McCarthy admits he does not have backing of Cork hurlers

[heffo]

What crime did the 2009 players commit only ensuring you weren't thrown out of the competition altogether. They knew what they were getting into? 3/4 of them Reillers are better than some of the 30 players , a lot better than them. Some of them are cleaning out inter county players , have won Fitzgibbon medals, are senior county champions in a top3 county and Humphries has the temerity to call them imposters and Junior C players. But thats ok, because "they knew what they were getting into".

Judging by your post it appears to me that only the 30 members of the 2008 panel have the right it seems to wear the Cork jersey at senior hurling level. Its an absolute rambling of a post.

Reillers you've directly insulted a lot of people as well, but you're quite happy to chastise people here for comments they have made, yet apply a different set of principles to yourself on comments you have made AND are quite happy to hide behind the anonymity that a message board provides you yet chastise others because they hide behind the same veil of secrecy?
You can add that as a reference for hypocrisy in any English dictionary.

I insulted who?

Your clubmate - 'Sideshow Bob' as you describe him
Cork PRO Gerard Lane - you referred to him as a 'p***k' (even though his job is to put forward the official view of the county board and the message he is conveying mighn't necessarily be one he agrees with
Frank Murphy - dozens of times
Any poster on this thread who's disagreed with you

Aside from all of those people you've insulted, I can't list any others..

I can see that you're deleting a lot of your posts after bobby-gate, but here's a couple of other beauties as a counterpoint to your open-ended question ' Who did I insult?':

"they (CCB) are a fuckin disgrace, Murphy is a disgrace and should be forced out and removed, how many skeletons did he threaten to bring out of the closet." - You now claim the CCB has a lot of 'good guys' on it

"it's about standing up to the bullies, ridiculous bullies that are the Cb and GMC" - I forgot that I had left out poor aul Ger Mac

"It's bullshit, you know it, I know it and it's all down to that piece of crap Murphy"

"Murphy is a disgrace and should be forced out and removed"

I know full well that I have not posted a single, well there was one I think, but a single post about him.

Can you explain what that means please? You appear to have emphatically denied then admitted insulting him in the same sentene.

Can you also clarify whether the 30 strikers who all stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity pool all monies received for commercial activities?

I think I half insulted him once. But that was it. And you really are one to preach.
The second part of your post is insulting to the players, which you have no evidence of, is breaking a rule on here when posting about personal finaces and like I said, petiness.

Another Reillers insult against a named individual:

"REILLERS about pat spillane :I dispise that man, the most biased langer, I've never taken a word he's said about hurling, never mind Cork, seriously. He hasn't a clue.
I remember after the draw that Cork should have won against Waterford after that controversial free, Sean Og was being interviewed and at the end said something like sure we'll bring it on again for the next day, or something like that, and the camera went back to the studio and Spillane turned around and said in the thickest Cork accent, Bring it on indeed. It was so pathetic.

I have no evidence that certain members of the Cork hurling panel are engaged in commercial activities arising out of their hurling profile and this is against forum rules??

I can't turn on a tv, open a newspaper or drive down a road without some leading member of the strikers peering back at me hawking something new each week - all I asked was whether they pool monies received or are they communists in the boardroom but capitalists as soon as they leave it???

Just a quick point about 'the draw that Cork should've won against Waterford' - I thought 'Ga' said in his speech that they'd accept being beaten by the better team - If I remember correctly Waterford were on top for the majority of that game with Dan Shanahan on fire and the free in was a perfectly good goal - I seem to remember Donal Og and a number of other players giving the ref an earful at the end of the game - it'll be a brave ref who'll give a free against Donal Og this year..

[passedit]

apologies if this has been posted before, i cant be bothered trawling through pages of the reillers witchhunt by the hypocrites.

Murphy's law in doubt as clubs threaten boycott
Gaelic games news Kieran Shannon
Under pressure: Frank Murphy's position is under threat

Cork GAA could grind to a halt next month if clubs are not granted a special convention. At a meeting in Clonakilty of up to 250 ordinary members representing 102 clubs on Friday night, the one unanimous decision taken was that every club should write to county board secretary Frank Murphy requesting a special convention to end the five-month dispute.

However, clubs indicated that if the board were not to properly revisit the issue of Gerald McCarthy's contentious reappointment as Cork coach, then all GAA activity within the county should cease at the start of next month, with clubs prepared to withdraw from local county championships run by the same executive.

Murphy's position came under fire at the extraordinary meeting in Clonakilty and the heat is likely to further increase on the 64-year old full-time official today. Thousands of Cork fans are expected to demonstrate their support of the 2008 hurlers and the current football panel before and during the latter's National League Division Two match against Fermanagh Páirc Uí Chaoimh today. The demonstrators will be assembling at 1.30 in Kennedy Park before marching to the stadium and taking up position in its uncovered stand.

In the past week over 45 clubs have voted over-whelmingly in favour of both the removal of McCarthy as county manager and a new process in which county board delegates consult and vote over vital matters. As of yet no club has voted in favour of the status quo, although on Friday night Glen Rovers voted to remain neutral on the issue.

Tonight club officers will again meet with the 2008 panel at the Maryborough House Hotel where it is expected the players will withdraw from the discussion and leave it in the hands of the clubs. The clubs will meet with the county board executive on Tuesday at the latter's request for a consultative-informative meeting. It is expectd that at Thursday's county board meeting in Pairc Uí Chaoimh the clubs will put forward a notice of motion regarding McCarthy's future and the process concerning county board delegares.

McCarthy is likely to be considering his position in the wake of recent developments. The 2009 hurling panel trained last Tuesday and Thursday in the absence of their manager who was abroad on a break for most of the weeik. Cork are due to play Clare in two weeks' time in the national hurling league.

Yesterday former Clare manager Ger Loughnane issued his support of the striking Cork hurlers. "By now every sensible person knows this dispute is not about player power. It's Murphy's power that is on the line."
March 8, 2009

[heffo]

apologies if this has been posted before, i cant be bothered trawling through pages of the reillers witchhunt by the hypocrites.

Murphy's law in doubt as clubs threaten boycott
Gaelic games news Kieran Shannon
Under pressure: Frank Murphy's position is under threat

Cork GAA could grind to a halt next month if clubs are not granted a special convention. At a meeting in Clonakilty of up to 250 ordinary members representing 102 clubs on Friday night, the one unanimous decision taken was that every club should write to county board secretary Frank Murphy requesting a special convention to end the five-month dispute.

However, clubs indicated that if the board were not to properly revisit the issue of Gerald McCarthy's contentious reappointment as Cork coach, then all GAA activity within the county should cease at the start of next month, with clubs prepared to withdraw from local county championships run by the same executive.

Murphy's position came under fire at the extraordinary meeting in Clonakilty and the heat is likely to further increase on the 64-year old full-time official today. Thousands of Cork fans are expected to demonstrate their support of the 2008 hurlers and the current football panel before and during the latter's National League Division Two match against Fermanagh Páirc Uí Chaoimh today. The demonstrators will be assembling at 1.30 in Kennedy Park before marching to the stadium and taking up position in its uncovered stand.

In the past week over 45 clubs have voted over-whelmingly in favour of both the removal of McCarthy as county manager and a new process in which county board delegates consult and vote over vital matters. As of yet no club has voted in favour of the status quo, although on Friday night Glen Rovers voted to remain neutral on the issue.

Tonight club officers will again meet with the 2008 panel at the Maryborough House Hotel where it is expected the players will withdraw from the discussion and leave it in the hands of the clubs. The clubs will meet with the county board executive on Tuesday at the latter's request for a consultative-informative meeting. It is expectd that at Thursday's county board meeting in Pairc Uí Chaoimh the clubs will put forward a notice of motion regarding McCarthy's future and the process concerning county board delegares.

McCarthy is likely to be considering his position in the wake of recent developments. The 2009 hurling panel trained last Tuesday and Thursday in the absence of their manager who was abroad on a break for most of the weeik. Cork are due to play Clare in two weeks' time in the national hurling league.

Yesterday former Clare manager Ger Loughnane issued his support of the striking Cork hurlers. "By now every sensible person knows this dispute is not about player power. It's Murphy's power that is on the line."
March 8, 2009

Oh Boo-Hoo - Kieran Shannon is an objective commentator if ever there was one..

[Reillers]

What crime did the 2009 players commit only ensuring you weren't thrown out of the competition altogether. They knew what they were getting into? 3/4 of them Reillers are better than some of the 30 players , a lot better than them. Some of them are cleaning out inter county players , have won Fitzgibbon medals, are senior county champions in a top3 county and Humphries has the temerity to call them imposters and Junior C players. But thats ok, because "they knew what they were getting into".

Judging by your post it appears to me that only the 30 members of the 2008 panel have the right it seems to wear the Cork jersey at senior hurling level. Its an absolute rambling of a post.

Reillers you've directly insulted a lot of people as well, but you're quite happy to chastise people here for comments they have made, yet apply a different set of principles to yourself on comments you have made AND are quite happy to hide behind the anonymity that a message board provides you yet chastise others because they hide behind the same veil of secrecy?
You can add that as a reference for hypocrisy in any English dictionary.

I insulted who?

Your clubmate - 'Sideshow Bob' as you describe him
Cork PRO Gerard Lane - you referred to him as a 'p***k' (even though his job is to put forward the official view of the county board and the message he is conveying mighn't necessarily be one he agrees with
Frank Murphy - dozens of times
Any poster on this thread who's disagreed with you

Aside from all of those people you've insulted, I can't list any others..

I can see that you're deleting a lot of your posts after bobby-gate, but here's a couple of other beauties as a counterpoint to your open-ended question ' Who did I insult?':

"they (CCB) are a fuckin disgrace, Murphy is a disgrace and should be forced out and removed, how many skeletons did he threaten to bring out of the closet." - You now claim the CCB has a lot of 'good guys' on it

"it's about standing up to the bullies, ridiculous bullies that are the Cb and GMC" - I forgot that I had left out poor aul Ger Mac

"It's bullshit, you know it, I know it and it's all down to that piece of crap Murphy"

"Murphy is a disgrace and should be forced out and removed"

I know full well that I have not posted a single, well there was one I think, but a single post about him.

Can you explain what that means please? You appear to have emphatically denied then admitted insulting him in the same sentene.

Can you also clarify whether the 30 strikers who all stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity pool all monies received for commercial activities?

I think I half insulted him once. But that was it. And you really are one to preach.
The second part of your post is insulting to the players, which you have no evidence of, is breaking a rule on here when posting about personal finaces and like I said, petiness.

Another Reillers insult against a named individual:

"REILLERS about pat spillane :I dispise that man, the most biased langer, I've never taken a word he's said about hurling, never mind Cork, seriously. He hasn't a clue.
I remember after the draw that Cork should have won against Waterford after that controversial free, Sean Og was being interviewed and at the end said something like sure we'll bring it on again for the next day, or something like that, and the camera went back to the studio and Spillane turned around and said in the thickest Cork accent, Bring it on indeed. It was so pathetic.

I have no evidence that certain members of the Cork hurling panel are engaged in commercial activities arising out of their hurling profile and this is against forum rules??

I can't turn on a tv, open a newspaper or drive down a road without some leading member of the strikers peering back at me hawking something new each week - all I asked was whether they pool monies received or are they communists in the boardroom but capitalists as soon as they leave it???

Again what's your point. I've never denied any of that. And really, don't you have something better to be doing then looking through every single post of mine.
And the petiness continues.
I'd love to know what you're watching or reading clearly it's not the same as what I am.
What are you talking about? What on tv, newspaper..etc hawking what? Who?
And again your are being ridiculous and pety with no proof. Communists, capitalists, what next, the big bad wolf grow up.

[passedit]

Oh Boo-Hoo - Kieran Shannon is an objective commentator if ever there was one..

More hypocrisy

[AZOffaly]

I've been on another sabbatical from this thread, but it does seem as if the worm has turned quite significantly against Frank Murphy and the County Board. From all I've read and heard from the Cork end, it appears as if the County Board are almost 100% wrong here. Not only did they set out to provoke a reaction from the '08 players, which was a given from day 1, but they have apparently being undermining and thumbing their noses at the very democracy that underpins our association for good or bad.

My position has always been that democratic decisions, even stupid ones, have to be adhered to, because to allow anyone veto that process means the end of that democracy in the first place. I don't care whether the vetoer is Donal Og Cusack, Frank Murphy or Pope Benedict.

However, it is becoming clear to me that what happened in Cork was not democracy in action, it was a group of leading, influential Board Officers determined to put manners on the players, and wielding their influence over club  delegates to bend them to their will. That is a disgrace and brings no credit to anyone who has let themselves be influenced in this manner.

With the votes coming in from the clubs, which is what I am interested in, rather than megaphones in Patrick Street or the Pairc, clearly pointing towards a complete rebuttal of the County Board's position, it is clear that in this case at least, the will of the clubs in Cork is not being served by their delegates or the county board.

For that reason I hope that, if they have any guts down there at all, that they do not allow Ger Mc to fall on his sword and then move on as if that is a panacea. This is root and branch territory. If The executive of the county board are that duplicitous and scheming, then they have ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT to be in the positions they are.

[Reillers]

apologies if this has been posted before, i cant be bothered trawling through pages of the reillers witchhunt by the hypocrites.

Murphy's law in doubt as clubs threaten boycott
Gaelic games news Kieran Shannon
Under pressure: Frank Murphy's position is under threat

Cork GAA could grind to a halt next month if clubs are not granted a special convention. At a meeting in Clonakilty of up to 250 ordinary members representing 102 clubs on Friday night, the one unanimous decision taken was that every club should write to county board secretary Frank Murphy requesting a special convention to end the five-month dispute.

However, clubs indicated that if the board were not to properly revisit the issue of Gerald McCarthy's contentious reappointment as Cork coach, then all GAA activity within the county should cease at the start of next month, with clubs prepared to withdraw from local county championships run by the same executive.

Murphy's position came under fire at the extraordinary meeting in Clonakilty and the heat is likely to further increase on the 64-year old full-time official today. Thousands of Cork fans are expected to demonstrate their support of the 2008 hurlers and the current football panel before and during the latter's National League Division Two match against Fermanagh Páirc Uí Chaoimh today. The demonstrators will be assembling at 1.30 in Kennedy Park before marching to the stadium and taking up position in its uncovered stand.

In the past week over 45 clubs have voted over-whelmingly in favour of both the removal of McCarthy as county manager and a new process in which county board delegates consult and vote over vital matters. As of yet no club has voted in favour of the status quo, although on Friday night Glen Rovers voted to remain neutral on the issue.

Tonight club officers will again meet with the 2008 panel at the Maryborough House Hotel where it is expected the players will withdraw from the discussion and leave it in the hands of the clubs. The clubs will meet with the county board executive on Tuesday at the latter's request for a consultative-informative meeting. It is expectd that at Thursday's county board meeting in Pairc Uí Chaoimh the clubs will put forward a notice of motion regarding McCarthy's future and the process concerning county board delegares.

McCarthy is likely to be considering his position in the wake of recent developments. The 2009 hurling panel trained last Tuesday and Thursday in the absence of their manager who was abroad on a break for most of the weeik. Cork are due to play Clare in two weeks' time in the national hurling league.

Yesterday former Clare manager Ger Loughnane issued his support of the striking Cork hurlers. "By now every sensible person knows this dispute is not about player power. It's Murphy's power that is on the line."
March 8, 2009

Oh Boo-Hoo - Kieran Shannon is an objective commentator if ever there was one..

Of course he is. Everyone and every article that has come out in favour of the players, which is a hell of a lot of people, all have hidden agendas, all are wrong,
the fans, oh there were less at the second march then there was at the first, there all just shopers anyway.
the players, just looking for comercial self gain.
the clubs, being led on a string by the players, (several hundred people)
the backroom staff, typical bias.
the journos, not objective.

Because God forbid the people who actually have that know what's going on are right. The reality is that everyone who knows what's going on has come out on side of the players. But that's just too much for some to except.

They all have to be biased right.
Like I said, the genuine ones have been seperated from the peti "hate the players" people on here, it's clear who they are by now.

[passedit]

if they have any guts down there at all, that they do not allow Ger Mc to fall on his sword and then move on as if that is a panacea. This is root and branch territory. If The executive of the county board are that duplicitous and scheming, then they have ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT to be in the positions they are.

to me that has been the nub of it from 2002 and before. The question is have they the guts?

[Reillers]

Reillers, no harm but when I read your posts its like groundhog day and it normally takes about 2/3 reads to try and figure out what you are trying to say.

If the clubs have allowed this to happen, who's to say it won't happen again. Alot of the grassroots need to do their own thinking and make their own decsions and not have a playing squad make stir them into action.

Is it true that Des Bishop is to get the fulltime secretary job when FM is ousted?

I was never the best with phrasing things, but I do my best to get my point across, even though it mightn't be the clearist.

The clubs have had enough, that's why, and when you go past that point you don't go back. Especially if a proper system is put in place, which it wasn't for years. The CB's "democracy" wasn't working.
The players didn't bring this to the clubs months ago because it was clear as day they wouldn't run with it, I'm still suprised enough that they did this time, but obviously they've had enough. You can only poke a dog so many times before it bites back. And the clubs have bitten back.
They wouldn't have done anything a few months ago because they didn't want to wake a sleeping dog because they wouldn't have been fully backed and would have been bitten, but ironically it's the CB who awoken a sleeping giant, the clubs, because through their actions of trying to take all the power back from the players, through their actions of that, they pushed the clubs one step too far. And here we are.

All the IC players did was hand the decisions over to the clubs and the clubs have ran with it. They made the calls, they even chaired last nights meeting.
IF Ger is gone in the morning the palyers will probably go back playing and leave the clubs and rightly so to sort out their business at CB level.
It's the way it should be.

That's right the clubs will attempt to clear up the mess and destruction left behind. We'll see how easy that is.
You already said you don't know where we go from here.

But the Munster chairman admitted the dispute was doing "untold damage" to the GAA nationwide.

And John Obrien "We have reneged on our responsibilities over the years and we need to address that now, but it can only be done through the structures of the association."
Quite consistent with what we have all been saying here but ironic since he has gone along with action outside of the structures and in breech of the Mulvey agreement.

But we'll see what happens. Don't forget what Nicky Brennan said about the county board being the authoritive body on managerial selection.

The players can't do everything, nor should they be expected to do so.
Clubs have to deal with club business. Clubs have taken over from the players on this way and most stand on their own feet.

[longrunsthefox]

If the people say so it must be tho I have been against the players till the clubs came out so strong. Donal Og was such a piece of work in the GPA debate now like the boy who cried wolf.   

[passedit]

You're right Reillers - I'm a joke, really I am, I can't read - can barely write - don't know anything, haven't a clue in fact -

A moment of clarity from a wholly unexpected source. I'm stunned.  

[AZOffaly]

if they have any guts down there at all, that they do not allow Ger Mc to fall on his sword and then move on as if that is a panacea. This is root and branch territory. If The executive of the county board are that duplicitous and scheming, then they have ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT to be in the positions they are.

to me that has been the nub of it from 2002 and before. The question is have they the guts?

The problem, passedit, is that in each strike up to now, the issue of the day was merely the symptom. I've said that from the first day and people are sick of me saying it I'd say. Up until this year, I've never really known what side of the fence to be on though. I supported the players in 2002, largely, I supported the County Board and Teddy Holland last year, and I laughed at the 'deal' that settled that. This time around I wanted to hear the full story, and what I've heard and seen coming from the clubs, the only people I care about really, leads me to believe that there is certainly something rotten in the state of Cork.

Shame on the County Board. But Shame on the clubs if they allow this to end up with Ger McCarthy resigning, and nothing else. Because the line out of the Green Fields of France would be appropriate here. 'Did you really believe that this war would end wars?'.

[orangeman]

You're right Reillers - I'm a joke, really I am, I can't read - can barely write - don't know anything, haven't a clue in fact -

A moment of clarity from a wholly unexpected source. I'm stunned.  

A moment of clarity from a similarly unexpected source - thanks for the opening - prophetic words indeed :


STEPHENITE : I couldn't give a f**k if 90,000 people march in favour of the former players, if 51% of them happen to be GAA members then they have the power to sort it all out.


PASSED IT : That's just bollox stephenite, there is only one man who has the power in Cork GAA and the reason he has it is because he has had over 35 years to consolidate it. People bleating about democratic process need to take their heads out of their holes. Cork GAA is a dictatorship that won't be changed by 'democratic means'.

There are none so blind as those who will not see

[theskull1]

if they have any guts down there at all, that they do not allow Ger Mc to fall on his sword and then move on as if that is a panacea. This is root and branch territory. If The executive of the county board are that duplicitous and scheming, then they have ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT to be in the positions they are.

to me that has been the nub of it from 2002 and before. The question is have they the guts?

The players can't do everything, nor should they be expected to do so.
Clubs have to deal with club business. Clubs have taken over from the players on this way and most stand on their own feet.

Is that a caveat you're throwing in there Reillers? Come on now. If they are doing this for the good of Cork hurling as they've/you've stated then surely they are going see this to it's natural conclusion. Sounds as if they/youre weaseling out. Surely they would know by now that the clubs have no balls without the strikers turning the screw behind them and they need their pressure to see it through?

[Reillers]

Monday, March 9, 2009
Cork board get rained on with their own 38

LOCKERROOM: The end is nigh for the Cork County Board in their long-running saga with the county hurlers, writes TOM HUMPHRIES

WE'RE GETTING to the end of an era in Cork. You can feel the smell of change in the air in a way that is irrevocable and unstoppable. Sometimes events just run away to a conclusion which those who engineer these things can never envisage.

Krusty, Sideshow Bob and the boys with the Acme Run The Board kit are the archetypal cartoon figures who have run out over the edge of the precipice but have kept running simply because they have refused to look down.

This past week will have caused them to glance downwards to see the nothingness beneath their feet. Club after club have expressed dissatisfaction at the way the affairs of Cork GAA have been run. From virtually everywhere within the People's Republic by the Lee there have been upsurges of support for the players.

The wind has been changing for some time. The Rule 42 business in Cork left a bad taste in many mouths and made sure that the enemies were piled high in the long grass. The county board got led this winter right into the long grass.

What a tide in the affairs of Cork. For Croke Park to do what they recently did, to feel the need to offer to run the key affairs of the Cork County Board is commentary enough on the sorry state of things.

For ten to twelve thousand people to take to the streets on a cold Saturday afternoon. For one of the greatest hurling teams of our age to be training away alone twice a week while a regiment of spotty imposters fill their jersey. For clubs to hold a series of extraordinary general meetings in order to get their hands back on the levers of their own democracy. For so many of those meetings to throw up the results they have.

For men and women to march together yesterday in the snow and the sleet singing "we're not shoppers anymore" in witty riposte to the dismissal of their last march as just a lot of people getting their Saturday messages.

Something has been rotten in the state of Cork GAA for a long time. Three Stripes. The various shaftings of Billy Morgan. Rule 42. Three strikes in a few years. That one of the premier franchises in GAA culture has been allowed to fall into such disrepair is a scandal which Croke Park are just waking up to.

You just have to walk around the crumbling edifice which is Páirc Uí Chaoimh to have it suggest itself to you as a metaphor for all that has passed.

A year ago the confederacy of dunces must have been telling themselves that night is darkest just before the dawn. The Mulvey agreement looked like a put-down for the suits and administrators. In the bunker, though, they figured out that the deal could be refashioned – if you lacked the goodwill to do anything more useful with it – into a skewer upon which your enemies could be impaled like olives on a cocktail stick.

The "process" which inserted Gerald McCarthy once again into a relationship which had broken down last summer was thus the instrument of revenge. It should have worked more effectively. A smarter confederacy would have used a different instrument than Gerald McCarthy. Somebody whom the players would resent but not go into uproar against.

But the humiliation of certain key players had to be complete and visible. It had to be the sort of appointment which gave rise to high fives and smirks down in the bunker. So they rammed Gerald back into the post and said like it or leave it boys.

It was a blunt instrument poorly wielded. Frank Murphy's weapon of choice in the political skirmishings he has survived and triumphed in down the decades has been the rule book and the lengthy speech. Used by an expert, the rule book has a stiletto's frightening facility for penetration. The blade doesn't slash or slice. It just brings a crushing finality to its victims.

Post Mulvey, the agreement itself which seemed like a breakthrough for the players was picked up and looked at in the cold light of day. What is an agreement but a set of rules. What is a set of rules but a weapon to be wielded by the one who masters them most comprehensively.

It was a high-stakes gamble which depended on there being as much fatigue among the general public as there would be among the players. Old dogs generally find new tricks problematic, however. Whatever little the board had learned in the Teddy Holland dispute the players had learned more.

This time the players went with the old rope-a-dope trick invented by the Machiavelli of boxing, Muhammad Ali. They lay on the ropes quietly and let the abuse and contumely rain down on them. If the dispute had to run to the spring so be it. The board and Gerald McCarthy blew themselves out. The leaking of facilitators' documents, personal attacks on several beloved players and an ever more shrill insistence that younger members of the Cork panel were straining at the leash to break ranks all backfired.

The new Cork panel, an unfortunate bunch of tyros willing to be cast in the role of blacklegs, fell into the habit of taking regular beatings which were neither colossal enough to provoke outrage or narrow enough to inspire hope. Instead of getting their big break they became irrelevant.

And in-fighting the rearguard action the rule book was pulled from the scabbard again. No more votes. In the interest of democracy there will be less democracy. This past week in Cork, though, democracy has burst from the grassroots as triumphantly and energetically as a geyser leaving the land and reaching for the sky. It is as unstoppable as a force of nature. The rule book has been turned against those who used it as both weapon and shield all these years. The players need only wait now for the light brigade from the clubs to restore Cork GAA to a welcome place of sanity and daylight.

And the vinegar pusses of the politburo will be with us no more. Liam Óg Shakespeare of Avon might have commented that ''tis the sport to have the engineer hoist with his own petard'. We prefer to reach this morning however for the lines of the bard of Los Angeles, Tom Waits, Small Change got rained on with his own thirty-eight.


Maybe this time it could be read without the dramatics of pretend horror.