Cork under pressure to make junior deadlines, Tracey Kennedy admits

Cork chair Tracey Kennedy has conceded the county will be under pressure to produce representatives in the Munster junior football and hurling championships.

Duhallow’s draw with Castlehaven on Sunday has had an impact on the county’s junior competitions. Following another draw the day before the senior semi-final, Boherbue are due to face Kilmacabea in a JFC quarter-final replay and Dromtarriffe have yet to play their last-eight match, while Newmarket are through to the semi-finals of the junior hurling championship.

The Cork junior football champions are due out against Limerick’s winners in a Munster quarter-final on November 10, a week before the junior hurling representatives face Clare or Tipperary opposition in a provincial semi-final.

A number of the Duhallow clubs are still involved in championships in other grades so there is an impact there when there is a replay,” admitted Kennedy. “Some of the championships will run quite tight with the Munster deadlines. We look okay for senior football and senior hurling unless there are more draws but we will possibly be under pressure with the junior championships.

As Cork tonight discuss proposals from Central Council aimed at freeing up more space for clubs in the fixtures calendar, there is an understanding that it must improve nationally. “We remain concerned that it’s difficult to finish our championships with the time we have left,” stated Kennedy. “It’s going to take creative thinking on the part of a lot of county boards, ourselves included, in terms of how we fit our championships into the time available. We have a group looking at that as part of our strategic plan.

“The erosion of time for our club championships and the pressure it puts on clubs is a major challenge.

I acknowledge that it’s nearly impossible to find a solution that is going to appease everybody in terms of the needs of the inter-county scene and the complexities of the club championships.

Having already debated some of the proposed experimental rules with county secretary Frank Murphy and former senior manager Brian Cuthbert being on the standing playing rules committee, Kennedy said the introduction of the sin-bin for next year’s Allianz Football League has strong support from clubs. “We looked at the handpass and the sin-bin was certainly one rule that came strongly from Cork. People were very much in favour of that. The zoning for the kick-out was also something we discussed and people had some favourable ideas about that.”

Meanwhile, there are hopes Murphy’s successor as secretary will be known at the end of the month, although Kennedy wasn’t in a position to comment on the matter.

“The process is ongoing and hasn’t been completed. We had intended to have it completed in September but then there were holidays between members of the interview panel and candidates not being available due to various things.”

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