Club scheme bid to halt player loss

A mid-Clare GAA club has initiated a loyalty scheme to support up to 20 local businesses to try and halt the scourge of emigration, having lost a full adult team over the past 12 months.

Clooney-Quin GAA Club has been described as the “luckiest GAA club in Clare” after the club paid out on its lotto jackpot three times last year, amounting to around €25,000.
This made their lotto the statistically better option for anyone wishing to support a Clare GAA club, while also having a serious chance of winning €10,000.
However, the club doesn’t count itself “lucky” to have lost former club chairman Pat O’Brien, who is now working in Australia, and 16 other adult players to emigration in 2011.
In addition to helping a number of club players to get work in Australia, Pat still keeps in regular contact with the executive and even manages to organise the club lotto online.
In fact, the club has seen the flight of so many players to the southern hemisphere, a junior hurling team including six or seven Cloony-Quin senior players has been set up in Australia.
In addition to coach and player Pa Reynolds, Cathal Henchy, Johnny O’Sullivan, Nicky McCarthy, Ronan Gallagher, former vice-chairman; Kevin O’Looney, Eoin McNamara, Sean Conheady, Mark O’Halloran and John Vaughan left for Australia in 2011.
Others who decided to leave Ireland include Paul Clune (New Zealand); Ruairí Henchy (Germany); Kevin Molloy, (US and Ger Leamy (England).
Club chairman Sean Earls has appealed to everyone in the parish to support local businesses during the current recession to keep as many players as possible in the club.
Incoming GAA president, Liam O’Neill, has intimated that addressing the issue of player emigration will be one of his priorities. Mr Earls hopes the GAA at national level will initiate a new action plan to ensure their new president’s commitment is delivered on the ground in Clare.
The Clooney-Quin chairman recalled some players who left couldn’t get work here, while a number of them found it difficult to get paid at times for jobs.
Social networking sites such as Facebook also encouraged a number of players to go abroad after seeing how well their former colleagues were doing in new countries.
Having enjoyed a lot of underage hurling success in recent years, Clooney-Quinn had a senior hurling, intermediate and junior B hurling squad.
However, the huge exodus of players has resulted in the loss of their intermediate side, leaving a senior and junior A involved in competitions in 2012.
Mr Earls admitted it would be hard for any club to replace the calibre of players Clooney-Quin has lost over the past year.
“The loss felt in teams is immediate, it may not be fully felt in the community for some time.
“At a recent conference on rural development, a quote that struck a chord with me, which I feel aptly describes where the club is at this ­moment in time – “think globally but feel rooted in local’.”
“It is important the community supports local business to ensure we don’t lose any more players.
“Emigration has put a dent on our ambitions for success. We are doing the best with the resources we have.
“We have lost some great characters, who are a huge loss to their colleagues. Hopefully, some of them will come back again in the near future,” he added.