McCarthy admits he does not have backing of Cork hurlers

[Reillers]

I think Frank should go for the good of Cork GAA but if Gerald goes the 08 panel can come back and play this year so for a short term solution to get Cork back on the field then i think Gerald should go now and then get CP involved to sort things out at the end of the year.

I think that's probably the best idea. Short term and then take it up again at the end of the season, because not only do Cork fans not want to see their team relagated, the GAA can't afford to have Cork relegated. Hurling has a limited amount of top teams in it, they can't have afford to have them in the lower league and the lower league can't afford to have them in their with them.

Not to mention the fact that the GAA actually can't afford to loose Cork to the Christy Ring Cup. Cork fans are never outnumbered when it comes to provinicial and the AI. The GAA and Munster will loose so much money if Cork don't field their top team.
Not to mention how it'll affect Cork GAA.

I think that idea though, is probably the best.

I hated the idea and the players never wanted it either, that the players were on the panel that picked the team. They don't pick the manager, they were right in taking the stand in which they did, but they don't want to pick a manager.
Obviously I think some system, player reps, but not players maybe.

[Zulu]

No big sacrifices for the 2008 panel then ?.

I don't think they have anything to give, while some might suggest some of the players should step aside i don't think any future manager would want that. I know if I was offered the Cork job I'd wabnt to be able to pick the best players as I saw it, now I mightn't pick some of teh players on the 08 panel but I'd want them all to be available to me. The CB took a chance last year by reappointing Gerald and it has backfired on them, time for them to face reality and accept that they are just there to facilitate those who play the games.

[INDIANA]

Not to mention the fact that the GAA actually can't afford to loose Cork to the Christy Ring Cup. Cork fans are never outnumbered when it comes to provinicial and the AI.

Pure hyperbole. Nobody or anything is indispensable. That includes Cork.

[orangeman]

No big sacrifices for the 2008 panel then ?.

I don't think they have anything to give, while some might suggest some of the players should step aside i don't think any future manager would want that. I know if I was offered the Cork job I'd wabnt to be able to pick the best players as I saw it, now I mightn't pick some of teh players on the 08 panel but I'd want them all to be available to me. The CB took a chance last year by reappointing Gerald and it has backfired on them, time for them to face reality and accept that they are just there to facilitate those who play the games.

The 2008 panel will only be managed this year by someone who will be prepared to take them all back. That much is fairly assured.

I'm not saying they anything to give, but most commentators at the heels of the hunt are saying that ALL sides are guilty of wrong doing in this dispute and have not conducted themselves appropriately and have not acted in the best interests of the GAA or Cork hurling.

It would seem unfair, therefore, would it not that there should only be casualties on one side, i.e. Frank and Gerald ?.

[Zulu]

The 2008 panel will only be managed this year by someone who will be prepared to take them all back. That much is fairly assured.

I would say that is entirely incorrect, all the players want is a good manager, if they got that and he decided that some of them weren't up to scratch and dropped them, i'm sure there wouldn't be any problems. Anyway all the main protagonists are definitely worth their place on the panel at least. If only Gerald goes now then neither side have really given up anything, FM and his buddies will still be there until the end of the year at least and then it can be reviewed by CP.

The reality is that nobody, including Gerald, gains anything by him staying but if he goes then Cork can at least get their best players back on the field.

[orangeman]

The 2008 panel will only be managed this year by someone who will be prepared to take them all back. That much is fairly assured.

I would say that is entirely incorrect, all the players want is a good manager, if they got that and he decided that some of them weren't up to scratch and dropped them, i'm sure there wouldn't be any problems. Anyway all the main protagonists are definitely worth their place on the panel at least. If only Gerald goes now then neither side have really given up anything, FM and his buddies will still be there until the end of the year at least and then it can be reviewed by CP.

The reality is that nobody, including Gerald, gains anything by him staying but if he goes then Cork can at least get their best players back on the field.

I wouldn't be at all sure about that now. I wouldn't like to the manager who would drop Donal Og or as you describe them "the main protaganists" - you know what happened Gerald when he called for a long puck !

But this is fairly academic cos it's not going to happen. The 2008 panel will already have their "preferred" manager in place. And besides, who apart from their "preferred" man would actually touch the job ? Gerald Mc Carthy's life has been made miserable by this dispute.

[orangeman]

Bridge Over Troubled Waters
Ewan MacKenna
Ray Ryan was a nobody in the hurling world but after the 2008 panel walked, he was left to captain Cork and live out a waking dream amongst the heckles and abuse

Red alert: current captain Ray Ryan has criticised the 2008 panel for walking away and while he admits they are not doing it for self gain, he believes they have gone about solving the current situation in the wrong way Come. Pull up a chair, empty your heads and open your minds. With all the artillery that's been going off on either side, it's not often you hear those calling out from no man's land. It's where Ray Ryan has been lying largely unnoticed since December, watching the shells fly overhead and seeing more than the odd one land a little close. On a night out in Cork city recently, he left a pub only to have a group of women fire off the words "captain scab" in his direction. It was far from the only time that phrase had been spat out at the county's 2009 on-field leader.



Undeterred he's arranged to meet in the city centre and suggested he'll wear his Cork hoodie. His attire is not so much to make a statement but so you'll actually recognise him. And it's needed because a hurling history of Ray Ryan is brief and largely irrelevant. Now 27, he'd never hurled for Cork at any age, never won a county title until last season but points out that he does have a seven-a-side Kilmacud title in his possession. Little wonder he was better known in sporting circles as Pat Ryan's younger brother for years on end.




There was that one time when he got close to following family footsteps. Back in 2006 when Sarsfields reached a county semi-final and he was named centre-back on the Cork club team of the year, he was asked along to trials. Reckons it went well too, but when the call never came he decided to get real and moved on. Then late last year the phone did ring. It was his clubmate and county selector Teddy McCarthy on behalf of Gerald McCarthy, asking him to come on board for the game against St Colman's.




"There were mixed emotions. Usually it's the call every hurler is looking for but at the time I was a bit iffy. I was wondering if I'd be treading on peoples' toes. With Teddy I knew which side he was coming from so I didn't ask him for advice. I'd seek that from other sources like family and friends but the one person I wanted to clear it with most was Kieran Murphy. It was a very difficult position for him as a member of the 2008 panel and the fact we've always been very, very good friends.




"But I had a very good chat with Kieran and he would never stop anyone playing for Cork. At the time we all thought it would be sorted before long anyway. He'd go back to his old duties with Cork and I'd filter back in with Sars. But he's a club man first and was delighted in one way that we all [Ryan and his Sarsfields clubmates] got the call and I even got a phone call the morning of the Tipperary game from him telling me to enjoy Semple Stadium. He is supportive and I know for a fact he wants to be back with Cork. He just wants to play hurling. But I can understand his allegiance to the 2008 panel because they have to stick together."




With Kieran okay with the idea, the other he sought counsel from was Pat. Man of the match in the 1997 All Ireland under-21 final, the player that rocked and rolled Clare when coming on for Mark Landers in '99 and a senior panellist into and beyond the millennium, big brother was far from keen. He suggested Ray wait and see how the situation played out and became more vocal when telling his brother that he listened to but never heeded advice. Given the situation at home, you ask what it was that made Ray join the 2009 side?




"The thing for me was my age and I wondered was it worth getting this hassle to play for Cork. For any 19-, 20-, 21-year old to get a chance to show what they are about, the minute they were asked it should be an automatic yes. But me? I suppose the best way to put it is that for years I was a fan and I'm of the opinion it should be a privilege to play for your county. I understand the problems the Cork players from last year have but I don't think they are going about it the right way. Like Pat was involved in the 2002 strike but I think that it's different this time. What they are doing is not right."




You mention the jersey a lot but does that honour not come from the achievement that you are one of the best 30 players in your county which this group is not, you ask? Does that honour not come from working hard and being good enough rather than by default which is the case with you and your team?




"Let me put it this way. If you wear the jersey at minor, junior or senior, you are still getting to wear it, still getting to play for your county. We are representing the best players Cork have to offer in the National League. There's honour in that. There's honour in playing under Ger Mc. I was at the CIT [Sigerson Cup] game Wednesday and the two best hurlers on view were Ger O'Driscoll and Chris Murphy who are on the Cork panel. It just shows how good a trainer Ger is. The players that are on form with club or college seem to be the players he is taking care of. So there is loads of honour there.




"And given what I've seen of Ger Mc I was surprised at some of the stuff people said about him. Brian Cody said a very good thing. You are never going to get a manager everyone gets on with. I've had club managers I didn't like, I didn't agree with, but they are still the manager, you do what they say and try to impress them. But that's the way last year's side feel, they've had him for two years, I've only had him for two months. You could say we don't know what it takes to win because we haven't been involved. Guys like Seán Óg, I'd admire them hugely and idolised them over the last few years and of course they know what it takes to win but they made a decision and aren't playing."




As for the guys that are playing, it hasn't been easy on or off the pitch. Ryan admits he felt moral dilemmas ahead of the game against Colman's and that there was a general unease in the dressing room. Part of that came from the lack of natural evolution that most senior county panels have gone through. They were like an under-12 team coming together for the first time with no cohesion and no knowledge of each other. But while they are gradually overcoming that, realism is still everywhere. "The likelihood is relegation and being beaten by Tipp in the championship but that doesn't mean we are half-paced in training and so on," he admits. But a bigger worry remains off the field.




"You mentioned scab earlier. I love that word. I've heard it a lot but I'm big and old and able to take it on the chin but I think that's way out of line and very unfair on the young fellas who are giving everything to play for Cork at the minute. Fellas who use this lingo are not true supporters. Words like that will have an impact. The harsh realism of this is these guys are going to play for Cork in the future and this isn't going to endear them to that experience very much.




"These people don't know anything about hurling. You can see you're getting looks when you are out and about and people are disgusted and think if we weren't there the whole thing would be sorted. But that's not true. It's impossible for the 2008 panel to get everyone to walk away from playing for Cork. I don't think they are on strike for self-gain, but they have made a mistake. They should have three solid months of training done already. At the end of the day they should want to represent Cork and that's all we're doing. That doesn't deserve abuse. It's sport and people are taking this way too far. We're just a bunch of guys playing hurling for Cork."



Before his voice is again lost in no man's land, you mention the GPA. He refuses to comment but adds that it's clear they don't want this Cork team in, that they refused a group that never wanted to be members to begin with and that Dessie Farrell need not lose too much sleep because they couldn't really care. You mention Frank Murphy as well but he says he's had no influence other than the odd pat in the back and the odd word of congratulations in the dressing room.



So what now for Pat Ryan's younger brother? "I do sometimes imagine a sunny day at Semple Stadium in the championship. But on Sunday against Galway I get to walk up for the toss with my head up and chest out knowing I'm captain of Cork. People can say what they want about me now but they can never take that away from me."


emackenna@tribune.ie

[Reillers]

The 2008 panel will only be managed this year by someone who will be prepared to take them all back. That much is fairly assured.

I would say that is entirely incorrect, all the players want is a good manager, if they got that and he decided that some of them weren't up to scratch and dropped them, i'm sure there wouldn't be any problems. Anyway all the main protagonists are definitely worth their place on the panel at least. If only Gerald goes now then neither side have really given up anything, FM and his buddies will still be there until the end of the year at least and then it can be reviewed by CP.

The reality is that nobody, including Gerald, gains anything by him staying but if he goes then Cork can at least get their best players back on the field.

Everyone who has coached these lads except Gerald and some of his team, have had nothing but good things to say about the players. That's Donal O Grady, John Allen..etc. and all of their backroom teams. Nothing but excellent things to say.
None more profesional, hardworking, willing to learn.
Everyone but the CB's yes man. They have said that they (and they shouldn't even have to say it) have no problem with players coming in. They were pushing and asking questions to why Naughton wasn't starting in 06.
Leigh Desmond, you'll find the interview on youtube, said that they were so welcomining they're treated like they were part of the winning team.

[Reillers]

http://www.examiner.ie/sport/idojojidmh/

Saturday, February 28, 2009

'Where's the common sense here?'
By Michael Moynihan

THE PRESS conference was coming to a close, and final points were being made by the 2008 Cork hurling panel to the assembled media in the Maryborough House Hotel at the end of January. One of the last to speak was one of the older players, though one with a relatively low media profile.

"All we want is the best for Cork hurling," said Timmy McCarthy. "We are proud here in Cork. We love hurling. Everyone loves hurling in Cork and we want the best."

That wasn't the last visit the 2008 players paid to the Maryborough House Hotel, of course. At home in Castlelyons this week, McCarthy recalled last Sunday's meeting with the club chairmen and officials.

"Before we went in we were apprehensive — there was a feeling out there that it was 50-50, or maybe 60-40 in favour of the players. We thought we'd be facing a hard enough night, but the moment we walked in the people in the room stood up and clapped. We were thinking 'what's going on here?'

"It was great to see that, and great to see the junior clubs get their say. Some of the people who spoke mightn't have been politicians, but they said what they wanted to say, and it was heartfelt.

"One guy — I played junior against him myself — spoke about what was happening and what it meant to him and to his club. They won the first All-Ireland for Cork. It was genuine."

It's not so long since McCarthy's club, Castlelyons, was soldiering in the junior ranks. He can identify with the frustration felt by junior clubs. "We would have felt as a junior club you weren't making up your own mind when it came to board decisions, but up senior you can have your own say. At the meeting with the clubs someone said there that it was the first time they'd had a meeting like that without the county board being involved.

"Everyone could speak and there was nobody being shot down or ruled out on a point of order. They wanted to get their points across and they did; they were anxious to speak, to get things off their chests.

"I know the board has said this doesn't have any standing but the junior clubs are demanding that the board listen to them. They expressed the feelings at grassroots level, and if we get the same next Sunday week then I think there'll have to be progress. The board can't ignore these guys – that'd be wrong. We're all part of the one structure. If the board ignores them it's like a kick in the teeth for them."

McCarthy feels the issue has become far too big to be swept under the carpet.

"Everyone should have a say in this. It's huge — it's all that anybody's talking about, even people who aren't involved in the GAA. Look, you know there are fellas in clubs who would buy a second pitch for the club if they won the lottery — it's their lives.

"These are fellas who've given their whole lives to their club, and they should all have a say. This has gone way past the executive — everyone should have their say, it's so big.

"At the mart, at the co-op, everyone wants to talk about it. Everybody has a solution, or a story about this fella or that fella. They're very annoyed about it and they can't understand why the county board were told that someone wasn't wanted, yet he was put in place.

"That's the thing that's killing fellas. The i's were dotted and the t's were crossed, but common sense went out the window. They can say democratic votes were taken, but the spirit of the thing, the good of Cork hurling, that was thrown out the window."

McCarthy stresses the 2008 players are as united as ever, despite repeated rumours that some panellists will return to play for Gerald McCarthy. "I was speaking to someone involved in a big rugby club in Limerick recently, he couldn't get over how united we were, the camaraderie.

"And the mood is getting stronger every week, to be honest. Fellas realise this is a huge thing that has to be solved because it means so much to us. The younger lads are driving this. It'll bond them as a team, too — they're making a stand, and hopefully when it's sorted, they'll think 'this was worth fighting for, now we must get something out of it and win'. They can see that, and they'll get more aggrieved and intense about it as the weeks go on."

McCarthy acknowledges that he's close to the end of his career but stresses the importance of the stand the players are taking.

"Everyone says when their career is over that they have no regrets, but we would have regrets that this has happened.

"It's sad that we didn't finish our careers at the peak, but it would mean an awful lot to us if we manage to solve this, having stood up for it.

"Okay, it would be a regret not to play the last year, but so be it — it would be better to stand for something and to improve the situation for players in the future.

"It's time for change to happen. Everything changes, everything moves on. There has to be an appetite for change if you have more than 400 club officers in a room in the Maryborough, and they all want to talk about this. Common sense has to come into it."

[youngfella]

Well what to the cork people make of todays sham? There going down the tubes faster than leeds!

[anglocelt39]

You could almost be forgiven for concluding that the future is bright for Cork Hurling. I mean here we have at least 30 guys who reckon they know all there is to know about GAA Coaching and GAA administration, well they are certain in their opinion that they know a hell of a lot more than the current incumbents. What a future stands before the leesiders when the class of 08 eventually graduate to coaching and administering. Though now that I think about it, didn't that Leeside giant Roy Keane know it all about Soccer management back in 2003 when he was playing the game. Turned out of course that he knew F@#@#@ all when it was put up to him, complete with an open cheque book. But maybe that sort of argument is a bit too subtle for some of the current protagonists.

[orangeman]

Fascinating interview with Ray Ryan that shows just how bitter and divisive the situation is.

He has some very interesting things to say about Gerald and FM in it.

FM must have a few things on Ray as well.


Interesting comment about Kieran Murphy.

[muppet]

You could almost be forgiven for concluding that the future is bright for Cork Hurling. I mean here we have at least 30 guys who reckon they know all there is to know about GAA Coaching and GAA administration, well they are certain in their opinion that they know a hell of a lot more than the current incumbents. What a future stands before the leesiders when the class of 08 eventually graduate to coaching and administering. Though now that I think about it, didn't that Leeside giant Roy Keane know it all about Soccer management back in 2003 when he was playing the game. Turned out of course that he knew F@#@#@ all when it was put up to him, complete with an open cheque book. But maybe that sort of argument is a bit too subtle for some of the current protagonists.

I'd safely say they know more about coaching than you do about irony.

[heffo]

The 2008 panel will only be managed this year by someone who will be prepared to take them all back. That much is fairly assured.

I would say that is entirely incorrect, all the players want is a good manager, if they got that and he decided that some of them weren't up to scratch and dropped them, i'm sure there wouldn't be any problems. Anyway all the main protagonists are definitely worth their place on the panel at least. If only Gerald goes now then neither side have really given up anything, FM and his buddies will still be there until the end of the year at least and then it can be reviewed by CP.

The reality is that nobody, including Gerald, gains anything by him staying but if he goes then Cork can at least get their best players back on the field.

They were pushing and asking questions to why Naughton wasn't starting in 06.

So not only do they want to veto the manager, they want to pick the team too? No wonder they were happy with their former masseuse as 'manager'..

Perhaps someday when the sponsored cars go back, the sponsorship launches dry up and RTE no longer give the ringleaders a platform they'll realise it was about playing hurling and not all the other external shi*e.

[Reillers]

Oh typical CB 1,200 they say at the match. The official attendance.   Lord, there was barely 600. It was counted on rte 1..63 in the open stand, 27 in the Blackrock End, 500 in the covered stand.

The worst preformance from the team yet.