Gardiner and O’Neill win GPA awards

CORK’S John Gardiner and Tyrone’s Stephen O’Neill were last night named the GPA Players of the Year for hurling and football.

GPA Chief Executive Dessie Farrell then warned of a more militant stance in its future relationship with Croke Park.

O’Neill and Gardiner were voted the season’s best in a poll of their peers and both will receive an Opel Astra Sport Hatch car in further recognition of their efforts.

It’s been an unforgettable year for 22-year old Gardiner with the CIT student also winning a Munster title with John Allen’s side as well as an Interprovincial title with his province in Boston last week.

O’Neill missed out on a provincial title, but he can add the Interprovincial football title to his collection tonight when Ulster take on Leinster in the final at Parnell Park.

Meanwhile, Dessie Farrell suggested that the GPA is close to the end of its tether over what he claims is the continued lack of meaningful dialogue with the GAA authorities, as well as the increasingly hostile commercial environment between the two.

In his keynote speech, Farrell revealed that the GPA’s own initiative, Club Energise, had recently agreed terms with a county board to be the official drink, only for the deal to fall through after 11th hour intervention by Croke Park.

“This is a dangerous strategy in an increasingly volatile environment,” said Farrell. “Who actually makes the decisions? Maybe we have been too tolerant as players, too forgiving and too inactive. Maybe the perception has been that we lack the moral courage to make a stand that will have a defining impact on the relationship between players and officialdom.”

He also expressed regret at this week’s GAA launch of a new computer game without engaging with, or contracting the players. This, he said, “would be considered sacrilege in any other code.”

“Perhaps our administrators have exploited a policy the GPA holds dear and that is to pursue a means of alleviating the burden on players financially or otherwise without comprising the ideals of the GAA. We will continue to uphold that policy. However, we will no longer continue to be exploited in so doing.”