Cork recall Mulvey in new effort to heal rift

Gaelic Games News round-upThe Cork County Board has recalled the Labour Relations Commission chief executive, Kieran Mulvey, in another effort to resolve the senior players' strike, which continues to cast considerable doubt on Cork's participation in the upcoming national leagues.

It has been suggested the parties would be better off calling in the likes of George Mitchell or even Kofi Annan, although Mulvey, who is working on the issue in a private capacity, did come close to finding a resolution last weekend before talks broke down after about 18 hours of negotiation between county officials and player representatives.

In the meantime, as expected, Cork's opening Football League Division Two game against Meath, set for Saturday evening, won't be happening then - but, crucially, is neither officially deferred nor postponed. A brief statement from Croke Park last evening merely confirmed the game "will not now take place as originally scheduled".

The fact that the game is not postponed, which would imply it would take place at a later date, puts the onus on Cork to come up with an early resolution. This was clearly the intention of the GAA's Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC), who met yesterday afternoon following Cork's request for such a postponement as decided at Tuesday's county board meeting.

"Any further decisions to be taken in this regard have been deferred," concluded the GAA statement, and Croke Park's press officer Feargal McGill added it was essentially up to Cork to find a satisfactory solution.

"I think the reality is that if Cork don't get to play their first game, then they'll want to withdraw from the league altogether," said McGill. "But as of now it is still up to Cork."

It therefore appears highly likely if Cork fail to come to some agreement before next weekend, which doesn't include a round of the football league but does mark the start of the hurling league, the CCCC will deem them unable to fulfil a fixture and expel them from the league, with automatic relegation.

There is no precedent for this situation, and under rule teams can be fined only for each unfulfilled fixture, which is awarded to the opposition. But given the importance of scoring averages in the league it would be highly impractical to progress on the basis that one team might or might not play all games.

Mulvey's recall is therefore crucial, although it remains to be seen how successful he can be. He was said to have come to a "90 per cent agreement" last weekend before talks broke down - and he continued to make himself available should the parties re-engage, but only on condition positions materially changed on either side.

His recall was one of the decisions made at Tuesday's county board meeting, which also gave unanimous backing to Cork's secretary Frank Murphy, and according to Cork press officer Bob Ryan, Mulvey was contacted yesterday.

"That's what was agreed, and I assume that is what's been done," said Ryan. "But we're not commenting any further . . . at this stage."

Tuesday's meeting ran late into the night, and attended by more than 100 delegates, apparently showed little sympathy for the players. Delegates also expressed full support for senior football manager Teddy Holland, maintaining he was elected to the position democratically, even though the footballers insist he must step aside if they are to resume playing duties.

Murphy, inevitably, got unanimous support.

Given such support, a resolution appears as far away as ever, and already doubts about Cork's participation in the leagues, and the future of key players, has attracted the bookmakers, Paddy Power rating Graham Canty as 5 to 4 to never play for Cork again and Seán Óg Ó Hailpín as 3/1 to never hurl again with the county. But the odds on Cork taking no part in hurling or football leagues are still 40 to 1.

Elsewhere, the rest of the country continues the countdown to the opening round of the football league, the new Galway manager Liam Sammon announcing his team for Sunday's Division One game against Laois in Tuam Stadium.

Pádraig Joyce is suspended from the Connacht league, and with Michael Comer injured, newer faces include defender Darren Mullahy, midfielder Mark Lydon and forward Fiachra Breathneach.

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte has handed league debuts to three players - PJ Quinn and Martin Swift at corner back and Shaun O'Neill at corner forward - for Saturday's opener against Kildare at Omagh.

GALWAY (SF v Laois): A Flaherty; K Fitzgerald, F Hanley, D Burke; N Coyne, D Blake, D Mullahy; J Bergin, M Lydon; N Coleman, F Breathneach, D Meehan; M Clancy, M Meehan, S Armstrong.

TYRONE (SF v Kildare): J Devine; PJ Quinn, C Gormley, M Swift; D Harte, D Carlin, P Jordan; K Hughes, E McGinley; C Cavanagh, R Mulgrew, R Mellon; C McCullagh, T McGuigan, S O'Neill.

CAVAN (SF v Armagh): J Reilly; M Brides, D Sheridan, K Fannin; B Watters, P Reilly, J McCutcheon; L Mulvey, J Cunningham; M Reilly, R Donohoe, A Forde; J O'Reilly, E O'Reilly, S Johnston.