Pat Horgan confirmed as new chairman of Cork GAA

Pat Horgan (left) with Andrew Murphy, St. Michaels and Harry Canning, Bon Secours.

Pat Horgan has ascended, unopposed, to the position of Cork GAA chairman. Horgan is the first Midleton clubman to hold the role.

Horgan has spent the last three years in the position of county board vice-chair. He also served, during this period, as chairman of the county's Competitions Control Committee.

Horgan will formally take the reins from outgoing chairman Marc Sheehan at county convention on Tuesday, December 12.

A recent focus of the new chairman has been restoring minor to U18 within the county and drawing up Cork's hybrid decoupling model, which allows players in their final year of minor to play at adult level from Junior A and below, to appease and assist small, rural clubs.

At the most recent county board meeting, Horgan said to keep minor at U17 would be a retrograde step and implored clubs to concentrate on “the bigger picture” and not be prioritised with “short-term gain”. The executive’s hybrid decoupling proposal received 68% support and so will come into effect in 2024.

Clonakilty's Noel O’Callaghan, who had been the county board safety and facilities officer, has been elected unopposed to the position of county board vice-chairman.

Outgoing county chairman, Marc Sheehan, is looking to move into Munster and take one of the county’s two Munster delegate positions.

Elsewhere, Tipperary have voted to keep their age grades at juvenile level on uneven years. Minor, consequently, will remain at U17 in the Premier County. A separate motion at this week’s Tipperary county board meeting to introduce an U20 age grade in place of the existing U19 and U21 age grades was defeated.