Champions lose the call in Cork
In another major departure, the meeting decided that a seven-man committee, comprising of four from the Executive and three from the clubs, would pick the manager and selectors of the county senior football team for 2008.
The captaincy issue arose from a motion submitted on behalf of the Ballinhassig club by their delegate Donal Coleman. He cited the case of Brian Corcoran, who commented in his book that, at 19 years old, he found it very uncomfortable to be talking to players who were far more experience than he was back in 1993.
Noel Kearney, O’Donovan Rossa, proposed that the county champions would not have an automatic right to a selector on the county team: “County champions don’t always allow the best selector to take on the county job. Clubs are always slow to let a good man go to the county.”
Midleton delegate Sean Keohane said he totally opposed the motion: “We had great captains of Cork teams over the years and they served us well. Kerry, Tipperary and Kilkenny operate the system where the county champions have the right to the captaincy of their county team.
“Why should it be any different here in Cork? I would be very disappointed, even gutted, if it were to change.”
Al Buckley (Newtown) said his club would be opposed to the change: “We deemed it a great honour to have the captaincy of the Cork team every time we won the county. It was a tremendous fillip to the club and locality.
“Now is not the time to be discussing this, on the eve of this year’s county final. Any decision should be postponed until the start of the year,” he said.
Kieran Hegarty (Clonakilty) said he recalled such a motion being brought forward about 10 years ago and it failed: “I’m surprised it has taken that length of time for it to appear again.”
Mr Coleman, whose original motion was only for senior hurling and football, agreed that it should apply right across the board. On a show of hands, his motion was passed by 69 votes to 23.
Several delegates were critical of the decision to increase the insurance for teams for the coming season and many felt clubs would be withdrawing teams rather than affiliating more.
Central Delegate Bob Honohan agreed to articulate the views of the delegates at the next Council meeting.
Regarding the county senior football set-up for 2008, St Nick’s delegate Denis Owens proposed that the sub-committee should be balanced in favour of the clubs: “Four delegates representing the clubs and three from the Executive should be appointed.”
However, Bob Honohan said the board should discontinue with giving the manager the right to pick his own selectors.
“It may not be fair to burden a manager with selectors he cannot work with, but it has worked for two of our teams this year who won All-Ireland titles at junior and under 21 and I see no reason why it cannot work at senior level.
“If he had his own way, Ian Paisley would not have picked Martin McGuinness to work with in the Northern Assembly, but it has worked out well for all concerned,” he said.
“Some of our selection committees have been divorced from the County Board in recent years. I strongly advocate we go back to the old way, which served us well in the past.”
Several delegates were critical of the county senior footballers’ performance in the All-Ireland final.
Glanmire delegate Denis Kelleher was critical of the style of football being played by Cork and called for more use of the long ball.
Mick Barry, Delanys, said he felt that team managements had taken control of players to the detriment of the clubs and that should stop: “Control of our teams should revert back to the Executive.”
Delegates eventually voted by 81 to 14 that the sub-committee comprise of members of the Executive and three from the clubs and that they would pick the managers and selectors.
The three club delegates on the committee for hurling are: Sean Keohane (Midleton), Michael Burns (Ballyhea), Donie Cahill (Cloyne).
The three football delegates are: Bob Honohan, Finbarr Hennessy (Dohenys) Kieran Hegarty (Clonakilty).
County secretary Frank Murphy told the meeting that the All-Ireland junior football selectors committee wanted to stay on for another year, adding that four of five of the under-21 committee were prepared to stay on. However, he said coach Tony Leahy had intimated he was not going forward.
Mr Murphy also told the delegates that the decision regarding the picking of team managers, would not apply to the senior hurling team for 2008 as they had a year of their tenure to run.
Letters from Na Piarsaigh, Blackrock and Glen Rovers regarding promotion and relegation were taken as notices of motion for the next meeting.
