Cork hurling manager Gerald McCarthy remains open to the possibility of sitting down with the striking players in a bid to resolve the ongoing crisis. Having previously declared the matter closed, McCarthy revised his opinion at a meeting of the county board this evening.
Addressing tonight’s meeting, where he received overwhelming support from delegates, McCarthy said that dialogue with the 2008 panel is required if any sort of endgame is to be reached.
“We need to talk if there is a genuine desire to resolve this, there needs to be dialogue and it needs to be quick – I am quite willing to sit down with the players still,” said McCarthy.
The county board voted by 84 to 13 to back McCarthy and his management team. Delegates overwhelmingly backed a proposal from Bishopstown delegate Bob Honohan for the board to give “a clear and unequivocal mandate to Gerald McCarthy and his team”.
In his address, McCarthy also reiterated his belief that players should not have the right to effectively appoint their own manager or veto the appointment of a manager, a situation that he would not allow to happen on his “watch”.
“The kernel is – do players have the right to veto the appointment of a manager and if that happens now, you can kiss it goodbye forever and I don’t want it to happen on my watch,”
Earlier tonight, the striking panel invited two members of every hurling and football club in the county to meet them this weekend. The invitation would afford the players an opportunity to put forward their grievances to club members.
“The purpose of this meeting, as previously advised in our recent press conference, is to ensure that the GAA clubs of Cork have a chance to obtain first hand information as to the current difficulties so that they can brief their clubs and members accordingly,” read a players statement.
“This will allow the clubs of Cork to decide what is to be done.”
The meeting is due to take place at Maryborough House on Sunday evening but exactly how many club members it will attract remains to be seen.