All eyes on board meeting as Rebel impasse rolls on

THE scene is set for another highly-charged meeting of the Cork County Board tonight following extraordinary scenes at the Maryborough House Hotel on Sunday night.

The 2008 Cork hurlers, who remain at loggerheads with manager Gerald McCarthy, invited club representatives to meet them at the hotel and up to four hundred club officers attended, the vast majority of them supporting the players.

The meeting followed GAA President-elect Christy Cooney and director-general Pauric Duffy’s peace proposals being released to the public last week, proposals which would have removed many of the executive’s powers if it had been adopted.

Taken in conjunction with the 10,000-plus supporters who marched through Cork city on February 7th, pressure is mounting on the executive of the board.

Yesterday Cork GAA chairman Jerry O’Sullivan would not be drawn on Sunday night’s meeting.

“We won’t be commenting on something we don’t have first-hand knowledge of,” said O’Sulllivan, “But I’d presume that the meeting on Sunday night will be discussed at the county board meeting.”

Tonight’s meeting will be open to the written press.

Cork footballer Graham Canty joined the hurling panel on the podium last Sunday night and has outlined the reasons why the footballers are backing their hurling colleagues.

“We are showing full solidarity with the hurlers on this one because this could have been us, this could be the footballers in this situation, be it next week, in the next couple of months, next year or the year after.

“The lads clearly stated at the meeting that the 30 lads did not want Gerald McCarthy appointed and the county board went ahead and appointed him anyway, and that’s not right.

“The move was not made in the spirit that Kieran Mulvey intended for managers to be appointed, and these guys have a natural right to be aggrieved when they signed up for something and it wasn’t adhered to by the other side.”

Bantry club man Canty also added that it was a chance for club members to take ownership of the GAA in Cork.

“The message was clear — this is your county, you should be responsible for running it and the way it is run.

“The players want the clubs to have a voice at county board level.”