Board shed no new light on Nemo rugby furore

CORK County Board chairman Jerry O’Sullivan last night revealed that they have issued correspondence to Nemo Rangers over the club’s decision to allow the Irish rugby team to use their facilities at Trabeg during their Six Nations preparations in February, but was unaware of any further developments on the issue.

“We have sent the letter that we received from Croke Park onto Nemo Rangers,” he said.

“That was the role that we filled and the only other developments I know are what I read this week in the media, regarding the GAA president (Christy Cooney) speaking in Tralee.”

O’Sullivan, who was speaking at last night’s launch of the Evening Echo Cork County Championships, also outlined that the board are consulting regularly with the Munster Council ahead of the Munster SHC quarter-final between Cork and Tipperary in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on May 30, in order to ensure there are no difficulties involving the crowd on the day.

Two years ago, a number of supporters had to be let onto the field at the Blackrock End to watch the action during the tie between the counties, while last June’s Munster SFC semi-final replay between Cork and Kerry was delayed due to the amount of supporters trying to enter the match close to throw-in.

O’Sullivan believes the presence of a curtain-raiser before this game in the Munster IHC quarter-final will entice people into the ground earlier and urged supporters to buy their tickets well in advance of the match.

“It’s a Munster Council fixture but I know they are working very, very hard in consultation with ourselves, and with everybody involved to make sure we don’t have a repeat of two years ago.

“To be fair, what happened two years ago was an isolated incident and got a bit more publicity than it deserved. But we don’t want any incident, we want everything to run smoothly for our patrons and our players.

“We have a curtain-raiser in the intermediate game which is very important to encourage people to attend a game earlier. The lack of a curtain-raiser for the Cork vs Kerry match was a major problem in contributing to a delay. It’s a problem for every venue to have late-comers, who stay at the bar and come along at the last minute expecting to get in. They come in and disturb people already there, so I’d appeal to everybody to come in good time and buy their tickets early. That game was also on a Saturday evening so we learn as we go along.”

O’Sullivan also expressed his pleasure with the feedback they have received to last week’s launch of the Cork Strategic Plan and stated the implementation process will now begin in earnest.

“I think it went very well and the reaction was positive. People realise we’re in a different era now and different things are expected. The easiest part of it was drawing up the plan, but the most important now is to implement it fully and as quickly as possible. Everyone now knows what we want to achieve and when, and there will be regular reviews of our progress. I think it’s very important that everybody sees the regular workings.”