Summer marketing blitz promised

GAA director general Páraic Duffy has promised the strongest marketing drive for the forthcoming All-Ireland senior championships.

Mindful of the Euro 2012 championships and Olympic Games in London this summer, Duffy assured Congress delegates in Killenard they will see a major promotion of the competitions in the coming months.

In a quiet start to Congress, Duffy expressed his disappointment at the lack of debate surrounding matters he addressed in his annual report such as discipline.

Duffy also briefed delegates on the Government’s new jobs initiative, ConnectIreland, which the GAA has agreed to participate in.

Congress backed the “Once Club Model” report, as delivered by Munster chairman Sean Walsh.

The recommendation of the Walsh-led committee is that integration of the GAA, the Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) and the Camogie Association (CC) as single administrative units in clubs be encouraged but not made compulsory.

Walsh also proposed the LGFA and the CC adopt the GAA constitution as their own.

Former Munster and Leinster chairs Jimmy O’Gorman (Waterford) and Sheamus Howlin (Wexford) were voted in as the two new trustees of the association, replacing Tipperary’s Con Hogan and Armagh’s Gene Duffy.

Howlin was nominated after the third count, with O’Gorman voted on in the fourth count.

Former GAA president Nickey Brennan, as outgoing chairman of the association’s IT committee, told delegates social media is not a fad but “a way of life” and said it is a medium that has to be fully embraced by the organisation.