Kennedy looks to be an inspiration
Elected as PRO three years ago, Kennedy, a member of Killeagh GAA Club, was ratified as vice-chairman at yesterday’s convention, having defeated Richard Murphy of Lyre. In her acceptance, she mentioned the desire to get more women involved and expanded upon that afterwards.
“When I became PRO, it wasn’t something I had thought about a lot,” she said.
“But, when I came to the end of my term I realised that I might not be elected as vice-chairman and that would be the end of it again for a while at the top table.
“That’s a concern and, as I said in my speech, there’s no point being the first if you’re the only one, if there aren’t others following.
“It’s something we need to look at. There are so many women working so hard for the GAA, putting in a lot more hours than I do. It’s something we need to look at and it’s something I intend to look at.”
Having enjoyed much success as PRO, Kennedy felt her track record meant her gender was less of an issue in the election. With nine of the past 10 vice-chairman having gone on to the top job, any such concerns about her suitability in following that path look to have been extinguished.
“I wasn’t just any woman running for vice-chairman,” she said, “I’m a woman they know and they know my work. I have worked hard and the clubs have acknowledged that. That’s the overriding thing for clubs, to have somebody there who’ll work hard for Cork GAA.
“I suppose the biggest step was when I was elected PRO as that was the first time that a woman had been elected as an officer in any capacity. Moving on from there, it’s probably less of a step.
“I suppose there is the implication that, when you become vice-chairman, you could become chairman. I’m not taking that for granted at all, but, by electing a woman vice-chairman, the clubs are saying they are prepared to accept the idea of a woman chairman — whoever that woman may be.”
While not making any promises about what she hopes to achieve, Kennedy wants clubs to look closely at how county championships could be improved.
“Competitions are my main brief and we’re heading into the second year of a two-year championship cycle. We’ll be reviewing the championships and what I would hope is that clubs would give serious consideration to their format.
“It’s important to say that our championships aren’t too bad — there are problems obviously, and we’re all aware of those. I want to see clubs look at championships within the constraints, things like the inter-county scene and the dual-club situation, these are the things which impact most.
“Sometimes, clubs come up with proposals which wouldn’t be workable within those constraints, so I’d like suggestions which bear them in mind.”
And the title will remain ‘vice-chairman’, rather than ‘vice-chairperson’.
“It’s frequently used, for example Josephine Feehily is chairman of Revenue,” Kennedy said.
“It’s a word like ombudsman, it’s gender-neutral.”
The vote was 467 to 268 in Kennedy’s favour, while outgoing chairman Bob Ryan was elected Central Council delegate, an election also contested by Mick O’Loughlin and Christy Ring. He received 439 of the 740 votes cast and was elected on the first count.
Succeeding Kennedy as PRO is Edmond Forrest of Ballygarvan. He was declared elected on the third count, having garnered 290 of 738 first-preferences. Donal Leahy was the other remaining candidate after Derek Connolly and Cian O’Brien were eliminated.
Dan Hoare of St Catherine’s succeeded Tony O’Mahony as president, with Kevin O’Donovan and Noel O’Callaghan the new coaching and children’s officers respectively. Diarmuid Gowen and Marc Sheehan will be the county’s new Munster Council delegates.
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