O’Sullivan fumes over ‘scurrilous’ allegations

CORK County Board chairman Jerry O’Sullivan has described as ‘scurrilous’ allegations made in a Sunday newspaper last weekend that the county’s minor hurlers were not provided with a meal after their Munster MHC play-off defeat to Tipperary in Thurles in May.

A letter printed in the Sunday Independent claimed that the minor players were told to bring sandwiches with them in order to have something to eat after the game but O’Sullivan refuted those suggestions and insisted the team was provided with a meal.

“The letter that appeared in The Sunday Independent was utterly scurrilous. To suggest that the Cork minors were asked to bring sandwiches with them and that they weren’t provided with a meal is downright irritating.

“Of course they received a post-match meal after that game in Thurles. They received the same treatment as any other players involved with Cork and all of our inter-county hurling and football teams are very well looked after.

“I have no idea where this sort of talk came from. You can check with all of the minor management and the players on that team, and they’ll say the same.

“Why people go to the trouble of writing these things and why they end up being printed, I just do not know. Especially when the facts are wrong. I’m not sure if there is a hidden agenda here or what.

“But it is very annoying for us to have this talk going on.”

Meanwhile, O’Sullivan also expressed his annoyance at the anonymous personnel who are questioning the workings of the board in relation to the search for a successor for secretary Frank Murphy.

The long-serving official is set to bring his tenure in the role to an end in the coming months but despite criticisms from the Cork Club Forum last week over the handling of the situation, O’Sullivan insisted the board are acting properly.

“Similar to this issue with the newspaper article, it appears that a person can say or write anything anonymously.

“We just don’t know who these people are so we can’t deal with them. What is worse is if there is incorrect stuff in what they are saying. What really annoyed me is that we were accused of doing something illegally.

“The last thing we would ever do is something illegal and it’s grossly unfair to suggest that we are.

“The fact is that on September 1, 2009, I informed the board that a sub-committee of the executive, comprising of myself, Bob Ryan and Pearse Murphy, would be established to deal with this particular situation.

“We are continuing to do our job in that regard. We will first report to the executive and then we will report to the board. That report will take place in due course.”