Chairman seeks support for development squads

A CALL for more support for the development squads was made by Bord na nÓg Iomaint chairman Martin Reynolds when he addressed delegates attending the annual convention of the board last Thursday night at the Auburn Lodge Hotel.
“I would like to see the clubs give more support to the squads, as sometimes they don’t support them as well as they should. These squads are the main reason why we have won two Munster Minor Championship titles in the last two years and we should give them more support,” the Clarecastle man said.
He described the year under review as a good one for the board. “I am happy with the year. It took a while to fill the positions on the executive and all of the officers were new to the posts,” he said before paying tribute to all for their work.
“We worked well with all the clubs and we got tremendous support from the county board and from secretary Pat Fitzgerald in particular. He comes in for a lot of criticism but I couldn’t say a work against him,” the chairman said before describing board secretary Sandra Reynolds as “an excellent secretary”.
“In an effort to alleviate the problems which rural clubs in particular have in fielding teams, we are asking that at C and D grades, if a team has only 11 players, they should be entitled to play a meaningful match. The other side of the coin is that a team with plenty of players should be allowed to use all of their substitutes. We had occasions this year where teams could only field 13 or 14 players and they were forced to concede a walkover and they then went on to play a meaningless match. We also have had clubs amalgamating to form teams, as they could not field on their own. Some of these feel they might lose their identity. Everyone wants to play for their own club and wear their own jersey. This proposal will help clubs keep their identity and will help them to play meaningful matches,” the chairman said.
The chairman acknowledged club officials and referees for their efforts during the year under review. “We asked both to ensure that mentors weren’t running up and down the sideline carrying a hurley as this can be intimidating for young players in particular and we got great co-operation,” he said.
On the playing fields, there was great competition, he said. “We had great minor finals and a few great shield finals. We didn’t get it right always with regard to grading but we introduced shield competitions and these were helpful. We didn’t have any major disciplinary issues, which is encouraging,” he concluded.