Cooney opens door for Limerick solution

LIMERICK HURLING:CROKE PARK is prepared to intervene in the Limerick hurling crisis provided there is full commitment from all relevant parties to finding some agreement. This may come a little too late for the start of the Allianz National Hurling League, but according to GAA president Christy Cooney "it's never too late to find a solution", and there is now some hope the matter can be sorted sooner rather than later.

“The bottom line is that if all parties are serious about trying to progress a solution to the impasse that exists in Limerick, certainly we’d be happy in Croke Park, to support a solution, if we can,” said Cooney.

“But that means the team management, the players, the county board, are all prepared to sit around the table, with an open mind, and be positive about finding a solution. We’re not going to get involved if any of the parties are not prepared to give that type of commitment. Because you couldn’t resolve the problem under those circumstances.”

At a meeting of the Limerick County Board on Tuesday night, the majority of delegates spoke of increasing efforts to find some resolution, including the prospect of bringing in Croke Park as some sort of mediators.

The crisis has dragged on for months after manager Justin McCarthy dropped several of Limerick’s more seasoned hurlers, with several more following suit – so that he now has just six players from last year’s panel of 30, with most of those opting out being the most experienced.

Last month McCarthy insisted he wouldn’t be resigning over the continuing exodus of his most senior players, but that the door was still open to all those players not making themselves available.

Cooney was reluctant to predict the exact role Croke Park would play, and that they wouldn’t necessarily need to go down the road of binding arbitration.

“I haven’t been formally requested by Limerick yet,” he added. “They have some work to do themselves to ensure that everybody is prepared to do this. And we’ll leave that to whoever will be involved in Croke Park as to how they will deal with that process.

“What we have to ensure is that whatever the outcome, Limerick go forward united, with a clear objective to getting the best team back on the field of play.”

In the meantime Cooney was concerned that the prospect of Limerick fielding a weakened team when the league gets under way on Saturday could undermine the competition, the same way as Cork’s weakened team did last year. But the GAA were also working with the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) on fireproofing managerial positions from such player fall-out.

“We would hope to have something before Congress, a way of dealing with these situations, more quickly. By nipping it in the bud, and enduring it wouldn’t happen in then future.

“We’re working with the GPA towards achieving that, a sort of template of communication process that would overcome this situation.”

On another issue, the announcement that the GAA was prepared to borrow money in order to fill the gap left by the suspension of the Government’s Sports Capital Grants was described by Cooney as something they have “no hard or fast position on at this stage” but that they wouldn’t be slow to borrow, if required.

“What we are saying to clubs and county boards, if they have worthwhile projects that come up on an ongoing basis and we feel that it is in the interests of the association to go and borrow money, that we’ll look at that. We haven’t said that we are going to borrow €1 million, €5 million or €10 million. We will look at that as we go along through the National Infrastructure Committee.”

Such projects would be funded through either loans or grants: “In the normal process we give out grants, such as with the soccer and rugby money for the development of new facilities or the upgrading of facilities. We do, of course give loans. We gave a loan to Mayo because the difficulties they had with regards to Lottery funding that fell through. We prefer technically to give out grants and if there is a need to give out loans we will look at that.”

Between €30-€40 million has been awarded to clubs and county boards under the Sports Capital Grants, but Cooney wasn’t putting a figure on what the GAA was prepared to put up: “Until we have the figures in front of us, we can’t make a judgment call on what we are going to do. It would be foolhardy to say we are going to borrow €10, €20 or €30 million and we haven’t made decisions on that. And of course there are limits on what we can afford.

“If you are repaying money, you have less to circulate because you have a commitment to the debt. But we must also recognise that it is the perfect time to build and buy because prices are a lot more competitive.”

Ultimately, when it comes to borrowing any money, Cooney says the GAA has nothing to fear: “I don’t think there’s a better brand in the country. We have always had a good track record of meeting our commitments.

“I think we will have the wherewithal to go and sit down with the major financial institutions to negotiate a positive deal for the association because of the brand we have and our positive track record in being able to meet our repayments.”