Cork stockpiled €386,000 for team holidays over five-year period

Sources within Cork GAA have confirmed that as part of a previous sponsorship agreement with Chill Insurance, a fund was developed to offset the costs associated with such a trip.

Wed, 14 Aug, 2024 - 18:03

John Fogarty

Over €385,000 was stockpiled by the Cork County Board for the purposes of team holidays between 2014 and ’19.

Across five accounting years, €386,250 was accumulated for the purposes of a holiday fund in the event of Cork reaching an All-Ireland senior final.

The practice began in the year following Cork’s All-Ireland senior hurling final replay defeat to Clare. Sources within Cork GAA have confirmed that as part of a previous sponsorship agreement with Chill Insurance, a fund was developed to offset the costs associated with such a trip.

In 2014, €143,000 of “contributions to players’ tour funds” was ringfenced followed by €61,250 in ’15. For each of the following four years, €45,500 was earmarked before it came to a halt during the pandemic in 2020.

Cork did not reach a senior final during that period, although their hurlers went on a trip to Tenerife in early 2022 following their All-Ireland final loss to Limerick the previous August. The cost of that trip is unspecified in Cork’s financial accounts.

For reaching an All-Ireland senior final, the participating counties are each issued a €80,000 grant by Central Council.

Cork will receive that amount for this year’s final appearance against Clare, although it is not certain they will be able to draw from the monies retained specifically for holidays during the previous decade or whether they were repurposed for initiatives such as training camps.

The Cork County Board were contacted by the Irish Examiner on Tuesday to ascertain if any of the accumulated funds would be available for Pat Ryan’s group but have yet to respond.

In 2021, a separate account marked for senior football and hurling funds was discovered to have €87,062. It had been largely dormant since 2011 and was included in the bank balances and accounts of the Cork County Board.

A squad holiday for an All-Ireland winning team is now estimated to cost approximately €500,000. In 2022, senior football champions Kerry’s trip to Dubai and Mauritius was €444,971, while as runners-up last year their holiday to New York was €301,068. In 2019, senior hurling winners Limerick’s trip to Cancun in Mexico cost €560,000.

The Irish Examiner revealed that at last week’s county board meeting it was announced almost €100,000 was raised by Cork across three sold-out preview events at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in the build-up to last month’s All-Ireland SHC final.

A large part of what was gathered is to go towards the team costs associated with the July 21 final.

It is anticipated Cork’s inter-county team expenses will exceed the €2m mark for 2024. Last year, the total recorded was €1.9m when Cork’s senior hurlers exited the championship in Munster.

Cork’s financial challenges remain sobering. The reconstruction debt associated with the stadium remains around the €30m mark. Almost €20m had been owed to the Bank of Ireland last year.

In early 2023, Central Council granted a one-year holiday on the loan before a new 25-year restructuring of the debt was agreed. Cork GAA must pay Central Council €636,000 per annum on a loan that amounted to €7.926m 11 months ago.