Duffy: we’ve tried hard for Cork peace
Duffy rejected suggestions that national chiefs had sat on the sidelines during the second standoff on Leeside in the last year. Speaking after Central Council’s meeting in Thurles on Saturday, Duffy vowed he and high ranking officials will ‘continue to work’ on finding a solution to the impasse between manager Gerald McCarthy and last year’s panel.
Said Duffy: “The perception may be out there that Croke Park is standing by — that’s just not true.
“We have tried very, very hard to see if there is any basis on which we can move this on — we just can’t find a way.
“It’s not an easy problem to solve, we have looked at every possible scenario or idea that can be tried, but we need the cooperation of the parties involved, we can’t just impose something on this.
“We’ve tried very, very hard to see if we can do anything, and at the moment it hasn’t been possible.
“We’ll continue to work, not through the media, not publicly, but we will continue to work on it, see if there’s a way out of this — believe you me, we have not been sitting back doing nothing, I can assure you that.”
Cork manager Gerald McCarthy has expressed disappointment that Croke Park hadn’t pointed the finger at the players as being the party primarily responsible for the lack of any basis on which GAA headquarters could proceed.
GAA President Nickey Brennan refused to be drawn on that accusation.
“I don’t want to get into the ins and outs of it; all sides in Cork have spoken too much on the matter. We’re conscious that this is an extremely sensitive situation, that there are grave difficulties on all sides, that things have been said which have been difficult for all sides to hear.
“Our involvement in terms of blaming one versus another would not be helpful. We want to feel we can go in there as honest brokers, while understanding that there are difficulties for all sides.
“If we start the blame game, there will be little prospect for us getting involved as honest brokers.
“Be absolutely assured that we have engaged with the process, and while nothing has come of that — we’re continuing to say to the parties that we will contribute to the process if there’s some possibility of moving forward.
“We are available to become involved if it’s a thing we feel we have something to contribute, if any of the parties feel we have some role to play, we’ll do that. Just because we haven’t been making statements doesn’t mean we haven’t been active. We’ve kept quiet because we feel that diplomacy behind the scenes can often be the most successful.”
Brennan also revealed that Limerick’s Gaelic Grounds will host the first game in this year’s International Rules Series but only if floodlights have been installed while the second test is fixed for Croke Park.
The much maligned interpro series also received a major shot in the arm. “The interpro hurling semi-finals will be held next weekend,” said Brennan, “with the final fixed for Abu Dhabi on March 14, that trip is primarily sponsored by Etihad while the football final is set for October but we’ll be asking the CCCC (Central Competitions Control Committee) to revisit that, there are some issues with the date.”
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