McCarthy admits he does not have backing of Cork hurlers

[The GAA]

if you were asking me to assess the level of likelihood that the threat is credibly from the continuity irish republican army, then i'd say no. the caller would have to quote a recognised codeword for that to be the case - otherwise any gobhite could make claims on behalf of any terrorist organisation

1. They haven't always done this.
2. Whos to say a member of said group didn't do it with his own gang of mates in Cork ? The IRA in the South have operated as supply cells in the past so probably would not even know such codewords as they wouldn't be using them.
3. How do you know they didn't use a codeword ?

4. And this is the most important one, why does it matter if someone did or didn't use a code word and was indeed, some gobshite threatening Ger on his own and not a paramilitary group. Is it ok then ?

This is stupid. There is no cira threat ffs. stupid.

[bingobus]

You are been petty and belittling this.

Does Ger McCarthy think that the CIRA called his house? No, very much not but some nutjob who supports the players (not linked to them but he could very well know that) took the time out to ring his house and threaten him via his daughter. His fear in all of this was the stress it wa causing his family and what may have happened next. When your 80 year father asks you to do something as a result you listen to it and see it for what it is.

Even talking of codewords is due bullshit and you are trying to prove this as been a prank.

Of course these threats have to be linked to the cork hurlers. It may not be their doing, intention and I'm sure they'll condem it but the sole reason these calls where made was to get Ger out of the job and the 2008 panel back on the field. Plain and simple. It wasn't becasue some boyo disagreed with the team he picked this year or last!!

There is not a chance in this earthly world this is a genuine threat from the cira. you know it and i know it. lets stop playing silly beggars around this. That there were d**kheads threatening violence against gerald is not disputed. it happens in the gaa on a weekly basis. there are gobshites everywhere. lets drop this melodramatic horseshit.

I've highlighted the bit above where I agree it wasn't the CIRA, never have i said it was the CIRA or even remotely think it was.

It doesn;'t f**king well happen on a weekly basis on the GAA, you clown.

[The GAA]

You are been petty and belittling this.

Does Ger McCarthy think that the CIRA called his house? No, very much not but some nutjob who supports the players (not linked to them but he could very well know that) took the time out to ring his house and threaten him via his daughter. His fear in all of this was the stress it wa causing his family and what may have happened next. When your 80 year father asks you to do something as a result you listen to it and see it for what it is.

Even talking of codewords is due bullshit and you are trying to prove this as been a prank.

Of course these threats have to be linked to the cork hurlers. It may not be their doing, intention and I'm sure they'll condem it but the sole reason these calls where made was to get Ger out of the job and the 2008 panel back on the field. Plain and simple. It wasn't becasue some boyo disagreed with the team he picked this year or last!!

There is not a chance in this earthly world this is a genuine threat from the cira. you know it and i know it. lets stop playing silly beggars around this. That there were d**kheads threatening violence against gerald is not disputed. it happens in the gaa on a weekly basis. there are gobshites everywhere. lets drop this melodramatic horseshit.

I've highlighted the bit above where I agree it wasn't the CIRA, never have i said it was the CIRA or even remotely think it was.

It doesn;'t f**king well happen on a weekly basis on the GAA, you clown.

were agreed that its not the cira so.

what doesn't happen ona weekly basis?

[orangeman]

You try and explain that to your daughter who is in the house when she receives a death threat - describing it as being melodramatic and horseshit is like Reillers, making light of a very serious event.

Sure the family shouldn't have taken it seriously at all and if they had any sense or brain in their heads, they would have laughed it off !!!!! For God's sake Gerald, they didn't have a recognised code word - are you for real - the Garda wouldn't waste their time with this sort of thing - sure they get loads of these calls to GAA managers every day of the week ! Don't you know that it's an occupational hazard,especially in Cork ?? Tell the wee girl there to cop herself on and have a bit of sense !

[The GAA]

I agree with all of what you say on a personal level regarding threats and the family.

It has nothing to do with the rights, wrongs and processes of the cork hurling dispute though

[bingobus]

You are been petty and belittling this.

Does Ger McCarthy think that the CIRA called his house? No, very much not but some nutjob who supports the players (not linked to them but he could very well know that) took the time out to ring his house and threaten him via his daughter. His fear in all of this was the stress it wa causing his family and what may have happened next. When your 80 year father asks you to do something as a result you listen to it and see it for what it is.

Even talking of codewords is due bullshit and you are trying to prove this as been a prank.

Of course these threats have to be linked to the cork hurlers. It may not be their doing, intention and I'm sure they'll condem it but the sole reason these calls where made was to get Ger out of the job and the 2008 panel back on the field. Plain and simple. It wasn't becasue some boyo disagreed with the team he picked this year or last!!

There is not a chance in this earthly world this is a genuine threat from the cira. you know it and i know it. lets stop playing silly beggars around this. That there were d**kheads threatening violence against gerald is not disputed. it happens in the gaa on a weekly basis. there are gobshites everywhere. lets drop this melodramatic horseshit.

I've highlighted the bit above where I agree it wasn't the CIRA, never have i said it was the CIRA or even remotely think it was.

It doesn;'t f**king well happen on a weekly basis on the GAA, you clown.

were agreed that its not the cira so.

what doesn't happen ona weekly basis?

That bit highlighted you posted.

Should Ger have laughed this off then? His father asking him to step aside. Thank god we don;t know how far these threats may have went - a brick through his window, his car damaged, physical confrontation, thankfully we'll never know.

You are completely offhand with this and trying to make out that it is a petty on Ger's behalf.

[magpie seanie]

I think its ridiculous to link these threats to the the cork hurlers - not that they're been given credence.

No one here said any such thing. You said it was ridiculous it was linked to the CIRA.

No - i said it was ridiculous to link it to the hurlers

Of course it was something to do with the former county hurlers. The following is undeniable - there was a threat, issued by a supporter of the former county hurlers who wanted to help them achieve one of their aims, that of removing Gerald McCarthy from the position of manager of the Cork Senior Hurling team.

It might be unfortunate from the former players point of view that some loon did this but to simply shrug the shoulders and say - "it was nothing to do with us" doesn't wash. Their position is the main reason. FM and the county board have been there for years and there have been no threats against managers so you can't really blame them for this. The players courted mob rule to try to get momentum behind their cause and as such have some blame on their hands for stuff like this happening.


As for whoever suggested that threats are a weekly occurance in the GAA - you'd have to wonder what planet some are living on.

[INDIANA]

You've really surpassed yourself with the codeword comment Gaa. I mean how is that relevent?
Hard to know where Cork Gaa goes after this. Will take years to repair.

[The GAA]

You are denying that there are threats of violence every week on gaa pitches up and down the country?

[The GAA]

You've really surpassed yourself with the codeword comment Gaa. I mean how is that relevent?
Hard to know where Cork Gaa goes after this. Will take years to repair.

abot as relevent as attributing these disgusting threats to the cira

[bingobus]

You are denying that there are threats of violence every week on gaa pitches up and down the country?

    Cause thats the same. Total distatchment with reality, have you been drinking or smoking stuff this morning?

[INDIANA]

You've really surpassed yourself with the codeword comment Gaa. I mean how is that relevent?
Hard to know where Cork Gaa goes after this. Will take years to repair.

abot as relevent as attributing these disgusting threats to the cira

The thread hits a new low. We're now the discussing the semantics of how paramiliatary organisations issue threats. I'll leave you to it GAA. ( as he shakes his head in utter disbelief). Man what is this country coming to.

[The GAA]

Of course it was something to do with the former county hurlers. The following is undeniable - there was a threat, issued by a supporter of the former county hurlers who wanted to help them achieve one of their aims, that of removing Gerald McCarthy from the position of manager of the Cork Senior Hurling team.

It might be unfortunate from the former players point of view that some loon did this but to simply shrug the shoulders and say - "it was nothing to do with us" doesn't wash. Their position is the main reason. FM and the county board have been there for years and there have been no threats against managers so you can't really blame them for this. The players courted mob rule to try to get momentum behind their cause and as such have some blame on their hands for stuff like this happening.


As for whoever suggested that threats are a weekly occurance in the GAA - you'd have to wonder what planet some are living on.

Blamng the hurlers is about as sensible as blaming a soccer team for their fans rioting

The players' position was deliberately and calculatingly engineered by the cork county board and if McCarthy had had any cop on he wouldn't have stayed in the job when he was made ware of the conditions.

The players did not "court mob rule - that is completely twisting the facts - they pleaded with the cubs for help and go it overwhelmingly.
Those crowing about the proper channels and doing thingsthrough the clubs from the beginning can't have it both ways

There are threats of violence every week on gaa pitches.

[The GAA]

You've really surpassed yourself with the codeword comment Gaa. I mean how is that relevent?
Hard to know where Cork Gaa goes after this. Will take years to repair.

abot as relevent as attributing these disgusting threats to the cira

The thread hits a new low. We're now the discussing the semantics of how paramiliatary organisations issue threats. I'll leave you to it GAA. ( as he shakes his head in utter disbelief). Man what is this country coming to.

I'll tell you what this thread has come to -

a litany of posters who have thrown stones at the players for months, decrying their principles and integrity, looking for any reason to continue attacking them.

the last two accusatons left are the threats against McCarthy being attributed to the players by association and the perceived non pursuit of the county executive's head.

Each of the nitpicking has been stripped away but there'll always be something to cling to

[GalwayBayBoy]

One problem 'solved' – another one created

By Liam Horan

SURE, if only someone had told us. If only we'd known the Cork hurlers were driven all that time purely by an altruistic desire to see the clubs run the show, we could have been saved all the hassle.

There we were thinking they were power-hungry men, utterly disinterested in taking responsibility for their own inaction (well, Clare and Galway, but, like, come on) on the field of play last summer. When we put their strike (you know the one they promised to never go on again) down to a convenient search for a scapegoat, we were mistaken.

We thought we saw an almighty, defining struggle between the acquisitive GPA and the dull, grey, old, decaying, dated GAA – but, yet again, we were wrong.

It was all done, all that bloodshed and that heartache shipped, so that Russell Rovers could take its place among the nations of the earth. Oh, members of Randal Óg, I hope you are grateful! Citizens of Lismire, let you give thanks for evermore!

Down on your knees, St Colum's.

It was a masterful tactic of the hurlers to reveal their true motivation just at the last moment: not professionalism, not semi-professionalism, not better conditions, not richer food, not softer soft drinks. On a week when 'the small man' will be patronised in dispatches from the Norfolk Downs, how appropriate that the stars of Cork sport should so conclusively wrap up their epic (well, two weeks, give or take a day or two) crusade on the part of the small clubs of Cork.

Give us a break.

Quite how long can we expect this Coalition of Convenience to last?

A week? A month, tops?

Do you honestly believe the hurlers care a jot about returning power to the clubs of Cork? Where do you believe their allegiances truly lie: to a tiny club out west, or to the GPA?

And, is there a person in the land who would even attempt to argue that this notional club and the GPA share common ground in terms of their ideals and aspirations?

The GAA, as I have said on a number of occasions, is playing with fire. No-one is willing to tackle the GPA. Presidents come, hold their hand, and then back off: the next one does the same, but all the time, the GPA is permitted to gain a little bit of ground.

Of course, they deny that money is anywhere close to the heart of their 'struggle.' I, for one, see far too much evidence to the contrary. The GPA, as an entity, has no regard for the clubs of Cork, and Ireland. Individually, some, or many, GPA members may be clubmen non pareil, but when they gather to meet in Dublin, they don't talk about how the club at home might get a sponsor for a set of jerseys or a better programme of fixtures.

That's not where their true focus lies. Even they must be amused by how they have suddenly become poster-boys for those very clubs.

Supporters of the '08 panel make much hay of the claim that Gerald McCarthy was just a pawn in Frank Murphy's game. As if Gerald would be so easily used – but, after seeing how club after club have managed to march behind the players, one can only conclude that anything is possible.

Truly, the '08 players have scored a resounding triumph. They have convinced a cohort of GAA people in Cork that Gerald McCarthy is a patsy. We would never have thought it possible. People who know that's not true have told themselves it's true.

The players have managed to lay the blame for the last two years firmly – and exclusively – at his feet. No blame attaches to the men who crossed the white line.

And, not alone have they succeeded in securing a say in who should manage them, but now they may feel sufficiently emboldened to dictate the make-up of the county board.

Of course, the bandwagon has suddenly attracted huge numbers. That's bandwagons for you.

Out of nowhere, the compliant, the sheepish, and the look-the-other-way merchants have been dramatically empowered. This past fortnight or so, they have been rushing to microphones to denounce the ancien regime.

When the tipping point was reached, oh how they shouted from the rooftops: when the grand panjandrum really started to roll, many saw the political benefits of hopping aboard.

Cork County Board did not leave itself immune to a heave. Their displays of faux-democracy over the years – at least one of which could be said to have cost Christy Cooney an earlier stint in the Presidential chair – angered GAA people all over Ireland.

The board was not bullet-proof. The strategists in the '08 camp saw the gap and went for it. They got it right. They have won the day. They have weakened the county board – and Frank – to an extent that few could ever have anticipated.

The board has taken in so much water, it will scarcely survive in its present format. Even Frank could fall this time. Frank wouldn't expect many tears shed for him. But it is possible to feel precious little sympathy for Frank – and still believe the players weren't justified in what they have just put Cork through. It simply wasn't worth it. Who will the '08 players tolerate now? Who do they want as county chairman? Will the next manager be judged on his results too? Or will blind eyes be turned when 'their own man' comes up short?

Of course not. That won't suit at all. It will all be nonsense now. Cork GAA may have cured one problem – but it has created a new one.