O’Sullivan: ‘we are not behind anyone in hurling’

CORK chairman Jerry O’Sullivan heaped praise on the county’s All-Ireland winning footballers and insisted that their hurling counterparts “have the talent and the ability to compete and win at any level.”

In his address to Saturday evening’s annual convention at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, O’Sullivan noted that the footballer’s September success was built on a tremendous League campaign.

He said: “They won the title in impressive fashion beating Mayo in the final in Croke Park and this proved, yet again, that League success is a help rather than a hindrance to achieving championship success.

“They lifted the spirits of all Cork people, home and abroad, with this achievement.”

O’Sullivan recalled the hurling season and noted that ‘little went right’ for the team in their All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Kilkenny. He expressed confidence that ‘valuable lessons’ were learned from the game.

“It’s onwards and upwards from here. I do not subscribe to the notion that we are behind some other hurling county counties at the moment. We have the talent and the ability to compete and win at any level in hurling,’’ he said.

However he was critical of the decision to replay the Munster SHC final on a Saturday evening under lights; “it did little for the image of this great sporting event. Hopefully it will not happen again.’’

In terms of the Board’s commitment to the ‘essential’ redevelopment of Páirc Uí Chaoimh, he reminded delegates that this will require ‘serious support and funding.’ And, in this context, he called for a renewed effort to support the county draw, stressing its importance to many aspects of their operations.

Meanwhile, South-East Board chairman John Twomey raised concerns about the cost of running the Association at national level, claiming there were ‘quite a substantial number of salaried people in Croke Park.’

Quoting from the 2009 Central Council accounts, he informed delegates that salaries and pension costs amounted to €3.8m, while total administrative costs came to €9.4m.

“I would take the figures at face level, but it would appear that staff and expenses are growing at an alarming level.’’ He also pointed out that ‘nearly’ €2m was contributed to the GPA.

Adding that they now had a situation where professional people were ‘talking down to the volunteers on the ground and telling them how they should do things under the new system,’ he said that they didn’t want a ‘them and us’ situation in the Association.

* There is one change in the officer board, with former Youth Officer Diarmuid Gowen unopposed as the successor to outgoing Development Officer Jim Murphy, as follows: Chairman: J. O’Sullivan; Vice-Chairman, B. Ryan; Secretary, F. Murphy; Treasurer, P. Murphy; Development Officer, D. Gowen; Youth Officer, M. Sheehan; Cultural Officer, L. Ó Laochdha; PRO, G. Lane; Coaching Officer, D. Keohane; Central Council delegate, D. Cullinane; Munster Council delegates, J. O’Sullivan and P. Murphy.