Monaghan County Convention
December 31, 2007
History was made on the double at County Convention in Monaghan on December 7th with a lady elected to the post of Secretary of the County Board and a brother and sister also selected onto the Management Committee for the first time.
Out going assistant secretary Ailish McEntee won out in a close contest with outgoing PRO Sean McKenna with just four votes separating them in the only contest on the night while the election of Pauline Rooney (nee Flanagan) as Irish and Cultural Officer and the return of her brother Declan Flanagan as one of the county's delegates to Ulster Council made for the unique brother/sister achievement.
In his address acting Chairman Seamus Coyle spoke of the ambitious plans that a number of clubs had regarding facilities development and indicated that there will be further development at the County grounds at Cloghan. On the financial side the accounts for the year showed a small working surplus of income over expenditure with the costs of all county teams being the biggest item of expenditure at almost ?600,000.
Incoming Director General of the GAA Paraic Duffy, himself a former county board chairman, was a guest at Convention and in a rousing address that drew a spontaneous and lengthy standing ovation he spoke of the pride he has in his native county and the people who make the GAA the organisation that it is. He spoke too of the challenges that the GAA faces not just now but into the future and said that the future strength of the association will be in integration.
He also spoke of the importance he is laying on the National Club Forum that will take place in January and called for a full debate on the proposals that will be issued to counties regarding the issues of player burn out and the question of a fair deal for club players in the fixtures programme. He had strong words too regarding the present controversy surrounding the question of grants to inter county players stating that it does not affect the GAA's Amateur Status nor will it impact on other government funding. He then went on to issue a stern warning as to things that could affect the Amateur Status like "paying managers and coaches and not letting on" going on to stress that before there is an outcry about the grants issue that "everyone should have their own house in order first".
The money he said is "recognition by the state of the work that inter county players put in and should not and cannot be regarded as "pay for play". Convention also passed a motion seeking changes to Rule 50 TO, the five year rule, which will now go to Congress in 2008.
Officers Elected: Chairman, J Connolly; Vice Chairman, S Coyle; Secretary, A McEntee; Treasurer, M Donnelly; Assistant Treasurer, B Farrell; Central Council Delegate, L Stirrat; Ulster Council Delegates, JP Graham and D Flanagan; PRO, S McQuillan; Youth Officer, P Sherry; Irish Officer, P Rooney; Development Officer, L Doherty; Coaching Officer, P Curran; Hurling officer, N Mullaney.
The position of assistant secretary will be filled at a future county committee meeting.
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