*Donal Magee and Ronnie Pyne, the CDSL’s Chairman and Vice Chairman. Photograph: Joe Buckley
SHANNON’s Donal Magee has been elected as the new Chairperson of the Clare District Soccer League (CDSL) and has set out his stall for Clare clubs to claim silverware in the Munster Junior and FAI Junior Cups.
Magee succeeds Jason Ryan of Kilrush Rangers who stepped down as Chairperson after four years in the hot seat, he will remain on the CDSL as a committee member.
Carolann McDonald of Shannon Olympic was the only nominee for the post of secretary, she was absent from the AGM but was elected. Jimmy Houlihan also from Shannon joins the CDSL as a committee member.
Flan Hehir (secretary), Denis Collins (PRO), Mickey Guilfoyle (Munster FA delegate), Eddie Crowe (committee member) and Kenneth Moloney (committee member) did not seek re-election.
Dean Russell had resigned due to family reasons as Fixtures Secretary towards the end of the season after all fixtures had been organised. This position and that of PRO and Grants/Compliance Officer remain vacant.
Speaking at Monday’s AGM held in Treacy’s West County Hotel, Donal paid tribute to officers who had decide not to continue, he praised them “for their commitment and work for the CDSL, it is not an easy job, it is a big commitment, a thankless job, without them the league wouldn’t be where it is”.
He will continue as Munster FA delegate, a role he has held since July 2022. “I’m new but I’m not new to this stuff, I’ll do my best”. He stated, “I’m going to work with the clubs, we’re all volunteering. My main goal is to promote football in Clare for the junior league, the CSSL and women’s league, it is for everybody”.
Clubs in the county are talented enough to claim success at a provincial and national level, Donal maintained, “I want to promote our clubs to do better in Munster and the FAI”. He continued, “I will do best to work with everyone, I’ll treat you all fairly, I’ll do my best, we’ll try keep improving to make our league better, I’ll do my best, it is my county and I want to promote it, I want us to win an FAI and Munster”. Newmarket Celtic became the first Clare club in 2023 to win the FAI Junior Cup while Avenue Utd for the past two seasons have dethroned the reigning champions in the national competition.
“We do our best, we’re fortunate to have the league we do, it’s been positive on the underage and women’s side so that we keep doing what we’re doing, we need to keep pushing to try and win things but we can do better and we can always do better,” the former Premier Division winning manager of Bunratty and Shannon Town stated.
Honorary President, Robert Clancy quipped “surprise surprise” when reading out the nominated officers to find there was nobody proposed for fixtures secretary.
Outgoing Chairman Ryan suggested giving the clubs two weeks to revert with potential nominations for the role. “What about Martin O’Brien,” asked representatives of Fair Green Celtic, the former referee had stepped down in August 2023, a month after taking on the role after he had designed a roadmap for the coming season only for other officers to amend the schedule of games without consulting him.
“We will talk to him,” Ryan responded to the suggestion, a stance which was shared by Magee who told the meeting, “someone else has also been approached but it depends on their job”. The newly elected Chairman said he had also spoken to a person interested in becoming PRO. “I have been trying to contact people, I’m hopeful to get new members on committee but it is open to the floor, it’s not about sitting here, it’s about opening the grounds, having clubhouses ready, there’s a lot of work, the day of Cup final we were there from 12pm getting ready and it was a great success”.
Honorary President: Robert Clancy, Michael McInerney, Michael Leahy
Chairperson: Donal Magee
Vice Chairperson: Ronnie Pyne
Secretary: Carolann McDonald
Treasurer: Frank Gormley
Registrar: Nigel Bradish
Fixtures Secretary: TBC
PRO: TBC
Grants & Compliance Officer: TBC
Munster FA Delegate: Donal Magee
Women’s Officer: Paul Fitzgerald
Youth Liaison/Child Protection: Paul Kennedy
Committee member: Chris Harrington
Committee member: Jason Ryan
Committee member: Jimmy Houlihan
