Valerie Murray of Michael Glavey’s wrote her own little piece of history this week as she became the first female secretary of the Roscommon County Board. She takes over from Brian Carroll who has completed his five-year term. Valerie has been assistant secretary in recent years and has performed many different roles at club level too.
Valerie wasn’t at the convention on Tuesday night but she sent an e-mail that was read out to delegates in which she spoke of the honour in being appointed to serve as secretary of Roscommon GAA and she praised the work of outgoing secretary Brian Carroll. She said that her inspiration was her late father Luke Hurley, who instilled in her the love of Roscommon GAA.
Gerry Keegan of Creggs takes over her old role as assistant secretary. There will be a vacancy for the post of vice-chairman, as Padraig Naughton has indicated that he is stepping down, and also for the post of coaching officer as Sean Kilbride will not be seeking re-election. It is hoped that both roles will be filled early in the New Year.
There were no elections and Seamus Sweeney will continue as chairman, David O’Connor as treasurer, and Hugh Lynn as PRO.
Brian Carroll’s final report…
In his final report after his five-year term, outgoing County Board secretary, Brian Carroll, said that it was a mixed year for the association in the county. He thanked Kevin McStay and his selectors for their hard work with the senior footballers. He described Kevin as “most courteous and very easy to work with” before calling on players to continue to dedicate themselves to the Roscommon cause.
He acknowledged the challenges facing Roscommon GAA with regard to finance but says that good progress is being made. He praised the work of Club Rossie and the major fundraising that they are undertaking with the ‘Win a House in Dublin’ draw.
With regard to Dr. Hyde Park, Carroll said: “It has been clearly outlined that no more Connacht Finals can take place at Dr. Hyde Park until the remedial works outlined by the Connacht Council are carried out. To carry out these works Roscommon GAA will need a lot of support. It will cost a lot of money and will take time. I would appeal to our county to support and drive any development that takes place at Dr. Hyde Park”.
The outgoing secretary also took aim at the social media revolution: “I would have serious concerns about forums and social media where individuals can set up accounts under usernames or false names and they can then say what they like and take no responsibility for what they say. We are living in a world where we are encouraging good mental health and this kind of behaviour can have a serious affect on those being written about. I would encourage people to go easy on the keyboard and think before they type,” he said.
He listed the five highlights of his five years in the job as: Kilmore winning the IFC in 2016, Roscommon winning the Nicky Rackard Cup in 2015, Ballinameen’s Kyle Casey back on the pitch after a serious illness, Roscommon winning the Connacht SFC in 2017 and the unveiling of the Gerry O’Malley statue in 2017.
Chairman addresses “very real” threat to clubs
In his address to delegates at Tuesday’s Roscommon GAA convention, chairman Seamus Sweeney said that GAA clubs were “the glue that holds many communities together” and praised the hard work of clubs and the huge voluntary effort that goes on all over the county.
However, he added that the outlook for some GAA clubs, particularly in the north of the county, was “challenging” and said that the association couldn’t continue to ignore “the very real threat to clubs and communities as a result of the loss of our young people who are forced to work outside the county”.
He paid tribute to the work going in in terms of coaching and explained that Michael McGeehan, the head of Coaching Ireland, was coming into the county to assist in these efforts.
He praised the huge voluntary effort that was undertaken at Dr. Hyde Park prior to the Connacht final. He also praised those involved in raising finance, including Club Rossie and gate collectors.
Mr. Sweeney also paid tribute to Brian Carroll who stepped down as secretary after five years, and Padraig Naughton who stepped down as vice-chairman. He also paid tribute to Kevin McStay and his management team for their hard work over the past number of years.
Treasurer: All systems go to face financial challenges
In a very comprehensive treasurer’s report, David O’Connor reported on a year that saw consolidation in the finances of the County Board. Gate receipts were up from €191,123 in 2017 to €247,113 in 2018. Team administration expenses for the year were at €857,877, up slightly on 2017.
However, the current ‘Win a House in Dublin’ draw has seen over €800,000 being brought in so far. The treasurer also told delegates that new systems would be introduced in connection with how money is spent by the board and that there would be strict vetting of expenditure by various officers of the board.
David O’Connor told the meeting that he was confident that at least 10,000 tickets would be sold in the current fundraising draw and that that would represent a huge success for the draw. He said the committee would meet in January to plot the way forward.
He added that many challenges lay ahead but remained confident that with the proper systems in place, the county’s finances could be managed adequately into the future.
Roscommon’s 10 club motions…
Éire Óg: Severe sanctions for county teams who don’t supply an accurate team list for match programmes by the Thursday morning prior to competitive games. PASSED
Kilglass: Winning All-Ireland Minor captains to make acceptance speeches. PASSED
Kilmore: A national fixtures calendar. PASSED
Boyle: Disabled parking at every county ground. PASSED
St. Aidan’s: Referees to take the number instead of name of players for bookings. LOST
Ballinameen: Eircode of club ground to be prominently displayed to aid the emergency services in the event of serious injury or illness. PASSED
Ballinameen: Clubs to submit underage management teams by the 31st of March each year. PASSED
Kilmore: GAA to officially support and recognise various aspects of Irish culture such as language, music and song camogie, ladies football, Irish industry and the Club Players Association. WITHDRAWN
Kilmore: Proposal about when inter-county players can be released for major championship matches. PASSED
Kilmore: Motion on affiliation fees. WITHDRAWN
