Sliabh Rua Youths Face an Uncertain Future

Club left in limbo as Cork County GAA reviews underage amalgamations

(JJ Hurley)

The future of Sliabh Rua Underage Club faces an uncertain future following the decision by Cork County GAA Board to review the amalgamation of clubs for underage teams.

For Paul Hannon, Chairman of Sliabh Rua GAA, the announcement came as a huge disappointment.

The fact that the club has never had any direct communication with either the Cork County Board or Rebel Óg on the issue is a major part of that disappointment.

‘Don’t know where we are going to end up with this rule change, Sliabh Rua as a group of independent teams is not recognised as a club,’ he said.

Of grave concern to the Sliabh Rua Club is the manner in which the change was arrived at, with the club finding out about the change indirectly — a point that saddened Paul.

‘We didn’t get any communication directly with Sliabh Rua, because the county board don’t interact directly with us, again because we got two adult clubs in parish and I actually found out as I got a phone call from the Kiltha Og Club,’ Paul remarked.

Indeed, the new proposal was to be put before the delegates at the July County Board meeting, but it was later passed at the August edition.

Ballymartle and Belgooly attended and presented their case as to the negative effect the policy will have on the Sliabh Rua Club.

However, Paul is hoping a recent submission to hold its status as an independent club will be looked on favourably for a club that has been in existence for six decades.

In reflecting on the submission, Paul said, ‘There was a huge effort by ourselves and the adult clubs. We put a real good document together and we also got support from the primary school, Sliabh Rua Camogie Club, asking for a blanket dispensation for us.’

Unlike other teams involved in this process, where the discussion is around one independent team, in the case of Sliabh Rua it refers to a whole series of teams.

At the heart of the issue is also a worrying possibility of creating a division in the area, where friends attending the same school will now be forced to choose between different clubs — something Paul argues will have an effect on individual friendships.

‘Those boys we now have on the same teams, playing with their buddies and now you are talking about splitting them up and sending them back to adult clubs,’ he said.

‘You are breaking up those groups with little boys and coupled with that you have additional resources required to run those teams, it just doesn’t make sense.’

With little or no information on the decision as to the club’s future, Paul admits the uncertainty is causing great anxiety locally — for mentors, parents, and, most importantly, the young players.

‘You might say we are overreacting, but the fact we don’t know what the outcome is going to be and don’t know what decision it is going to be based on, it’s very hard for us not to be jumping up and down about it,’ he said.

One of the Sliabh Rua Underage teams who face uncertain future