February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
If the green light for the historic relaxation of Rule 42, which prohibited the playing of foreign games at venues vested in the GAA, was given at the association’s annual Congress last April, there still had to be a final ruling on the availability of Croke Park from Central Council.
That duly arrived last Saturday with GAA president Sean Kelly striking the appropriate note of sporting ecumenism. “I think the majority of GAA people will be happy that we are now in a position to help our fellow sportsmen and Irishmen in their hour of need,” he said.
With the complete redevelopment of Lansdowne Road scheduled to start in 2007, both rugby and soccer authorities have been contemplating a bleak short-term future without a stadium to stage fixtures in the Six Nations championship as well as qualifying games for the European Championship finals.
Tentative negotiations had been taking place behind the scenes in recent weeks, and now it is likely that the first rugby match held in Croke Park will be the 2007 Six Nations clash between Ireland and France.
However, it appears that if there are any delays in the Lansdowne Road planning process, and if the stadium is intact and open for business in 2007, then the Croke Park offer will not apply.
In fact, there was concern raised at the Central Council meeting as to when Lansdowne Road, which will be transformed into a 50,000 all-seater facility, would be deemed closed for redevelopment. “While there was general sympathy with the need for the IRFU and the FAI to finalize their dates, there was also a strong feeling that the matter would have to be revisited if the Lansdowne Road planning permission didn’t come through.”
With the GAA now set to cash on the rent of its stadium, Kelly has established a team to negotiate with the rugby and soccer bodies over fixture dates and financial arrangements. “This probably crept up faster than we had anticipated, but it’s dealt with now and we can get on with the business of getting what we want,” he said. “The sale of corporate boxes, concessions and security will be high on the agenda when we sit down.”
Nemo take title
All the predictions were proved correct as Nemo Rangers of Cork duly collected their 13th Munster club football title when they were comfortable 2-12 to 1-6 winners over Clare champions, St Senan’s of Kilkee in Limerick last Sunday.
Once Nemo withstood an energetic opening by St Senan’s the contest took the turn that most in the small crowd nearly 4,000 had expected. It was 2-6 to 0-2 at the interval, and with James Masters helping himself to 1-5 from play, the winners could afford to play well within themselves during the second half.
St. Senan’s will rue those early minutes when they had Nemo rattled but failed to capitalize. Ger Keane steered the ball wide when faced with an empty net, and then Derek de Loughrey caught a high only to miss the target again. “We’d good chances and if one of those had gone in it would’ve kept us in the game a bit longer,” said manager Noel Roche.
“The longer you’re in a game the more confident you become. I’m not saying we’d have beaten them, but we would’ve been able to put more pressure on them,” Roche added.
Masters and Paul Kerrigan had first-half goals for Nemo, but the balance shifted for a moment just after the changeover when St Senan’s sub, Gearoid Lynch, fired in an opportunist goal. The Cork outfit soon recovered, and the honor of scoring the final competitive point of 2005 fell to Alan Morgan, son of Cork manager Billy.