Resurrected Redmonds plan to put turmoil behind them as they plan for 2019

Chairman Mick O’Shea has revealed he expects Redmonds to survive after all, despite the recent turmoil that befell the Cork city club.

In a dramatic U-turn, O’Shea sees light at the end of what was an extremely dark tunnel for Redmonds. It appeared their cause was doomed, but now the club is on the verge of a reprieve.

“We’re having an EGM on November 7 and, once we form a full committee, we’ll be going to meet the county board then with our heads held high,” O’Shea explained yesterday. “Thankfully, we now have great expectations that Redmonds will be saved.

“The county board will be represented at the EGM by Pat Horgan and he will chair the meeting.

We need to form a full committee with 11 or 12 of us. And if that is formed then, which we now know it will, we’ll be coming out fighting.

Since news broke of Redmonds’ demise, O’Shea has been bowled over by the positive response from the public. O’Shea, and those that were fighting what seemed a losing battle, were heartened by the reactions.

"We are in a much better place now. We essentially had nothing to work with, but the encouragement we have gotten from the public in our area, and even further out around the city and county, has given us a boost.

“We had a meeting on Monday and there was eight of us there, enthusiastic to get the club back on track. We are going to canvas the whole parish now, and the areas around us, for support.

“People have been brilliant, after it went public that we were in real trouble. You realise then what Redmonds means to people. I was pleasantly shocked at how highly thought of Redmonds was. It’s incredible, really,” O’Shea said.

Redmonds will be able to field a junior football team again in 2019, due to this development. The next step for O’Shea, and the newly-assembled committee, will be to regain a bar licence. However, they may have to go through a court process for that.

“The playing side of the club will be good to go next year,” O’Shea stated. “We then need to make a real push on generating funds and we need to reapply for a bar licence.

We have a couple of ideas in mind for fundraising. Hopefully, the greater GAA family might be able to get behind us. But we need to discuss our ideas first, in greater detail.

“The playing side of our club is the priority, for now. We’re on the right track, thankfully.

“Look, in a way, it was our own fault as we let the clubhouse deteriorate because we couldn’t afford to do it up. It got dreary looking.

“We were too reliant on the bar to pay for everything. We know we can’t do that from here on. We’ll get our new bar licence in the courts, though, if we need to.”