The reconvened May meeting of Clare GAA proved to be a stormy affair as a war of words erupted after treasurer Michael Gallagher queried if recent independent fundraising efforts were an attempt to embarrass the county board.
Clubs also voted to adopt the proposed master fixtures plan for 2021 with club league games set to begin on the June Bank Holiday weekend
The meeting opened with a discussion on the proposed fixtures plan with clubs opting to give the document the green light with some minor alterations.
The football leagues will be the first adult competitions to begin this year with Monday June 7 pencilled in for the opening round with the hurling leagues underway on June 12.
The club hurling and football championships are scheduled to begin in August but those dates will be dependent on how the county teams fare in the All Ireland series. It was also decided to run an U19 developmental competition in July while the U21 championships are set for a November start.
A query was raised in relation to recent reports of no post training food being made available to the Clare U-20 hurlers, with treasurer Michael Gallagher outlining that this practice would commence three weeks before their championship outing later this summer.
He thanked Eire Óg’s Niall O’Connor after it emerged that the former senior hurling backroom team member had raised €4,000 to go toward the provision of that food, but the meeting took a turn when the Doonbeg man went on state that he would question the motive behind the money being raised, and queried if it was for the benefit of the U20 squad, or if it was an attempt to embarrass the county board.
A number of clubs called on the treasurer to retract the comments, with Eire Óg delegate Rory Hickey telling delegates that the current five year strategic review group working toward the future of Clare GAA was the brainchild of his clubmate. Vice chair of the board Kieran Keating was also among those who asked the treasurer to retract the remarks.
A final call on the treasurer to withdraw the remarks was made just before the meeting closed, with chairman Jack Chaplin stating that the answer from Mr Gallagher was no.
Meanwhile, Chairman of Clare GAA Jack Chaplin told delegates at last night’s meeting that he had no update on the situation surrounding two Clare players being forced to isolate as a result of being identified as close contacts of positive cases in the Wexford hurling camp.
The Cratloe man informed delegates that he could not answer the query that had been posed to him as to the circumstances that had led to the situation, stating he had only found out about the situation on Sunday night and did not have a chance to discuss it with anyone prior to the meeting.
It followed Wexford chairman Micheal Martin disputing Brian Lohan’s claims that the players had been nominated as close contacts by the Wexford camp, with Mr Martin stating that the HSE could verify that it was not the case.
Chaplin had no update as to what representations, if any, that Clare GAA plan to make in order to find out the exact circumstances that led to the situation unfolding.
