One problem ‘solved’ – another one created

SURE, if only someone had told us. If only we’d known the Cork hurlers were driven all that time purely by an altruistic desire to see the clubs run the show, we could have been saved all the hassle.

There we were thinking they were power-hungry men, utterly disinterested in taking responsibility for their own inaction (well, Clare and Galway, but, like, come on) on the field of play last summer. When we put their strike (you know the one they promised to never go on again) down to a convenient search for a scapegoat, we were mistaken.

We thought we saw an almighty, defining struggle between the acquisitive GPA and the dull, grey, old, decaying, dated GAA – but, yet again, we were wrong.

It was all done, all that bloodshed and that heartache shipped, so that Russell Rovers could take its place among the nations of the earth. Oh, members of Randal Óg, I hope you are grateful! Citizens of Lismire, let you give thanks for evermore!

Down on your knees, St Colum’s.

It was a masterful tactic of the hurlers to reveal their true motivation just at the last moment: not professionalism, not semi-professionalism, not better conditions, not richer food, not softer soft drinks. On a week when ‘the small man’ will be patronised in dispatches from the Norfolk Downs, how appropriate that the stars of Cork sport should so conclusively wrap up their epic (well, two weeks, give or take a day or two) crusade on the part of the small clubs of Cork.

Give us a break.

Quite how long can we expect this Coalition of Convenience to last?

A week? A month, tops?

Do you honestly believe the hurlers care a jot about returning power to the clubs of Cork? Where do you believe their allegiances truly lie: to a tiny club out west, or to the GPA?

And, is there a person in the land who would even attempt to argue that this notional club and the GPA share common ground in terms of their ideals and aspirations?

The GAA, as I have said on a number of occasions, is playing with fire. No-one is willing to tackle the GPA. Presidents come, hold their hand, and then back off: the next one does the same, but all the time, the GPA is permitted to gain a little bit of ground.

Of course, they deny that money is anywhere close to the heart of their ‘struggle.’ I, for one, see far too much evidence to the contrary. The GPA, as an entity, has no regard for the clubs of Cork, and Ireland. Individually, some, or many, GPA members may be clubmen non pareil, but when they gather to meet in Dublin, they don’t talk about how the club at home might get a sponsor for a set of jerseys or a better programme of fixtures.

That’s not where their true focus lies. Even they must be amused by how they have suddenly become poster-boys for those very clubs.

Supporters of the ‘08 panel make much hay of the claim that Gerald McCarthy was just a pawn in Frank Murphy’s game. As if Gerald would be so easily used – but, after seeing how club after club have managed to march behind the players, one can only conclude that anything is possible.

Truly, the ‘08 players have scored a resounding triumph. They have convinced a cohort of GAA people in Cork that Gerald McCarthy is a patsy. We would never have thought it possible. People who know that’s not true have told themselves it’s true.

The players have managed to lay the blame for the last two years firmly – and exclusively – at his feet. No blame attaches to the men who crossed the white line.

And, not alone have they succeeded in securing a say in who should manage them, but now they may feel sufficiently emboldened to dictate the make-up of the county board.

Of course, the bandwagon has suddenly attracted huge numbers. That’s bandwagons for you.

Out of nowhere, the compliant, the sheepish, and the look-the-other-way merchants have been dramatically empowered. This past fortnight or so, they have been rushing to microphones to denounce the ancien regime.

When the tipping point was reached, oh how they shouted from the rooftops: when the grand panjandrum really started to roll, many saw the political benefits of hopping aboard.

Cork County Board did not leave itself immune to a heave. Their displays of faux-democracy over the years – at least one of which could be said to have cost Christy Cooney an earlier stint in the Presidential chair – angered GAA people all over Ireland.

The board was not bullet-proof. The strategists in the ‘08 camp saw the gap and went for it. They got it right. They have won the day. They have weakened the county board – and Frank – to an extent that few could ever have anticipated.

The board has taken in so much water, it will scarcely survive in its present format. Even Frank could fall this time. Frank wouldn’t expect many tears shed for him. But it is possible to feel precious little sympathy for Frank – and still believe the players weren’t justified in what they have just put Cork through. It simply wasn’t worth it. Who will the ‘08 players tolerate now? Who do they want as county chairman? Will the next manager be judged on his results too? Or will blind eyes be turned when ‘their own man’ comes up short?

Of course not. That won’t suit at all. It will all be nonsense now. Cork GAA may have cured one problem – but it has created a new one.