High Court appoints examiner to Cork retailer Cummins Sports
At its peak, Cummins Sports, which supplies sporting goods had as many as 10 shops, about 110 employees and a turnover of €12m in 2007, according to court documents. Picture: Larry Cummins
An examiner has been appointed by the High Court to longstanding Cork retailer Cummins Sports.
Ms Justice Nessa Cahill in confirming the examinership said a critical factor was in relation to employees of the company and 48 out of 74 jobs are expected to be saved in the process.
At its peak, Cummins Sports, which supplies sporting goods had as many as 10 shops, about 110 employees and a turnover of €12m in 2007, according to court documents.
Founded more than 50 years ago in 1971, Cummins Sports has remained closely linked to its GAA heritage, producing its own sliotars which have been used in All-Ireland Hurling Championship Finals since 1976.
Ms Justice Cahill at the Four Courts on Wednesday also appointed an examiner to Cummins Sports sister company Sliotar Sports Ltd which has the same registered offices at Waterfront Business Park, Little Island, Co Cork, and operates out of the Douglas shopping centre store.
The judge noted that the report by the interim examiner, John Russell, concluded that Cummins Sports has a reasonable prospect of survival as a going concern.
Counsel for the petitioning companies, Declan Murphy BL instructed by Tom O’Byrne solicitor, told the court that Cummins Sports was a significant enterprise that at one time had 10 stores and had close links to Cork GAA. He said there are currently four stores operating at Douglas Court, Blackpool Shopping Centre, Midleton and Fermoy.
There are currently 74 employees, counsel said, but there will have to be redundancies with an aim to have the workforce at 48.
In the petition document before the court, Cummins Sports said its Cork city store on Princes Street closed in October 2024 and the North Main Street store closed in December last year. The store at Bandon Shopping Centre closed in October last year and Ballincollig in February this year.
It said it had experienced over the last number of weeks “significant pressure from the landlords of the four closed stores” and had tried to negotiate settlements but had so far been unsuccessful except in the case of the Ballincollig store.
According to the petition, the company has struggled financially in recent years and “with increasing difficulty it has been weathering a storm over rented premises held under Celtic Tiger leases”, increased overheads and input costs, incursion into the market from international competitors and losses of valuable distributorship and sponsorship rights.
It also referred to a loss of market share to online traded and the covid-19 pandemic.
Notwithstanding these challenges it said the directors of Cummins Sports and Sliotar Sports remain firmly of the view that the core business is sound.
It also cited an increasing move from consumers to online sales and competition from large overseas competitors entering the Irish market. It said since the 1970s the mainstay of the company’s business related to GAA gear and equipment and it was the main supplier and distributer of Cork GAA gear and equipment.
It said this changed in 2022 and it swerved to exacerbate the challenges faced by the company.
Extensive cost-cutting measures, it said, have been undertaken to include closures of stores, redundancies and reductions in directors salaries, staff hours, marketing budget and travel as well as targeted operational costs savings.
The matter will come back before the High Court on April 14, 2026, when the judge will be updated on the status of the examinership in relation to both companies.
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