Limerick finances under ‘savage pressure’

Limerick GAA chiefs have estimated that a failure to secure a place in the top flight of the Allianz Hurling League is costing them up to €150,000 per annum.

Secretary Mike O’Riordan last night revealed that the GAA’s insistence on retaining a six team structure in Division 1A is placing ‘savage pressure’ on finances and may force the board to move their games away from the Gaelic Grounds next season.

In 2011 Limerick won the Division Two decider and secured promotion but were then controversially prevented from making the step up after Croke Park restructured the competition.

Since then John Allen’s side have twice contested the Division 1B decider but failed to progress and now face into a fourth season in the lower division following Saturday’s heartbreaking defeat to Dublin.

O’Riordan: “We have quantified the loss per annum as being somewhere between €120,000 and €150,000. We’re under savage pressure and it’s been like this for the last three years. Ultimately it’s the responsibility of every county board to look after their own ship but ever since 2011, when we didn’t get the promotion we had won, we’ve been feeling the effects.

“It’s especially bad now, more so for the limited company, Gaelic Grounds Limited, than the county board. We’re at the high end of the market here in Limerick, paying high rates, high water charges, electricity bills, and all those costs take their toll, but the way things stand at the moment the Gaelic Grounds is very much under-utilised as a facility.

“If we were playing the likes of Kilkenny and Tipperary every year, obviously you have a better chance of making money. It’s not just in the bigger attendance, the additional programme sales that goes with that, it’s in the goodwill factor. It’s a lot easier then to sell advertising space around the ground, a lot easier to get sponsorship.

“From a promotional aspect it doesn’t serve hurling very well when you have so many traditional hurling counties kept from competing at the top level. The work that has gone into hurling in Limerick over the last decade, at underage especially, means that you need to see the team competing regularly against the best.

“Next year, because of the costs involved, there is a strong possibility that we won’t be opening the doors of the Gaelic Grounds at all for the league, the games will most likely be played at club venues.”

Most of the top hurling managers have already spoken out against the system with Offaly and Wexford also stuck in the lower division.

O’Riordan continued: “We’re finding it a real challenge to meet all our costs, especially when you’re trying to maintain your county teams at a high standard. The lack of games really puts us under huge pressure.

Cork and Clare meet here next Sunday at 3pm (relegation decider) and that’s a boost but we could do with more of those high-profile games. These are tough times everywhere but it could be made a lot easier with a change of structure.”