Successful year for North Clubs recalled at Convention

By Liam Hogan

The North Tipperary GAA division had a very successful year in terms of winning county honours said chairperson Michael Tierney at the North Board Convention held at the Hibernian Inn, Nenagh on Monday night.

Referring to the successes of Kilruane MacDonaghs, Roscrea and Lorrha, the chairperson said the three clubs deserve great credit for their success.

“It was a very successful year for our clubs on the playing field,” Tierney said.

“To have county champions from our division in three main competitions, Senior, Premier Intermediate or Seamus O Riain plus Intermediate grades. Kilruane MacDonaghs, Roscrea and Lorrha deserve great credit for their successes.

“Once again Ballina were to the fore and deservedly became County Intermediate football champions. I’m sure they will represent the division well at senior level next year.”

The chairperson, going into his third and final year, said that the various North Championships served up high quality and entertaining fare and he congratulated the various winners, including Nenagh Eire Og at senior level.

He went on to thank the officers of the North Board. He had a special word of praise for the CCC committee and also for John Delaney who took on the role of treasurer early in the year. He also praised Philip Delaney for his work as Secretary.

“The amount of work Philip does goes mainly unnoticed but believe me when I tell you that it is greatly appreciated by me and all our CCC,” he said.

“To Ciaran Timmons, our referee co-ordinator who at all times has gone about his work with dignity and courtesy.”

He also singled out Tim Floyd who is about to step down from the role of county secretary.

“We have been lucky to have had Tim Floyd as County secretary. Tim’s loss will be incalculable, but I would like to think we won’t see the last of him,” Tierney before movig on to mention those who we lost in 2022.

“It would be remiss of me not to give a special mention to Dylan Quirke. His death had an effect on every hurling supporter in the county and the outpouring of grief at his funeral was hearth breaking. To his family, his club, and his large circle of friends we think of ye tonight and offer our sincere condolences. May he rest in peace,” he concluded.

Secretary’s Report

Philip Delaney congratulated the various winners before going on to express his opinions on the possibilities of returning to the under 18 grade as well as fixture problems, games presentation and discipline.

“Going into 2023 there is a possibility that the county may vote to return to under 18 grade,” he began.

“There is a lot of speculation on whether 18-year-olds can play at adult level, if under 18 grading does get voted back in. For some of the bigger clubs they may manage to field teams without their 18-year-olds but for small rural clubs, 18-year-olds are needed to field their adult teams.

“At a County Board meeting on Tuesday 15th November, motions to reinstate the county U21 Hurling and Football Championships were carried unanimously by the delegates.”

Moving on to fixtures, the North secretary said that the division was lucky to be able to complete its fixture list but said that if Tipp qualified for the All-Ireland final the division would struggle.

“It would be a struggle to get the North Championship played as Clubs would be getting ready for the County Championship and the window to play a divisional championship may be too short of a lead time to the County Championship,” he warned.

“Going forward as a division the clubs and Board will need to make a decision on how to run our divisional championships if Tipperary progress in the All-Ireland Championship. The fixtures calendar is getting tighter even with a split season.”

On games presentation, the secretary would like to remind clubs of a number of issues in relation to games which need to be adhered to. He suggested a number of points.

1) Clubs must use proper slips when introducing substitutes during a game. Differentiate between Player and Blood Sub.

2) The team sheet should contain the number which a player is wearing on the day. It should also list the names of the team mentors. All mentors should be wearing bibs. For underage games (U19) the dates of birth for each player must be listed.

3) When team handouts are available on the day of a game, all players must wear the correct numbers as per team sheet. Whilst most Clubs follow these regulations, there continues to be occasions when they are not followed.

The secretary went on to express a sincere word of thanks to all the referees and umpires who officiated at our games.

“Without their commitment and reliability our games would suffer greatly,” he said.

“We have twenty referees registered within our division at present which is up five on last year. It is very unfortunate that the constant tirade of threats, abuse, foul expletives directed at our officials is on-going and is totally unacceptable. Referees and their Officials should not have to endure this, no matter what circumstances apply.

“There were twenty red cards handed out by referees, the standard of discipline in games in our division has dropped this year. The abuse from supporters towards referees has worsened in addition mentors are confronting referees and giving abuse after games.

“At present there are only two clubs in our division who have no referees. We will need to recruit five referees minimum every year for the next three years so we will have Referees to keep up with the number of games played. The board will ask all clubs to make every effort to recruit at least one new referee in 2023 as going forward our number of referees are being reduced every year.”

County Chairperson Joe Kennedy addressed the convention and congratulated the Board for completing a successful season. He said that the County Board and the Munster Council were in discussion about funding as he addressed a question from Gilbert Williams about funding the appointment of three new GDA’s in the county.

Election of Officers

The election of Patrick Murray (Moneygall) to the post of Assistant Treasurer was the only change to the list of officers. In addition, the CCC committee sees Delores McKenna (Portroe), Brid Morris (Borrisokane) and Michael Ryan (Nenagh Eire Og) returned as club representatives without a contest.

The list of officers for 2023 is as follows: President - Matt Hassett (Toomevara); Vice President - Donie Nealon (Burgess); Chairperson - Michael Tierney (Borris-Ileigh); Vice Chairperson - Brendan Shanahan (Portroe); Secretary - Philip Delaney (Borris-Ileigh); Assistant Secretary - Michael Kennedy (Lorrha); Treasurer - John Delaney (Newport); Assistant Treasurer - Patrick Murray (Moneygall); PRO - Michael Quinn (Kiladangan); Children’s Officer - Cora Moroney (Newport); Officer for Irish Language & Culture - Ronan Kenny (Roscrea-Inane).