Garrihy new league chairman

Burren United’s Donie Garrihy from Lisdoonvarna is the new chairman of the Clare and District Soccer League.
In a three-way contest for the position at last Monday’s annual general meeting at the West County Hotel, he defeated former chairman Jim Madden and Frank Healy.
Outgoing chairman Paul Tuohy from Newmarket Celtic did not seek re-election but was successful in his challenge for the vice-chairman’s post, beating Frank Healy in a contest to return to a position he held for a number of years prior to being elected, unopposed, to the post of chairman 12 months ago.
There was also a contest for the position of fixtures secretary and here, the outgoing officer, Michael Lydon from Connolly Celtic, was returned when he defeated Frank Healy.
The voting strength of the meeting was 50 but the actual vote in any of the three contests on Monday night wasn’t revealed.
On his election, Donie Garrihy, the outgoing vice-chairman, told a near full attendance that he was “so proud to be in this position”.
Oliver Fitzpatrick (secretary); Mike McInerney (treasurer); Leo Murphy (registrar); Jim Madden (FAI delegate); Thomas Leahy (Munster delegate); Gerry Scanlon (PRO); Jason Ryan (youth liaison officer) and Michael Leahy (president) were all returned without opposition.
Frank Gormley from Turnpike Rovers, the former chairman of the Clare Schoolboys League, is the league’s new child protection officer.
At the outset, outgoing chairman Paul Tuohy paid tribute to all for the support for the FAI festival in Clare last week. “You did Clare soccer proud,” he told the gathering.

AGM motions

A small profit
Clare soccer had an income of €66,265 for the past season, a drop of almost €8,000 on the previous year, treasurer Mike McInerney told last week’s annual meeting of the Clare League.
Affiliation fees amounted to €48,690 while fines brought in €4,370. On the expenditure side, team expenses cost €15,006, with €7,704 for the Oscar Traynor junior team and €7,292 for the inter-league youths team.

No to reserve league
A motion from Lifford, proposed by John O’Neill, calling for the setting up of a reserve league “to accommodate all B teams and to have its own league and cup competitions”, did not receive the support of the meeting.
The Lifford official told the meeting that their proposal would be of far more value to the clubs. “In the current structure, B players can only play up. No other sport allows a B team to compete against their A team in competition,” Mr O’Neill said.
Commenting on the proposal, newly elected chairman Donie Garrihy asked if this was an issue in house and for each club.
The motion failed to receive the support required to succeed.

No change in cup structure
A proposal from the executive committee to have the Clare Cup run as a club competition with a separate cup competition for B teams, was withdrawn after delegates voiced strong opposition.
Supporting the proposal, league secretary Oliver Fitzpatrick reminded the delegates, “This year’s cup final was poorly supported with, arguably, the smallest attendance ever. We wondered if the Bridge club was in the final, would the attendance have been as small. The FAI Junior Cup is a club competition and we are thinking along the same lines,” he said.
Mark Moloney from Hermitage suggested the change proposed would “take the gloss off the competition and knock the romance out of the cup”.
Kilmaley’s Frank Healy suggested the league look at the poor attendance figures from a few different angles while Bridge United delegate Michael White asked “Why not have a double-header on cup final day and then you would be looking at support from four clubs.”
The motion was heavily defeated.

Registration fees drop
Despite opposition from members of the executive, clubs voted in favour of a proposal from Kilrush Rangers, Shannon Olympic and Corofin Harps for a drop in registration fees for the coming season.
“Any reduction in registration will result in the league struggling to break even for the season and seriously impact on our application for a loan from the bank for the planned development work at our County Grounds.
“Our application for a loan is based on our current income from registration. This is our only guaranteed source of income for the season.
“Reducing the registration will also ultimately result in the degradation of services throughout the league, thus impacting on the high standards we stride to every season,” secretary Oliver Fitzpatrick told the delegates before adding that the league’s charges are similar to those in Galway.
Kilrush Rangers delegate Robert Clancy told the meeting that “there are reductions everywhere and we have to look after our clubs”.
“Money is scarce at the moment and there are a lot of lads who do not have work,” said Kevin Keenan from Ennis Town.
Supporting the motion, Eoin Madden from Shannon Olympic said the registration fees in Tipperary are at €12 per player and €20 in Limerick, to which registrar Leo Murphy replied that “Limerick have a major sponsor”.
On a vote, delegates voted to reduce the registration fee for junior players to €30

Looking for a fixtures plan
There was a good discussion on the production of a masters fixtures plan at Monday’s meeting, at the end of which fixtures secretary Michael Lydon agreed to provide details of the first month’s fixtures along with each club’s last three league fixtures in advance.
Calling for a change in how fixtures are presented were Corofin Harps, Kilmaley-Fern Celtic and Shannon Olympic.
After the debate, it was agreed that it would not be possible to produce a masters fixtures plan for the season but it was accepted that no team should have more than three games in hand at any stage during the season.
Pointing out the difficulties involved, fixtures secretary Michael Lydon referred to the involvement of clubs in the FAI and Munster Junior cups, weather conditions and pitch availability, where more than one club is using a pitch.

More medals
Following a motion from Hermitage FC, the league will provide up to 25 medals for all league winners if the club has 25 registered players who have played a minimum of three games during the league campaign

Changing ­facilities
Following a motion from Burren United, clubs were reminded that rule 101 states that all clubs in the premier and first division leagues must have changing facilities.

Awards function
In response to a call from Shannon Olympic for an end-of-season social event to celebrate the season and present awards for outstanding achievements in the various leagues, the league executive pointed out that such an event is planned for next season to mark the league’s 50th anniversary and, depending on the success of this event, they will look at making it an annual event

Remembering Noel Ryan
The late Noel Ryan, a prominent Clare soccer player in the 1970s, will be remembered on August 13 and 14 when the second annual tournament in his memory is staged. The winners will receive the Aer Rianta Trophy, which the Shannon firm has presented in memory of their former employee.
League president Michael Leahy appealed to clubs to support the competition.
“It is being staged on the weekend before the new season kicks off and should be of great benefit to the clubs and it will be played at Lees Road,” he told the meeting. All funds raised will go to the Seeking Vision charity.