O’Sullivan wins race to be new Kerry chairman

PATRICK O’SULLIVAN was last night ratified as the new chairman of the Kerry county board after he defeated Johnny Mulvihill by 183 votes to 59 votes in the election at the annual convention in the Malton Hotel in Killarney.

The Dr Crokes clubman O’Sullivan comfortably reached the quota to ensure he will fill the hot seat vacated by Jerome Conway last night. Conway recently opted to vacate his role a year short of the end of his five-year term because he sought to stagger the exit of officers from the current executive.

O’Sullivan has served as vice-chairman of the Kerry county board for the last four years and also served in 2011 as the liaison officer to the Kerry senior football team, the chairman of the strategic vision and action plan implementation committee and the chairman of the juvenile fixtures monitoring committee.

Meanwhile, Conway hit out last night at suggestions that full-time secretaries of county boards should be answerable to their counterparts at provincial level. Peter Twiss became the full-time secretary of the Kerry county board in February 2010 and while praising his contribution, Conway expressed concerns over the interference in his role.

“We are fortunate to have Peter Twiss as our full-time secretary. It has to be said that he is a workaholic — spending hours away beyond the call of duty in the service of the board. The suggestion that full-time county secretaries should be answerable to provincial secretaries is ill-advised and, in our case, should be totally resisted. If this is the price we have to pay for the contribution we receive to his salary, it is a price too high and it should be rejected.”

After the county’s finances showed a profit of €€124,354 for this year, Conway praised those who had contributed to that healthy situation.

“Our finances are in reasonably good shape. We succeeded in making a substantial overall profit for the year for the first time in many years. We succeeded in reducing that cost of preparing the inter-county teams despite reaching All-Ireland finals in both football and hurling. The diligence of the liaison officers with the various teams must also be recognised in this regard. We are conscious that clubs are struggling to keep their own houses in order and we must endeavour to become more financially independent of them. This can only be done by increasing our income-streams.”

Meanwhile, a motion by the Dr Crokes club to shorten the timeframe in which the All-Ireland series is completed will be referred to a Croke Park committee after advice was given on the subject by Conway. Dr Crokes are seeking for the All-Ireland semi-finals to be played a fortnight after the All-Ireland quarter-finals with the All-Ireland final taking place two weeks after the semi-finals.

Another motion that Dr Crokes submitted that wanted extra-time be played in all inter-county championship games with the exception of the All-Ireland semi-finals and finals was subsequently withdrawn after they were informed by Central Council delegate Eamonn O’Sullivan that a motion in this regard is being prepared for Congress.

Defeated candidate for the chairman position Mulvihill warned that Kerry GAA faces serious challenges in the years ahead and insists that the organisation cannot look elsewhere to solve the employment problem crippling clubs in the county. “I firmly believe in Kerry GAA but there are many problems facing it, in terms of urbanisation, emigration and unemployment. The games, clubs and officials are in very good standing but we have to work very hard to survive. I would seriously urge the new county committee to look at the issues facing our clubs in the cost of running them and the problems with the fixture list. We also cannot be looking elsewhere for help when it comes to gaining employment for our players. I would call on each club to create three jobs this year and we have the enterprise to do that.”

Other new officer changes for the 2012 season will see Ger Galvin from Spa become the board’s vice-chairman after he defeated Michael McCarthy by 134 votes to 107 while Bernie Reen (Rathmore) became children’s officer, Tim Murphy (Brosna) was ratified as the development officer and Eamonn Whelan (St Senan’s) will be the new coaching officer.

See Digest for Kerry club fixtures 2012

Kerry County Board Officers for 2012:

Chairman: Patrick O’Sullivan (Dr Crokes); Vice-Chairman: Ger Galvin (Spa); Secretary: Peter Twiss (Milltown/Castlemaine); Assistant Secretary: Pat McTigue (Kerins O’Rahillys); Treasurer: John Joe Carroll (Asdee); Assistant Treasurer: Dermot Lynch (Annascaul); Central Council delegate: Eamonn O’Sullivan (Desmonds); Munster Council delegates: Willie O’Connor (Kerins O’Rahillys) and Bernie Reen (Rathmore); PRO: Maureen O’Shea (Ballymacelligott); Cultural Officer: Diarmuid Ó Sé (Dromid Pearses); Children’s Officer: Bernie Reen (Rathmore); Development Officer: Tim Murphy (Brosna); Coaching Officer: Eamonn Whelan (St Senan’s); Hurling Officer: Joe Walsh (Kilmoyley).