We learned lesson from Cork saga, says Cooney

GAA PRESIDENT Christy Cooney said yesterday that the stand-off in Cork a year ago had influenced Croke Park’s decision not to get involved in trying to broker a peace deal between hurlers, management and county officials in Limerick.

Cooney and the association’s Director General, Páraic Duffy, are believed to be mindful that despite their involvement in the Cork dispute, it was only the resignation of manager Gerald McCarthy that broke the logjam.

In Limerick manager Justin McCarthy has refused to step down despite the disengagement of virtually the entirety of last year’s championship panel.

“We’ve learned from the Cork situation,” said the president yesterday in Croke Park, “and I suppose we didn’t resolve that either. Based on the research I’ve done over the past number of days in Limerick we believe the only way this can be resolved is as a matter for the county board.

“Over the past couple of days we have spoken to various parties in Limerick and we don’t believe our getting involved will add anything to finding a solution to the Limerick situation.”

The crux of the problem is the refusal of the players to enter negotiations on the basis that McCarthy might remain as manager. Their position has hardened since the autumn.

“The thing has gone on so long there’s bound to be entrenched positions,” according to Cooney. “That’s very difficult and maybe if it had been tackled earlier on we might have been in a better position to resolve the situation.”

Asked whether Croke Park was concerned that the national administration might become a mediator of first resort for local difficulties, the president said that they would always examine the extent to which they could usefully become involved. “We’ll always evaluate whether we can get help in a process or not and myself and Páraic (Duffy, Director General) have given this serious consideration. We’re not going to get the office of the uachtarán and the árd stiúrthóir involved just for the sake of it.”

Speaking about the new protocol for the appointment of managers and the accord with the Gaelic Players Association, due to be ratified at April’s congress, Cooney said that they would help in avoiding the recurrence of such situations and said that he had spoken to GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell about the situation in Limerick.

“It has to make a difference. We have to make sure that we don’t get caught in this sort of situation. These things have to be nipped in the bud very, very early and this is rumbling since November and it’s only last week that we were asked to intervene in the situation.

“It’s not very satisfactory to put it mildly but we’re hoping that very shortly we can come up with a protocol with the GPA that can be used to ensure that situations like this won’t arise in the future.

“It’s interesting that we have these problems in hurling areas rather than in football, which is sad because there are fewer hurling strongholds.”

He added that Limerick officials had been informed yesterday morning of the decision not to get involved.

Welcoming Tyrone’s decision not to consider further the banning of television cameras from their grounds in response to suspensions handed down to their players based on video evidence, Cooney said that counties had no right to derogate from national broadcasting agreements.

“Television cameras are going to be at matches,” he said. “Players have a job to do and we expect them to play to standards. We expect our referees to do a job as well that we all require.

“We’re not bringing anything special to overcome the situation because if you go through all our matches and there were television cameras at other matches at the weekend and we’ve heard no murmur about it. So let’s move on.

“Cameras are going to be there; it’s a fact of life.”

TIPPERARY (SH v Kilkenny): B Cummins; C O’Brien, P Curran, B Maher; D Fanning, P Maher, S Maher; B Dunne, S McGrath; S Hennessy, S Callanan, H Maloney; E Kelly, M Webster, N McGrath.

CORK (SH v Offaly: D Cusack; S O’Neill, D Cunningham, S Murphy; B Murphy, R Curran, S Ó hAilpín; J Gardiner, T Kenny; L McLoughlin, M O’Sullivan, N McCarthy; K Murphy (Sarsfields, capt), A Ó h Ailpín, P Horgan.

WATERFORD (SH v Dublin): C Hennessey; J Meagher, L Lawlor, N Connors; D Prendergast, M walsh, J Murray; J Nagle, R Foley; M Shanahan, K Moran, T Connors; S Walsh, G Hurney, S Molumphy (capt).

WEXFORD: (SH v Westmeath) D Flynn; E Doyle, P Roche, K Rossiter; D Stamp, C Kenny, R Kehoe; W Doran, C Farrell; D Lyng, PJ Nolan, D Nolan; R Jacob, S Banville, P Atkinson.