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Sean Breathnach |
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Ag féachaint siar is feidir a rá go raibh bliain mhaith torthúil ag Coiste Chontae Chiarraí cé nár bhuamar Craobh Sinsear Peile na hEireann. I mbliana chuir foireann Chiarraí agus gach duine timpeall orthu a lán oibre isteach. Tá sé deacair do gach duine nuair a bhuatar ar fhoireann sinsear Chiarraí ach tá sé I bhfad níos measa don fhoireann agus na daoine a bhíonn timpeall orthu ar feadh na bliana. Dheineadar sár – iarracht agus chaitheadar morán ama ag ullmhú i gceart do chluiche Cleannais Peile na hEireann. Níor eirigh leo i mbliana ach mar a deir an seanfhocal “As an obair a faightear foghlaim” agus leamamíd go dian leis an obair. TYRONE'S VICTORY On congratulating the Kerry Team last year at Convention, I remarked on the manner and style in which they won the All-Ireland final. My comment did not rest easy with some commentators, who felt that I was ungracious particularly to Northern teams and their style that had won previous All-Irelands. I was merely pointing out the results that can be achieved when a team plays a free flowing game, which we did last year. In winning this years All-Ireland Tyrone proved that they are indeed an exceptional team, producing big game after big game all through the summer, and are indeed worthy winners of the All-Ireland title this year. Winning two All-Irelands in three years is a great feat, we congratulate you on your win and salute you on your brave recovery from grief and the pride and love you shared with your lost team mate on the day you won your All-Ireland title last September. SACRIFICES We are particularly glad that Jack O’Connor and his management team stayed in place for another year. The sacrifices that have to be made by the team management and players at county level to be successful are enormous. Large amounts of time spent away from families and friends now appear to be normal for successful teams. PLAYER WELFARE A lot has been written and spoken over the last 12 months in relation to the reward for intercounty players and managers. While no player or player group will ever call for players to be paid, there is however a constant need for player welfare to be to the forefront of any planning that will take place within the Association. The debate for monetary compensation for players, which to my mind is totally removed from and should not be compared to player welfare, will continue as long as Gaelic games are played in this country but more importantly while large crowds attend the concluding stages of our Championships. The accounts of Cumann Lúthchleas Gael at County, Provincial and Croke Park levels are totally transparent, that a large amount of money is being made from our championships in fact, that nearly all of it is diverted back into the Association at different units level is also fact. This has been strength of our association over the years. Every club officer and delegate on this floor tonight knows the difficulty and the struggle it is to keep clubs afloat. This is happening from an organisation that returns its monies in large quantities for the development of our grounds, coaching and promotion of our games. The diverting of these funds to other uses, namely players, will not in any way enhance the strength or survival of our games, at parish, town or city level. Real
player welfare can only be looked after by the county for which they
play and every county has different needs in relation to travel and
the amount of time spent by county players away from loved ones. The
only recompense should be to County Boards, whose duty as I see it is
to ensure that player welfare is well looked after. Player welfare is
not just about giving large amounts of gate receipts to players, it
is about ensuring that the best structures including training schedule
and games programme are in place in every county to ensure that players
feel and know that they are respected and looked after properly. INTERNATIONAL RULES The
Irish team trip to Australia this year generated a lot of heat on and
off the field. First and foremost we should be outright in our condemnation
of some of the indiscipline that took place by Australian players. But
I firmly believe that we are partly architects to encouraging this process
in allowing players that commit a serious offence, namely a red card
offence, to be replaced by another player. Punishment has always been a deterrent to a player who commits a foul, that is not the case with the compromise rules, but should form part of any review that is to take place before the next series of games are played. Calling for the series to be terminated I believe is a bit premature to say the least we have an agreement until 2010. We should work with AFL before the next series of games in updating the rules and making the necessary changes required for the success of series up to 2010 then and only then should we judge our own commitment to the series based on what we have seen by way of behaviour and commitment from the Australians. INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATION I firmly believe that players from the two teams participating in the All-Ireland final should not form part of travelling party when the series is played in Australia. Due to their involvement in the All-Ireland series it is most likely that their own County Championships are already well behind the schedule. To allow those players to take another three weekends out of the club football schedule when it is most needed is in no way fair to their fellow club players or the competition. The County Championship should be allowed run unimpeded after the All-Ireland final and the player should not be put in the position of choosing between Club and Country. The player that suffers most due to a County’s run to the All-Ireland final is the club player and he is asked to wait again while his fellow club player heads off to Australia for three weeks. It is having a serious effect on club players and club football. If players from the All-Ireland finals are not excluded from the tour, then the changing of the time of the series will have to be looked at to allow for the proper running of County Championships. RULE 42 - CROKE PARK Last April at Congress the issue of Rule 42 was finally put to bed. While in the main the debate was fair and balanced with speakers passionately voicing their opinions for or against the retention of Rule 42. The decision of the Kerry Delegation to support the motion giving power to Central Council to look at requests for the use of Croke Park during the development of Landsdowne Road was the right decision. In passing this motion the Association as a whole proved that it is a democratic organisation and can take brave decisions when required. Kerry supported the motion, that it was on the basis of Croke Park and Croke Park alone, and I want the message to go out loud and clear from this convention that it will take a decision of Congress to change the use of any other ground in the country for the playing of non GAA games, a decision I hope we in Kerry will never support. ÚACHTARÁN I would like to pay tribute to our own county Úachtarán Sean O’Ceallaigh for his stewardship over the last twelve months, and particularly during the whole Rule 42 debate. His leadership was strong and decisive, and he has earned the respect of all the country for his hard work and honesty for and on behalf of Cumann Lúthchleas Gael. A RICH TRADITION We have inherited a lot of things in this world from our ancestors and those of us involved in Gaelic Games in Kerry are extremely fortunate. We inherited a rich tradition and to date 33 All-Irelands in football and 1 in hurling. No other county in Ireland has inherited such a rich dowry. We are grateful and extremely proud of our success. These All-Ireland titles are a great source of pride for all of us and have been so down through the years. We are obliged for the future generations of GAA supporters to add to this treasury of titles. We have added some in the past ten years and will do so again. As William A Ward said: “Adversity cause some men to break, others to break records”. Our aim is to continue to break records and pass on an enriched chest of titles to our children and their children. CLUB v COUNTY In Kerry we place a big emphasis on winning All-Ireland titles. If we are not in an All-Ireland final there is a general air of doom and gloom especially within the GAA community. The question of players playing for their club and for their county is very relevant in this context. We in Kerry County Board believe we always do what is best for the county. We will continue to do so and it is you, delegates and your clubs that will dictate the road ahead for all of us. We
will have to ask ourselves some tough questions in the weeks ahead.
I am going to ask some of those questions to us all tonight: Delegates times are changing, there are too many demands on some of our players and more players do not get enough games. The answer may not be a conflict between county v club. We have to be brave and look outside the box as we know it and come up with solutions that do not drive wedges between ourselves. Why should we raise to the bait of Club v County? Both club and county have served us well down through the years. We have always played as a team. I believe we continue to do so and as always we in Kerry will lead the way. To paraphrase a well-known saying “ ask not what your team mates can do for you, ask what you can do for your team mates”. The clubs in this county and the county team players are a collective team promoting the best for Kerry. Let us all work together to come up with solutions that help us all move forward playing games and winning All-Ireland titles, not so called solutions that divide our collective team. SIOBHÁN COTTER Ba mhaith liom fíor chornhbrón a deanamh le Oifigeach Cultúra Liam Mac Coitir, a bhean cheile Teresa agus a iníon Sinead tar éis bháis a iníon Siobhan dhá mhí o shoin. D’oibrigh Siobhan go dian, dicheallach as son forbairt daoine óga anseo i gCiarraí agus mar Iar Úachtarán, Comhalháil Naisiúnta na nÓg . Bhí an bhaint aici chomh maith le eagniocht Scór sa Chontae. Seachtain roimh bháis dí toghadh í mar runaí a Choiste Scór. Dhá bhlian o shoin bhunaig agus déagraigh sí Scór Na bPaisti dos na Scoileanna Naisiúnta sa Chontae. Ba mhinic fresin bhí sí ina bhean a tí chumasach i gcraobhacha Cheannais Scór Na nÓg agus Scór sinsear ní amháin i gCiarraí ach i cCuige Mumhan. Ní bheidh a léitheid arís ann. Go ndteanna Dia trocaire ar a anam dílis agus go dtuga sé sonas na bhflaihis dí. It was with extreme sadness that we learned of the death of Siobhán, she was somebody with a big heart and gave freely of her time and energy for the betterment of others, not alone in Kerry but all over the whole country. You could not be but impressed by Siobhán Cotter and the huge amount of people that turned up to pay their respects at her funeral in Tralee and Churchill proved that indeed she was a very special person for a lot of people. She touched all our lives and I am glad to have known Siobhán as a friend as indeed she was a friend to mankind. HURLING Our internal competitions once again drew huge crowds to our games with both our Senior finals drawing record attendances. As the Runaí said in his report, club hurling was never as strong in the county, and this was borne out by Lixnaw in the Munster Championship who went so close to pulling off a famous victory in Thurles. That the same passion and pride for wearing a Kerry senior hurling jersey is not there is self-evident. The blame game now seems to be more relevant than the real game. I said last year the restructuring of the league and championship now gave Kerry a realistic chance of winning both competitions. It is plain to see by everybody that with the right commitment that the Christy Ring Cup would be well within our grasp. With the addition of Paudie Butler to the management team with a coaching role it is hoped that all players good enough to represent Kerry at senior level will do so. As I have said on numerous occasions in the past Kerry will not be successful unless all our top players line out for the County, the necessary structures are now in place in relation to a fitness programme and a coaching programme for the senior team, the time has come to put up or shut up in relation to Kerry Hurling. Success will come if we can go forward as one team, management, players and the clubs, but I will stress because of our small base it takes all three singing from the same hymn sheet for any future success and we should look to the huge fillip that winning the Christy Ring cup gave to Westmeath and the welcome it received when it visited the clubs and schools in the county, I have no doubt that the same welcome would wait Christy Ring in Kerry. SOUTH KERRY The county football final also drew record crowds to Killarney even if the final had to wait until mid November to be played. That families from Clare, Limerick, and Cork travelled to Killarney to see the genius that is Maurice Fitzgerald still proves the attraction of star players and they were not to be disappointed. In winning the senior final South Kerry added the final part to the jigsaw that saw them win senior, minor and U-21 titles. South Kerry are now reaping the reward for work done on the ground. Success only comes as a result of hard work and a lot of hard work by a number of people over a long period of time is now paying rich dividends for South Kerry. In congratulating your present Chairman Pat Everett I am congratulating everybody past and present responsible for these great successes. TIM KENNELLY The heading “Death of a Legend” in last week’s edition of the Kerryman was very apt and to the point. Tim Kennelly will be long remembered as one of the greatest centre backs that Gaelic football has known. The word colossus has to be used sparingly but can be used without reservation when applied to Tim. He acquired the status of Legend in his own lifetime which is testimony as to how he was rated as a player and the admiration and respect he earned from colleagues and opponents alike. The honour of filling the No 6 jersey of Kerry was upheld before him by such noted exponents among others as O’Sullivan Brothers Phil and Joe, Bill Casey, Jackie Lyne and John Cronin and this tradition was continued by the Gentle Giant from Listowel. The remarkable service as minor, U21 and senior player was matched by the service he gave to his club Emmets, his county Championship team Feale Rangers and his Province Munster. His dedication to his team was matched by some but not surpassed by anyone, as I know from personal experience as a colleague with Feale Rangers and an opponent with Moyvane. I hope the Listowel sod rests lightly on your big, kind and generous heart. BUÍOCHAS I would like to thank the sponsor of all our Kerry teams Kerry Group. Their continued support is very much appreciated by everyone. I would like to express our thanks in particular to Director of Corporate Affairs Frank Hayes for his help and support at all times. To all our other sponsors I also say Mile Buíochas. As our accounts show running County Board is now a business and indeed a big business with over three and a half million euros in income shown on our accounts. It takes at all times maximum prudence and vigilance in relation to expenditure to ensure that County Board finances stay in a healthy state. Reaching an All-Ireland final allow us the opportunity to do some extensive fund-raising as can be seen from the accounts. I would like to thank everybody involved in these ventures, from the Corporate Banquet in Killarney, to the Golf Classics in Dublin and London, without people willing to put time and effort into these ventures our finances would suffer greatly, mile Buíochas do gach aoine. I extend a sincere thank you to my fellow officers for time and effort during the year and the large amount of work done through their respective committees. I would like also to thank the GAC for their work in controlling and running the games programme during the year and particular the Chairman Peter Twiss. I have no doubt that Peter must have looked reluctantely at my number coming up on his phone during the summer. County teams and club fixtures can become a balancing act at different times but as I said earlier making what I consider the right decision doesn’t always find favour with clubs and I want to thank Peter and the GAC members for making what they consider the right decisions during the year. Éamon O'Sullivan continues to grow in stature in his role as Runaí, and often brings a calming voice to many a tense situation. Two All-Ireland finals in row make big demands on the administration process, dealing quietly and efficiently with the clubs has become his trademark. Éamon I want to thank you for your help, support and advice during the year. Leading up to all-Ireland final time the staff in the office become the busiest in the county, but always find time to deal with the public in a very courteous manner and often provide the Public face of Kerry GAA at ticket time. To Breda, Kate, Catherine and Laura I say Thank you for your courtesy and time. Ever
present and overworked Vincent - I say thank you. In
conclusion delegates, I thank you for your attendance here tonight,
for your continued support during the year. A year that saw the fortunes
of Kerry football reach dizzying height of delight following our victory
in the All-Ireland semi-final to the huge disappointment of losing an
All-Ireland final. I
thank you once again for giving me the privilege and honour of being
your Chairman for the coming year. I
wish each and everyone of you and your families a very happy holy and
peaceful Christmas and a very successful 2006.
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