Cork GAA and Nemo Rangers reach agreement after dispute over Under 20 players

Club v county issue raises its head again after Nemo trio were warned their inter-county involvement could be jeopardised by training with their club colleagues for an U21 city division final

IN CHARGE: Ray O'Mahony, the Cork U20 manager, says he's happy the issue has been satisfactorily resolved. Pic: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

A row between the Cork U20 football management and Nemo Rangers over the availability of the club’s three Cork U20 players has been resolved, with the three remaining part of the county panel.

On Tuesday last, Nemo Rangers wrote to the Cork GAA executive and sought clarity at that evening’s county board meeting in light of their claim that Cork U20 manager Ray O’Mahony told them that Colin Molloy, Bryan Hayes, and Ross Corkery would be dropped from the Cork panel if they did not attend Cork U20 training on Tuesday and Thursday of this week.

The Nemo U21 footballers play Bishopstown this Sunday in the city division U21A final. It is one of three dates, along with the two previous Sundays, set aside by Cork GAA for the playing of U21 divisional championship games. These dates are to be free of inter-county activity, enabling Cork U20 panellists to line out for their clubs.

A problem arose, however, when Nemo and the Cork U20 management had differing views on who had access to the players in the week leading up to a U21 club championship game. 

Nemo defeated St Finbarr’s in the Seandún semi-final on Sunday, February 4. With Nemo having no game the following weekend, Molloy, Hayes, and Corkery trained with Cork last week.

This week, however, Nemo’s Tuesday and Thursday U21 sessions clashed with Cork U20 training, with a row subsequently breaking out as to which team the trio would train with. 

In an email sent by the Cork executive to clubs regarding the U21 divisional championships and the three dates set aside, it was stated that “this schedule facilitates the full availability of players to the county U20 squad on a weekly basis as their club teams exit”.

Nemo’s understanding of that communication was that while a club remained in their respective divisional championship, the players remained with their club.

At Tuesday’s behind-closed-doors Cork county board meeting, the Nemo Rangers delegate, on behalf of the club, sought clarity from the top table as to whether the club’s understanding of the above extract was correct. The response received was that availability to clubs applied to matches only. Nemo argued how this was not clear from the email circulated.

Starlet: Nemo attacker Brian Hayes

Colin Molloy, Bryan Hayes, and Ross Corkery ended up attending Cork U20 football training on Tuesday. On Wednesday afternoon, it was relayed to Nemo Rangers that the trio were excused from county training this Thursday and so could instead train with their club.

Moreover, they are similarly excused from attending a Cork challenge game against Galway this Saturday at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

When contacted by the Irish Examiner, Cork manager Ray O’Mahony said “as an inter-county manager, I am always mindful of dual commitments of players across club and county teams. I always hoped a compromise would be reached and delighted that one was eventually found."

The playing of the U21 divisional finals will bring the curtain down on U21 club activity in the county for the coming months. Cork’s opening game of the Munster U20 football championship is eight weeks away on April 10.

Following the conclusion of Tuesday’s board meeting, the Cork executive circulated a bulletin email of what had been discussed at the meeting. Of the 11 items outlined in the email, there was no mention of the Cork-Nemo U20 issue.

When announcing last month that members of the media would no longer be allowed to attend county board meetings, the Cork executive said a bulletin would be issued after each meeting containing the 'main discussion points'.