Sometimes a draw is the best result...

THE pity is there was only one professional negotiator in the Cork suburb of Blackrock on Saturday when Kieran Mulvey got down to the nitty gritty of bringing the Cork GAA players strike to a successful resolution.

Whereas the chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission is a round-table old hand, there was no-one of like nous in the players’ group or among the County Board executives. Somebody who might realise that in an intractable situation where absolute victory is unattainable, it’s better to cut the best possible deal and get out with everyone feeling they’ve given and taken something from the negotiations.

Mulvey must have sensed progress would be in centimetres when neither side sat down around the same table with him in Cork over the weekend.

Thus for five and a half hours on Friday night, and 12 more on Saturday, the LRC chief found himself bouncing from room to room, listening, cajoling, advising and guiding.

All, it would seem, to no avail.

The Board’s executive conceded plenty, they insist. And when they left the company offices after 9pm on Saturday night, they had yielded more in 12 hours than they had in the last 12 weeks.

But they had no scope for manoeuvre on the final two points on the players agenda — that football coach Teddy Holland be encouraged to step down and that the players be given a representative on the executive of the County Board.

The latter issue is hardly a deal-breaker, but Holland’s position is. The players appear solely devoted to getting rid of Teddy Holland; it’s a stand that’s doomed to failure. If the Board accede to the demand, the crux is heading in one direction — a court of law.

The executive even agreed to an additional football selector who would effectively have been a players’ appointment, though there was a proviso ruling out Billy Morgan or any other former manager or selector.

Mulvey was apparently surprised at the attitude of some of the player representatives, their all-or-nothing approach to the talks. In truth, it never got to the stage of negotiations.

The players were represented by Donal Óg Cusack, a subdued Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, Anthony Lynch, Graham Canty, Conor McCarthy and Joe Deane, and found themselves on the back foot early Saturday after publication of an interview with Ó hAilpín which called for County Secretary Frank Murphy to step aside.

It wasn’t long before the Board’s executive were receiving text messages from the Special Congress in Dublin to the effect that the players were already deciding who could and couldn’t be manager, and whether the Board had a right to appoint selectors. Now they were telling the county secretary what to do.

Few could claim that Murphy has been a positive influence in this sorry affair, but the timing of the attack did something more than get the talks off to a bad start.

By Saturday afternoon, things looked promising. When caterers brought sustenance for the group, the Board executive were first out, but Murphy warned his colleagues to make sure they left some food for the players.

Mulvey introduced a memorandum of understanding between the players and the Board which had, as its core, a committee from both groups that would meet four times a year to thrash out issues. Crucially, the body would be chaired by an independent figure, which limited the potential of either side to drag its feet on a particular issue.

Also, agreement was reached on the finer points of revisiting the whole who-appoints-the-selectors conundrum next October for the hurlers, and October 2009 for the footballers.

However, implicit in this was the indication that Teddy Holland would be in charge to that point — and that’s when things started going off the rails.

In terms of next October — when Gerald McCarthy and his selectors’ term as hurling management would conclude — there was broad consensus that GAA clubs around Cork would be given “adequate notice” to discuss again whether the next manager would be allowed appoint his own selectors.

Crucially, it added that the executive would remain neutral on the issue but the view of the players who favour the manager’s right to pick his own selectors would be noted in correspondence to clubs. The view of the manager in question would also be considered.

After the Mulvey memo was pored over for three hours, and the players had won an extra concession, it was agreed.

The Board representatives — chairman Mick Dolan, Frank Murphy, vice chair Jerry O’Sullivan, PRO Bob Ryan and Liaison officer Declan Walsh apparently conceded ground too on giving the players a County Board seat, but they said a place on the executive was outside their remit and would require a rule change at national level.

THIS issue was secondary compared to Holland’s position. At one point, it is claimed (though not confirmed) that the players group suggested a compromise on Teddy Holland — that the football coach be given a 12 month term and then resign. Again, the Board executive protested. Holland had been democratically appointed for two years, and that could not be altered. Either way, it was withdrawn, and just as well. What would have been the position if Cork win the All-Ireland next September?

Progress gave way to stalemate. Frustrated, Mulvey brought Frank Murphy and Donal Óg Cusack together into the same room and impressed on them the desperate situation they were now in. It was Last Chance saloon stuff and they were 90% of the way there. This was not only their best prospect of a successful resolution to the dispute that has split the GAA in Cork. At that moment, it seemed like the only prospect.

However all is not lost. The parties may have split without a resolution, but there was a lot of progress, and it is down to one issue, even if that remains the one that has bogged down talks since he was appointed — Teddy Holland’s decision to accept the job of Cork football coach.

Mulvey’s document for progress was a forward leap and it is understand back-channel communications continued yesterday between player representatives and the Board.

However they can’t park the Holland crux. The players are still of the belief that the coach should, and will, resign in the interests of Cork football, but there was no indication of that last night.

Failing that, the players may have to find a resolution within their own group. Someone for whom, on this occasion, a draw would represent a good result.