More uncertainty over motions

GAELIC GAMES: Considerable uncertainty remains over the prospect of Rule 42 even being debated at the GAA Congress in April. All 11 motions which this year called for opening Croke Park to other sports were last week rejected by the Motions Committee and sent back to the respective counties for correction, with 5 p.m. yesterday the deadline for resubmission.

But last night Wicklow admitted to being at least one county to have missed the deadline because of the time-frame for resubmissions demanded by the Motions Committee. According to county secretary Michael Murphy, Wicklow discovered their motion was out of order on Tuesday evening - 24 hours before the deadline.

"We'd read in the newspapers on Monday that all 11 motions were ruled out of order," said Murphy, "but we had heard nothing official from Croke Park. I contacted them first thing Tuesday morning, and apparently every county had been informed by email. We never were, and so we disputed that.

"Anyway, we were told we had until 5 p.m. on Wednesday to resubmit. Obviously we needed more time and we requested that, but they were very non-committal. So if they are strictly adhering to that deadline then our motion, for one, is definitely gone."

Like the other 10 counties, however, Wicklow were confused by the actions of the Motions Committee, a 12-man body that consists of the current and past presidents as well as director-general Liam Mulvihill, and whose role is to scrutinise all motions before they come to Congress.

This time last year that committee caused controversy by rejecting all eight motions related to Rule 42. As a result, a Special Congress decided last October that counties should be now be given time to resubmit corrected motions, and that the committee should in fact help to reframe them.

Yet a year on Wicklow and most of the other counties are left with the impression that the Motions Committee are once again trying to prevent any debate on the issue.

Wicklow were one of the eight counties also rejected last year along with Clare, Roscommon, Dublin, Cavan, Laois, Longford and Mayo. They are joined this year by Galway, Sligo and Offaly.

"The important thing about last year's Special Congress was that the committee would now have to point out exactly why the motions were not in order," added Murphy. "But they don't seem to be doing that. We were just told that rules such as 3, 4 and 5 would also have to be amended. Of course we know those rules deal with the aims of the association. Are we supposed to change to aims to include rugby or soccer? So I just can't see the reasoning behind making all these amendments.

"I don't know if they're trying to stop any debate at all, but that seems to be the impression."

Murphy, however, said if Wicklow were given time to resubmit their motion they would endeavour to get it right. But the Motions Committee are due to meet next week to determine what will be debated at Congress, and it remains to be seen how many motions will be even considered.

Of the other 10 submissions, it is known than Clare made yesterday's deadline - although former Munster Council chairman Noel Walsh added to the sense of uncertainty: "All I can confirm is that we resubmitted the motion based on corrections which we were given very little information about. And the time was also very short."

Meanwhile, Colm Cooper has made a swift recovery from the leg injury picked up in Kerry's defeat to Cork last Friday, and will start at corner forward for for Saturday's visit of Offaly to Tralee.

KERRY (SF v Offaly): D Murphy; M Ó Sé, A O'Mahony, M Lyons; T O Sé, E Fitzmaurice, S Moynihan; D O Sé, W Kirby; P Galvin, E Brosnan, P Kelly; D Quill, R O'Connor, C Cooper. MAYO (SF v Donegal): D Clarke; K Higgins, P Kelly, L O'Malley; G Mullins, J Nallen, P Gardiner; BJ Padden, J Kilcullen; J Gill, C McDonald, A Kilcoyne; C Mortimer, A Dillon, J Prenty. CAVAN (SF v Wicklow): J Reilly; M Hannon, C Hannon, AN Other; P Brady, P Reilly, A Gaynor; P Brady, P McKenna; M McKeever, M Lyng, S Brady; S Johnston, J Reilly, A Forde.