Motions try to roll back time-limits on officers

The main motions to be debated at next month's GAA annual congress in Kilkenny will be the recommendations of the Rule Book Task Force (RBTF) and the proposals of the Hurling Development Committee to revamp the championship.

It won't be known until next week the precise nature of the RBTF report, which will be separately launched, whereas the HDC proposals have been in circulation for a while.

Among the other motions on the list of 31 are a couple of attempts to roll back the new rules on time limits for county officers. Cork County Board propose that treasurers should be exempt from these restrictions, which were initially suggested by the 2002 Strategic Review Committee and eventually passed into rule.

They place a limit of five years on county officers and Central Council delegates.

Kilkenny County Board propose that a rota be introduced to prevent entire officer boards having to leave office at once every five years - a change that would necessarily entail some officers staying on for a longer period than five years.

GAA President Nickey Brennan, a Kilkenny man, seemed unimpressed by the logic: "There's been a fair bit of change already and it's a fair few years since this was mooted."

The Killeevan club in Monaghan go a step farther and as well as introducing a new officer to county boards, the Hurling Officer - propose scrapping the five-year limitation altogether.

There are a couple of motions addressing the provincial and All-Ireland club championships. One from Athenry in Galway has already attracted attention and proposes to debar third-level colleges from participating.

Clonaslee-St Manman's propose that divisional teams be re-admitted to the championship (although East Kerry won the first All-Ireland in 1971, divisional sides have been excluded since shortly afterwards) provided the division represents no more than three clubs and a population of not greater than 6,000.

Kerry's county board proposes that the size of branding on jerseys be increased in total size (to include logo and name) from 200 to 350 square centimetres. This arises from a review of playing gear by a work group chaired by Kerry's Seán Walsh.The proposed transfer of Thomas Walsh from Carlow to Wicklow hit another snag last night when the Leinster Council decided that the request couldn't be processed because of a failure to comply with Rule 98 of the GAA Official Guide - which states that such matters must come through a county secretary or assistant secretary.

This is the second time that the transfer has been held up. It means the player is unlikely to be playing for Wicklow in the match against Meath in Aughrim.

TIPPERARY (NHL v Galway): G Kennedy; E Buckley, P Curran, A Byrne; E Corcoran, C O'Mahony, B Dunne (capt); S Maher, S McGrath; T Scroope, D Egan, L Corbett; E Kelly, D O'Hanlon, P Kelly.

WATERFORD (NFL v Tipperary): T Wall; E Rockett, T O'Gorman, M O'Gorman; S Briggs, K O'Keeffe, J Hurney; M Ahearne, P Ogle; B Wall, G Power, W Hennessey; S Cunningham, A Hubbard, L Ó Lionáin.

LIMERICK (NFL v Tyrone): S Kiely; D Carroll, J McCarthy, S Gallagher; P Ahern, P Browne, P Ranahan; J Galvin, T Carroll; S Lavin, J Ryan, J Cooke; J O'Brien, D Horan, D Reidy.

MAYO (NFL v Cork): K O'Malley; L O'Malley, J Kilcullen, K Higgins; E Devenney, B Padden, P Gardiner; P Harte, D Heaney; A Campbell, A Kilcoyne, G Brady; C Mortimer, A Dillon, A Moran.

CORK (NHL v Wexford): D Óg Cusack; C O'Connor, D O'Sullivan, B Murphy; K Hartnett, R Curran, P Kelly; K Murphy (Erin's Own), T Kenny; P Cronin, N McCarthy, T McCarthy; K Murphy (Sarsfields), N Ronan, J Deane.

DUBLIN (NHL v Limerick): G Maguire; P Brennan, S Hiney, T Brady; M Carton, R Fallon, D O'Reilly; J Boland, G O'Meara; L Ryan, D Qualter, D Curtin; J Kelly, P O'Driscoll, K Flynn.