Cork Board meets officials in bid to solve Sciath na Scol impasse

Sciath na Scol officials will learn tonight if Páirc Uí Rinn is to be made available by the Cork County Board to stage 12 schools football finals in November.

Sciath na Scol chairman Deaglán Ó Deargáin and secretary Mairead Ní Cheallacháin are to meet with Cork GAA chairman Ger Lane in a bid to resolve the impasse between the two bodies, stemming from the board’s refusal to allow 12 Sciath na Scol hurling and camogie finals take place at Páirc Uí Rinn last May.

Musgrave Park, at the request of Sciath na Scol top-brass, housed the affected games and a verdict is expected tonight as to whether the schools football finals could also wind up at the Munster Rugby venue.

Sciath na Scol chairman Ó Deargáin is confident the gates of Páirc Uí Rinn will be reopened. “There has been a lot of negativity in the past couple of weeks. What we need to do now is try and get things sorted,” he said.

A Sciath na Scol official was quoted in recent days criticising the board for their lack of clarity on the availability of Páirc Uí Rinn for the November games, slamming also the failure of club delegates to raise the issue at last week’s county board meeting. This was portrayed as an official Sciath na Scol statement. Ó Deargáin said no statement had been released and expressed his determination to rebuild bridges with the board executive.

“We need to sort out the whole problem, we don’t need to be fighting or arguing with the county board. We need to find a way forward and I believe we will find a way forward.

“There are issues, but we are working to overcome these issues. I was passing Páirc Uí Chaoimh recently. You could see they had knocked the two stands. That is going to be a fine development and we hope to play our games there in the future. That is where the children want to play. The children want to play at Páirc Uí Rinn. Do I see that happening? Of course, I do. There has been a bit of an impasse, but I do see us getting over it.”

Separate to their negotiations with the County Board, which included meeting with a sub-committee on June 23, certain Sciath na Scol officials have written to Croke Park seeking clarity regarding the provision of insurance cover for GAA activity at non-GAA venues. Having failed to secure the required letter of indemnity last May for the three days of action at Musgrave Park, the organisers were forced to buy their own insurance. They also had to purchase portable juvenile goalposts as they could not obtain a set.

The purpose of the letter is that if Páirc Uí Rinn is again off-limits, they are keen to move quickly in securing an alternative venue.

Meanwhile, the review process surrounding the present structure of the Cork hurling and football championships commenced last night with the first of the week-long consultative meetings.

The Competitions Control Committee, in a bid to ascertain opinions and observations on the current championship formats, sat down with all clubs who competed in the U21 A hurling and football championships in 2015.

Senior, premier intermediate and intermediate clubs, as well as the various divisional and college boards, will be met with over the coming days.

“This is a fact-finding mission and is easier than writing to the clubs and waiting for them to get back to us,” said senior administrator Diarmuid O’Donovan.

The three opportunities afforded to adult teams to advance to the first knockout round and the 12 to 15-week gap that traditionally awaits first-round winners are expected to be among the main issues raised by clubs.