White and blue all over
December 31, 2010The advent of October saw Cuchullains wave goodbye to the playing season and kick off a new era with the launch of their own bingo sessions.
Kelly's blue and white eye began to hone in on the two fat ladies and legs eleven. The winter months in Mullagh have seldom been full of such gaiety.
Munterconnacht gaels' decision to jettison the bingo as a fundraiser allowed a window of opportunity to open for Cuchullains. Will the rest be history?
"So far so good," says Martin Lynch snr of the new bingo on Sunday nights in Mullagh. "It has being going well since it started," he adds.
Martin is keeping his fingers crossed that the club's bank balance will be swelled by the bingo sessions. He knows the sessions are important.
Bingo sessions are a great social outlet but for Cuchullains GAA, the hope is that they serve to compensate for the decline in other revenue.
"It's getting harder and harder every year to raise money for the club," explains Martin, one of Cuchullains' weekly lotto sellers.
"A lot of pubs have shut around the country and in our area, it's been no different over the past while because of the recession and other matters.
"Just a couple of years ago, there were seven pubs in Mullagh, now there are only five of them. That's a trend you don't see changing for a while."
As a consistent seller of lotto tickets for Cuchullains, Martin knows the importance of a dwindling source of funds and the consequences.
The town of Virginia used to provide quite a well of income for all-comers in the fundraising stakes. Not any more. The cake has gotten much smaller.
"In any given weekend night, you could have four local clubs operating out of Virginia as regards lotto sales and there's not the same number of buyers there anymore.
"The crowds in the pubs have gone down which has had a big, negative effect on sales of lotto for every club, no matter where they're selling them.
"We're very lucky in Cuchullains in that our expenses aren't as high as a lot of other clubs. We have good local men willing to train the senior team.
"I don't know how it would work otherwise because we just can't afford to be bringing in outside managers. The bills, to my mind, would be too much."
Sadly these days a lot of the focus for a lot of clubs is on cutting expenditure and minding the pennies. The balance sheet can be all-powerful now.
The days of improving facilities are gone in the short term at least. It's euros and cents rather than bricks and mortars that occupies the minds.
Martin wonders how some clubs can reputedly pay 'outside' managers. It's not the world he's living in, he moots.
"When you have to start of the year by firing off a blank cheque to the county board for registration and affiliation and what not, it gets you thinking.
"Finance is becoming more of a talking point in clubs nowadays as far as I can tell. Clubs definitely have to cut their cloth to suit their measure."
These are certainly challenging times; not alone for fundraisers like Martin but for team trainers and mentors alike.
In 2010, for instance, Cuchullains laboured to get together enough players to field a team at under 21 level. The numbers simply didn't add up.
And for the first time in a number of years, the Mullagh-based crew had to amalgamate to give their under 21s the chance of playing at their own level.
The relatively novel pairing of Killinkere and Cuchullains thus pooled their resources for the under 21 championship.
It meant that neither party had to delve into their under 16 ranks in order to give their 'senior' colleagues a taste of championship fare.
"There are pros and cons to the whole business of amalgamating but in 2010 we gave our under 21s the chance to play and win something.
"We need to get fellas back to situations where they become used to winning things. There are a lot more underage players now but it's important too that the quality is there and we have to be prepared to wait to get over a few lean years that look like lying ahead of us."
Like every club bar none, the numbers game has kicked in down Cross-Mullagh way. Hence one of the reasons for the under 21 amalgam.
The feeder schools of Mullagh National School and Cross National School have been consistently positive influences on Cuchullains GFC.
However the Celtic Tiger days and the attendant new house construction boom didn't serve to upholster the imput of the local schools.
"There have been plenty of new houses built in the club's catchment area but the club hasn't got the benefit yet from the increase in the population.
"In time, we would expect more numbers coming through from the schools onto our underage teams but we'll have to be patient."
In the short term, Martin just hopes that Cuchullains can retain the volume of their playing personnel at present in the face of the weak economy.
But as a self-employed electrician beavering away at the coalface who has first-hand knowledge of the country's ongoing travails, Martin is concerned that there is no real glimmer of light appearing on the employment front just yet.
"The worry is that a number of the lads on the current senior team are only after finishing college and they're new to the workforce but their prospects in this country don't look that good because of the work situation.
"Football is alright but when it comes down to putting bread on the table, then it's a different story.
"Fellas need to get work and if they have to travel abroad then that's what they must do even if the club suffers.
"We have a good, young crop of players and some experienced lads who hopefully will stay on for another couple of years.
"The big thing is that they stay together but there's a few of them unemployed and some of them in England and Australia.
"Wellmans and Virginia Milk Products are two good employers but there's no new jobs going in either place so fellas feel they have to up and go."
Father of noted Cuchullains players Niall, Martin and Killian, Martin senior - an erstwhile underage club coach - believes that the white and blues will need to roll up their sleeves in a big way to get to the days which saw them scoop the 2005 IFC title.
He says that, in relative terms, 2010 was "disappointing" as regards the club's season at senior championship level.
"Things started off very well with the win in Virginia over Kingscourt in the first round which was a very good performance.
"We played well at times in the league too in the run-up to the championship but things didn't go as well in the championship as we had hoped."
Having seen Cuchullains beat Kingscourt in the championship and then scare the life out of Cavan Gaels thereafter, did Martin believe at that juncture that the Stars had the wherewithal to dethrone the champions?
"Kingscourt beat us well in the league and I was impressed by their performance that day but, of all the other teams in the championship, I thought it would have been Mullahoran who were best fixed to put it up to Cavan Gaels.
"Fair play to Kingscourt; they improved well as the season went on but I think the Gaels went a bit in the other direction.
"I'd say 2010 will prove to be just a blip though for Cavan Gaels and they'll be back in the driving seat in the coming year."
That said, Martin is convinced that there is a level playing field in situ at senior level these days with a lesson to be learned from Kingscourt's renaissance.
"Years ago, if you travelled to Gowna or Mullahoran, you'd be doing very well to get something from them but the vast majority of the teams now are on the same level and while Cavan Gaels have raised the bar, I think more teams are closing the gap on them."
The retention of the club's SFC status and division one league status for 2011 made for a "reasonably successful year" for the Mullagh/Cross men.
"If we can hold onto the lads that are looking for work and stay injury free then we should do fairly well in 2011 'cause the ability is there once the management team has a full squad to choose from." Tweet
