Cooney unveils ‘Club Wall’

GAA President Christy Cooney yesterday unveiled the Club Wall at Croke Park which carries the crests of GAA clubs both at home and abroad, and revealed that he is heartened by the progress on improving lines of communication with grassroots clubs over the past year.

Cooney insists that the GAA will make stringent efforts to maintain that progress over the coming year, focusing on issues that have arisen from the Ag Éisteacht Programme established last year.

“I am pleased to say that we have improved our lines of communication with our club units over the past 12 months. The issues are some of the messages we have picked up from our Ag Éisteacht programme which has seen myself and the Ard Stiúrthóir visit almost 30 clubs across the island and overseas for Q&A sessions.

“These visits have been most useful and we hope to channel the feedback that we have received into our policy-making and roll out of the association’s strategy in the months ahead. Clubs such as Maynooth, Ballygarvan and Edenderry have shown the way in their work in devising their own club plans and we hope countless others follow.”

Cooney also revealed that the GAA view the second staging of Lá na gClub on May 9 as a crucial event on the association’s calendar.

“On May 9, we will host our second consecutive Lá na gClub and are urging our clubs to go to the same lengths as last year to celebrate all sections of your individual clubs. Communications about a specific theme for the day will be sent out in the coming weeks. Our club newsletter will be re-designed to reflect the recent changes to our website. Today brings into sharp focus the role of clubs at the heart of our association and all of this voluntary work is reflected in the Club Wall. The idea behind the project was to provide a permanent and tangible link between our clubs and the association’s headquarters in light of the special relationship between them. I hope members derive satisfaction looking for their home club crest.”

The GAA also introduced this year’s 16 President’s Awards winners to the Croke Park crowd at half-time of yesterday’s club football decider after they were honoured at a function in Croke Park on Tuesday.

Meanwhile Tipperary selector Tommy Twomey is hoping his side can kick-start their campaign in tonight’s Munster U21FC semi-final against Limerick at Semple Stadium, a year after their heartbreaking provincial final defeat. Tipp were undone by a last-minute goal by Cork last year and the pain was exacerbated by Cork’s subsequent All-Ireland triumph.

“It was a massive disappointment to lose that way,” admits Twomey. “But we were very happy with how our lads competed and we couldn’t fault their performance. It was a terrible way to go out of the championship but we’re going to look to make up for it now.”

The Tipperary U21s are again under the guidance of senior boss John Evans, with Twomey and John Cummins double-jobbing as selectors on both teams. Twomey regards their involvement as crucial in keeping abreast of player development.

“It’s a great way for us to keep an eye on how the younger lads are going with a view to bringing them through for the senior. Tipperary football has done well in the U21 grade in recent years, reaching a few finals but we need to kick on now. Limerick’s going to be a tough test though and they have the advantage of a game behind them already.”

Tipperary will be able to call on key senior players like defender Ciaran McDonald, midfielder Alan Moloney and attacking trio Sean Carey, Peter Acheson and Conor Sweeney. All five have been showing good form for the senior side with Sweeney emerging as a prolific scorer and Limerick will need to keep watch of the Ballyporeen youngster.

Limerick will hope to utilise the benefits of last week’s quarter-final success against Clare. They were slow starters in that game and Clare looked well on course for victory entering the final quarter. Limerick’s recovery was hugely impressive and it was the architects of that strong finish who will be central to their hopes here. Mike McCormack and Eoin Joy are a strong spine in their defence, Bobby O’Brien is a powerful midfielder while Cormac Joyce-Power and Eoghan O’Connor caught the eye with their scoretaking abilities. They’ll need Joyce-Power and O’Connor to shine here as senior star Ian Ryan is again set to be restricted to the bench due to a persistent hip injury. It’s a tight match to call but last week’s victory could stand to Limerick.

GALWAY (SH v Offaly): C. Callanan; F, Moore, S. Kavanagh, D. Joyce; D. Collins, T. Og Regan, J. Lee; G. Farragher, D. Burke; A. Callanan, C. Donnellan, E. Ryan; N. Cahalan, J. Gantley, N. Healy.