County Committee Report – 02/02/2021

The County Committee met on Tuesday February 2nd. County Chairman Marc Sheehan welcomed everyone to the online meeting , held on the Microsoft Teams platform, where there was in excess of 160 people in attendance. The minutes of the previous meeting, January 12th were proposed and seconded. In relation to matters arising from the minutes, the Chairman was happy to confirm that the Cork GAA match passes would be re-instated for board delegates.

On the matter of correspondence received, the Runaí said that disciplinary notice had been received from the Ard Stiúrthóir and this was being given due consideration.

Correspondence had also been received from several club and delegates. Sean O’ Neill (Castlehaven) asked would 2020 finals be played before 2021 championship and the Runaí said that would be the plan. Clonakilty asked about start dates for the leagues and it was said the that was under review and the Vice – Chairperson would discuss it more. Cloughduv asked when club training could resume and the Runai said it would be after county teams had resumed but that county teams were classified as elite.

Blackrock asked about county final winner medals being available and the Runai said that was under review and that the medals would go to tender.

Inniscarra asked about the playing of the County under 20 hurling championship. The Runai said no decision had been made as to when it would be played this year.

Courcey Rovers asked if the county championship would be at under 21 or under 20 and the Runai said Under 21.

The Chairman confirmed the management teams for both the Minor football (for 2 years) and minor hurling for 1 year), The Chairman wished them every success during their terms.

The Chairperson raised the upcoming Rebels Bounty draw. He said there was 7 weeks to go and that the support committee were engaging very actively with clubs. There was allot of work being done and he asked clubs to process the tickets early.

The Runai said the support committee had decided that only persons names would be allowed on the ticket. Direct debits will run on February 12th. He said all members of previous draw will transfer to the new draw. It is the responsible of the club to have the draws up to date.

The January progress report was proposed and seconded

A CCC report was given by County Vice – Chairperson Pat Horgan. He said the fixtures might have to go back a few weeks, but we should have the sufficient 14 weeks to run off the 2021 Championships and to play the 2020 Championships before that. Pat said Championships draws would be done when resumption of training is announced. Pat said it had planned to play league finals 2 weeks before championship, but league finals might have to be played at the end of the year. The Vice – Chairman concluded by saying the CCC are continuing to meet and will meet on Wednesday to discuss independent teams.

The Runai said all transfers apart from 4 had been approved and the 4 transfers were given.

Munster council delegate Ger Lane gave a report on the last Munster Council meeting held along with a report from the Munster convention which was held recently. Michael Byrne spoke in relation to Munster council grants and while there no grants given out in 2020 and unlikely in 2021, clubs should keep all their receipts for application on a later date

Central council delegate Tracey Kennedy gave a report from the last central council meeting.

The Runai said an application had been made for a derogation in relation to the awarding of league points in the County leagues, and also to allow plyers from Under 17 to play at under 21

In relation to the GAA Annual Congress a briefing will be held on Wednesday for the County Chairpersons and Secretaries and a special county board meeting will be held on February 16th to deal with the motions.

The Chairman congratulated Blake Murphy (St Vincent’s) on being selected on the Eirgrid top 20 performers from the Under 20 football championship form last year.

The Chairman wished a speedy recovery to Brid Stack following her recent injury in Australia. The Chairman thanked the IT Officer Terry Brady for his help in hosting the meeting and his continuing hard work.

Development officer Noel O’ Callaghan spoke about a seminar on sports capital grants next Monday February 8th and that details would be sent to all club secretaries.

Liam O’ Laochdha advised that a Webinar organised by Coiste na Gaeilge on the role of the Oifigeach Gaeilge sa Chlub was scheduled to take place on Feb 16th at 7pm.

The votes of sympathy were read out and the Chairman took the opportunity to pay tribute to Eamonn Ryan RIP.

The next county committee would be held on Tuesday February 16th to discuss the congress motion and the next regular meeting of the county committee would be held on Tuesday March 2nd.

Covid Update – 01/02/2021

A Chara,  

As you may have read or heard through media sources, a meeting of the GAA’s Covid Advisory group was held this evening. The meeting considered the question of a return to training for senior inter county teams. 

It was the view of the group that the incidence of the virus in the community remains at a level where it would be irresponsible for the GAA to permit a return to collective training at this moment in time. However, the group did welcome the significant and ongoing reduction in case numbers over the course of the last number of weeks and it was agreed to reconvene on the week commencing February 15th to further consider the matter.  

As the situation with the virus remains fluid, it is unfortunately impossible for the Association to put definitive dates in place for when inter county training or games may resume. However, there are positive indications in terms of the reduction of case numbers and the continued roll out of the Covid vaccine and as such, the commencement of competitions in the month of March is a definite possibility. In that context, we remain committed to providing at least a four-week window for teams between the return of collective training and the commencement of competitive games, and remain committed to running all of the various competitions that were outlined in the original Master Fixture plan published last December.  

In the interim, I would like to thank our players and managers for their understanding of the current situation and for co-operating with us in ensuring that collective training does not take place. I also wish to remind Counties that all pitches and gyms must remain closed for the time being.  

Finally, I want to re-assure Counties and Clubs that despite this necessary delay in getting the inter-county season up and running, we remain committed to ensuring a healthy portion of the fixture calendar is allocated to our clubs so that they can return to training and competition as soon as Government restrictions permit. We are also conscious that outstanding club games from 2020 and the remaining games in the 2020 Minor and U20 inter county competitions need to be factored into the equation in this context.   

We will issue a revised Master Fixture Calendar to address all of the above once a date for the commencement of the 2021 inter-county season has been agreed.  

Is muidne,  

Tomás O Riain              Seán Ó hÓráín

ARD STIÚRTHÓIR       UACHTARÁN

Award for Blake Murphy

Cork U20 football Blake Murphy has been selected in EirGrid U20 Top 20 footballers.

2020 winners were announced on Friday with Cork having one player selected.

Blake played a major part in Cork’s All-Ireland U20 success in 2019. Scoring a goal in the all important come back against Dublin in the final.

Upcoming Online Club Officer Training Events

Club Officers and Volunteers across all 3 Associations are invited to register in advance for more upcoming online webinars from the suite of modules offered under the Club Leadership Development Programme. This training is coordinated by the GAA’s National Officer Development Committee. 

Already, 22 webinars have been held as part of the programme, with over 1,200 Officers participating in the online sessions up to now. Role-specific webinars have been held across the four provinces, supplemented by workshops on the Microsoft 365 package last week. 

The coming weeks see a diversification in the training offering to Club Officers and Volunteers, with live webinars available via the Microsoft Teams Platform on Volunteer Recruitment, Data Protection, Essential Communication Skills and for newly appointed Irish Language & Cultural Officers.  

There are also further live workshops on the various Microsoft 365 applications available to Club Officers. 

These sessions are targeted at both newly appointed and existing Club Officers and offer an interactive opportunity to all attendees to enhance their own officer experience, as well as disseminating essential information on topics critical to the effective running of a GAA, LGFA or Camogie Club, especially in these uncertain times. 

Further details on upcoming modules are listed below. Registration remains open for all online workshops via the online Club Leadership Development Programme calendar – https://learning.gaa.ie/officertrainingcalendar. Participants simply have to select “registration link” next to the module(s) of their choice, complete their details and submit. They will then receive a link to the session in advance.   

 

Online Club Officer Training Workshops (next 2 weeks)  

Register for all modules in advance – https://learning.gaa.ie/officertrainingcalendar   

  • Recruiting, Retaining & Engaging Volunteers – January 19th @7pm  
  • Essential Training for Data Protection – January 20th @7pm  
  • Microsoft Teams (Intermediate Level) – January 21st @6pm  
  • An Ghaeilge sa Chlub – January 21st @7pm  
  • Microsoft OneDrive – January 25th @6pm   
  • Essential Communication Skills – January 26th @7pm  
  • Microsoft OneDrive & Forms – January 27th @7pm 

 

Kingston and Coleman nominated for All-Stars

Cork hurlers Shane Kingston and Mark Coleman have been nominated for 2020 All-StarsNames on the list of hurling nominations for the PwC All-Stars announced today (Saturday).It is intended that the presentation of the PwC All-Star awards will take place late next month in a TV show that will be in line with Covid-19 restrictions and will be confirmed in due course.