Murphy quits Galway race

MATTIE MURPHY has withdrawn from the race to elect a new Galway hurling manager after his nomination as Galway hurling manager was controversially rejected earlier this week.

He has issued a statement claiming that the rejection occurred because of “sustained pressure from a vocal minority.”

Murphy was the preferred candidate of the special committee set up to select the new hurling manager, but his appointment was not ratified at a hurling board meeting last Tuesday. He said he had allowed his name to be put forward on the understanding that the selection process had changed, with the committee being given the role of selecting the person most suitable from those nominated by the clubs. He said the method used in the past, which involved canvassing clubs and delegates, was “divisive and not in the best interests of Galway hurling.”

Murphy said that after his interview, neither he nor anybody on his behalf had sought to influence the decision-making process. He claimed that a number of efforts were made to compromise members of the committee, particularly in an article written in a Sunday paper on November 7 2004.”

Murphy, whose Galway minors won the All-Ireland last September, also claimed that an influential member of a “Galway Supporters Club” had convened a caucus meeting of county players in the Clarinbridge Court Hotel on October 22, where “an attempt was made to influence players to support another candidate using future financial funding as a carrot/stick.”

In addition, Murphy suggested that the contribution from a member of the county board “although not a club delegate and who declined an invitation to go on the selection committee” might have influenced a number of delegates, and that the member in question represents the board on the Galway Supporters Club. He said the committee was selected by hurling board delegates from the floor and that Kinvara delegate John Burke proposed one of the members, yet refused to accept their democratic decision.

“It appears to me that the decision of the committee was rejected as a result of sustained pressure from a vocal minority,” said Murphy, who expressed his regard for incumbent manager Conor Hayes and his certainty that Hayes was not involved in the recent events.

Hayes may now face competition from former Galway team-mate Noel Lane for the manager’s post. Lane, who led the Tribesmen to the All-Ireland final of 2001 before being replaced by Hayes the following year, withdrew from the selection process two weeks ago and was not interviewed by the special committee for the managerial position.

Every GAA club in Tyrone is to get a defibrillator, thanks to the Cormac McAnallen Memorial Trust. The county board hopes to raise around £75,000 through the trust, cash to be used to buy the resuscitation equipment and fund training in its use.

The initiative will also honour the memory of Cormac McAnallen, who died suddenly earlier this year from a rare viral infection of the heart. The 24-year-old helped Tyrone to a first All-Ireland title last season and had just been appointed team captain. Other sports, apart from the GAA, are also to benefit from the Trust. Dungannon and Omagh rugby clubs and Irish League soccer clubs Omagh Town and Dungannon Swifts will be given access to defibrillators.

Armagh Royal School rugby player John McCall also died this year of Sudden Death Syndrome while playing for Ireland in the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa.

The trust is being independently financed and has the full support of the McAnallen family.

“This is the most positive and practical way we can commemorate Cormac McAnallen, said Tyrone county board PRO Brendan Harkin. There are as many as 50 clubs in the county, but the plan is geared so that everyone in the community will benefit.

“If we prevented one such fatality down the line it would be worthwhile.

“We have the capacity to raise the money and are not dependent on funding from other bodies. However, if the health board or anyone else can come in, that would be a bonus.”

The trust has three main aims: to provide defibrillators, to establish a bursary to support students studying the Irish language in third level institutions, and to set up a summer school in the Brantry area, where the McAnallen family live.