Murphy ‘central’ to Páirc revamp

The redevelopment of Páirc Uí Chaoimh has been cited as the central reason behind the proposed new changes to the Cork County Board’s administrative structure.

At a board meeting on Tuesday night, it was announced the board was seeking to fill the newly-created title of administrator, a job which willencompass many of the duties carried out by secretary Frank Murphy.

According to county board PRO Tracey Kennedy, it was felt thatMurphy’s assistance was vital inoverseeing the works at the county ground, which are due to begin in the near future.

“This is a critical time for Cork GAA,” she said, “and the runaí’sexperience and involvement with the project has been so central that we could not do without it.”

Last year, the board was informed that Murphy had agreed to remain as secretary for an extended one-year term.

While it might have been expected that Murphy would retire after that, such an eventuality was never confirmed, and instead that meeting last October was informed that the county’s administrative structures would be reviewed after that.

Usually, county secretaries are appointed to seven-year terms, but in these exceptional circumstances,Murphy will have a three-year term and so will the new administrator, who will be appointed by next February.

“It is a full-time rule and the position will be advertised soon,” Kennedy said.

“This is a one-off situation, but the ideal scenario would be that the person appointed to the role of administrator would then take over as secretary.”

The new administrator will have responsibility for fixture planning, as well as looking after the county’s full-time coaches and the day-to-day running of inter-county teams, overseeing the Cork GAA Strategic Plan and routine financial matters. In addition to his stadium redevelopment duties, Murphy will retain responsibility for overall county board operations including financial, administrative and policy matters, and he will also deal with sponsorship issues.

Meanwhile, Maurice Horan has been re-appointed as Limerick football boss for another two years. The Mayo native’s initial two-year deal as manager ended after his side lost out to Kildare in the third round of the qualifiers in July.

Horan, who previously served as selector under Mickey Ned O’Sullivan, was the only name put to the Limerick football board for theposition this week and will be officially ratified into the position at the October meeting of the county board.

“I am thrilled to be involved again next year,” said Horan.

“The last couple of years have been very encouraging and the number of young lads putting their hands up to play football for Limerick is a real boost.”

In his first year in charge of the Treatymen, Horan led Limerick to the All-Ireland quarter-finals for the first time, where they eventually lost to Kerry.

This year Kieran McGeeney’s Kildare needed extra time to kill off the challenge of Limerick.

Tom McLinchey has been appointed Limerick U-21 football boss afterserving the last two years as county minor manager, while Dermot Casey takes charge of the minors.