O’Neill eyes the presidency

LIAM O’NEILL, who replaced Nickey Brennan as Leinster Council chairman and has ambitions to succeed him as GAA President, has admitted that circumstances forced him to declare his 2008 candidature earlier than he would have wished.

Although yet to be formally nominated, he is one of three to have confirmed his intention to run for the presidency in a year’s time.

A former secretary of the Laois County Board and a schoolteacher, O’Neill explained over the week-end that his particular situation had been brought about by what he described as “the Tipperary primary” election — when outgoing Munster chairman Sean Fogarty and Central Council delegate Con Hogan were both proposed, and Hogan withdrew.

“This forced everybody’s hands. It was unusual to have two candidates from the one county. Everyone was taken aback by that and it forced people into declaring,’’ he commented. “In normal circumstances — in deference to the President, as the incumbent — I would have preferred that he would at least have got to his first Congress before it was discussed.

“I was asked and I was forced into the situation where I either declared my candidacy or allowed others to be a year ahead of me. I have never made any secret of the fact that I’d like to be President of the GAA, so why hide?”

He acknowledged that it was always an ambition to stand for election: “If you are involved at this level, you’d like to have a say in what’s going on — and the presidency is where real decisions are made. County involvement gives you a broader picture, provincial involvement gives you your first taste of how you can influence things. The presidency, then, is a huge opportunity — if you manage to get it.”

It’s taken as read that Laois will nominate him at annual convention later in the year and several other Leinster counties would be expected to follow suit. For the time being, Christy Cooney is regarded as favourite, having failed by just 17 votes (171-154) to Brennan in the 2005 election.

Former Ulster Chairman Michael Greenan is understood to be considering his options.

Despite the fact that Congress elected a Leinster president two years ago, O’Neill doesn’t believe that this would be an inhibiting factor in going forward for election. Nor is he put off by the sequence (broken only once in recent times when Albert Fallon failed) of presidents being elected at the second attempt.

“That wouldn’t put me off standing. It’s a factor that would be taken into consideration, but it hasn’t stopped others standing in the past. We haven’t had a ‘unanimous’ president. People do like to be stand. It’s an honour to be considered and if people are good enough to nominate you, they like you to stand.

“There was never a more exciting time to be involved in the GAA. Never was the profile so high, our standing in the community as high as it is now. Whether that will change, or whether there is a knock coming I don’t know. But, certainly these are fabulous times.’’

Agreeing that player burnout is one of the biggest challenges facing the leadership, he has mixed views about the value of continuing the Under-21 championships. He pointed out that Leinster had a situation last week where two managers were threatening to withdraw players from the Sigerson Cup and Trench Cup.

“The council had recently taken the unanimous decision that if there was a clash between club and county, third-level would have first choice. And if a county pulled players, they would lose their entire games development money from Leinster.

“We spent €300,000 on games development alone at third level and we spent up to €2 million on ordinary games development in Leinster. That’s all designed to produce inter-county players. If we are withdrawing players at the last minute, that’s all a waste of money. Logically, to follow your own money we had to take a stand on that.

“People will ask if we need the U-21 competitions now, because very few people are playing U-21 who are not playing some other level. It’s not a vital competition. At national level, though, particularly hurling, the U-21 grade showcases our talents — probably better than some other competitions.

“I’m not sure it would be wise to do away with it for that reason.

“I would agree with doing away with junior and intermediate. They do nothing for weaker counties.”