back. We plan to sell tickets at the upcoming 3 Munster senior games at Cusack Park”, he said when asking the clubs to put a push on over the next month. “People need to be asked. This is for Clare GAA,” he said.
Strategic review report update:
Chairman Kieran Keating told the April board meeting that “we are working on a process in relation to the transition between the secretary and the new head of operations. “Pat (Fitzgerald), Simon (Moroney) and myself are working on this”, Keating said.
Cusack Park levy:
Lissycasey chairman Justin Griffin asked “is it fair that clubs are still paying a levy for Cusack Park given that they (clubs) are under so much financial pressure”.
Replying the chairman said “we are still paying off the loan we secured for the development”.
“Can we look at suspending this levy”, Griffin asked. “Clubs have the opportunity to support the win a house draw which will earn them money” replied the chairman.
Sympathy:
Whitegate delegate David Solan proposed a vote of sympathy to the Hynes family in Whitegate on the death of Michael.
Chairman Kieran Keating extended the sympathy of all in Clare GAA to the Hynes family and to Whitegte GAA.
The chairman extended sympathy to Kilmihil delegate Gerard O’Neill on the death of his wife Joan and to board officer Simon Moroney on the death of his mother.
Éire Óg’s Rory Hickey proposed a vote of sympathy to former player and officer of the Ennis club Brian O’Connell on the death of his wife and this was supported by Feakle’s Mike Daly while Lissycasey’s chairman Justin Griffin proposed a vote of sympathy to the Hill family in Lissycasey on the death of Tommy Hill, the club’s president.
