Royal shock as Dempsey ousts Ginnity

THERE was a sensational development at last night’s Meath County Convention in Navan when Fintan Ginnity, chairman for the last 20 years, was defeated by Brendan Dempsey.

In a close contest Dempsey, a former vice-chairman and Meath’s central council representative, beat the long-serving boss 81 votes to 80. It was the fourth time the Trim club man has stood for the position.

Ginnity lost his seat at the end of a difficult year during which he was involved in a number of controversies. After being deposed he said he owed the GAA a lot for “20 years of happiness.”

Earlier in the night the long-serving chairman was critical of some aspects of press coverage of the Eamonn Barry affair. He called for full support for the new county senior football manager.

There was warm tributes to Barry’s predecessor, Sean Boylan, who stepped down in August after 23 years at the helm. Ginnity said Sean Boylan was a gentleman on and off the field, while former chairman Pat O’Neill said the popular manager put in tremendous work during his lengthy reign.

St Colmcille’s delegate Dermot Hilliard hit out strongly at comments in some national papers about Ginnity objecting to the use of the word dictatorship.

Hilliard had urged the delegates to show solidarity to the long serving chairman.

Meanwhile, blame for club inactivity during the summer months cannot be laid entirely on county teams and county managers, GAA President Sean Kelly told delegates at last night’s Kerry convention in the Gleneagle Hotel.

He was commenting on what he described as “the absolute frustration nationwide” caused by the interruption to domestic competitions during the summer months, which came through from the recent club forum in Killarney.

The problem, he accepted, was “marrying” the club and inter-county calendar.

However, he felt that people were inclined to concentrate on games in the senior championship and blame everything on inter-county teams and management. Clubs should look at their own teams from U12 up to senior level and review their games programme over 12 months.

The following selectors have been chosen to work with the respective management:

Minor football - L. O Rochain (Gaeltacht), B. Donnelly (Waterville), V. Cooper (Dr Crokes), P. Creagh (Austin Stacks).

U-21 football - E. O’Sullivan (Dr Crokes), P. O’Malley (Beale).

*All the outgoing officers were returned unopposed as follows:

President - G. McKenna; Chairman - S. Walsh; Vice-Chairman - G. Whyte; Secretary/Registrar - E. O’Sullivan; Joint Treasurers - J. McMahon and J.J. Carroll; PRO - W. O’Connor; Youth Officer - M. McCarthy; Irish Officer - L. Cotter; Development Officer - P. O’Sullivan; Coaching Officer - B. Reen; Munster Council delegates - T. O’Sullivan and P. Twiss; Central Council delegate - G. McKenna.