Solution needed to resolve Cork club football farce
Beara reached last year's Cork U21A football final. The division last won this particular championship 18 years previous. That gap was not bridged last December. It didn't matter. Their getting there was evidence enough of this coming crop from Cork's most westerly and most remote division.
The same crop won a Premier Minor county title in 2021 and backed it up a year later with Premier U19 honours. Beara back on the map.
Yesterday, Beara were back in the news. The division was forced, 24 hours before throw-in, to concede their Cork Premier SFC fixture against Duhallow because of insufficient playing numbers.
Having not fielded a team for either the 2023 or '24 editions of the Cork football championship, today's game in the colleges/divisions section was to be their comeback. That comeback is now on hold for another 12 months.
Numbers are tight in the division, but numbers are not the issue, as evidenced by the aforementioned underage success. Avondhu pulled the plug last week. Numbers are in no way tight in Avondhu and numbers were certainly not the root cause of their withdrawal either.
The players are there. The problem is the clubs and the calendar. There are six clubs in Beara. Only two were making their players available for today's now cancelled fixture. Of the other four, two had their own League and championship games this week that took priority and exclusive focus.
Then there's the Leaving Cert. Then there's lads taking holidays in the month of June because the county championship is in full flow from late next month until whenever your respective club exits or enjoys silverware.
It has been suggested to the Cork executive to play the colleges/divisions section of the Cork football and hurling championships much earlier than June so as to avoid the above issues. The suggestion fell on deaf ears.
In his annual report last year, Cork GAA CEO Kevin O'Donovan described as 'shambolic' the late withdrawals by divisional teams long after draws were made and fixtures ratified.
O'Donovan was referencing the four divisions - Duhallow, Muskerry (both hurling), Imokilly and Beara (both football) - that handed walkovers to their respective opponents this time last year. Despite stating that such 11th hour withdrawals require 'immediate attention', here we are again.
Beara and Avondhu failing to field mean neither of the scheduled first-round games - Avondhu v Carbery and Beara v Duhallow - will now take place. MTU did not enter this year's championship, the third year in succession they have opted out.
Of eight divisions and two colleges, only four will put out a team in this year's county football championship.
Either find a suitable home in the calendar for the colleges/divisions section that won't have teams handing walkovers one day before throw-in or scrap their involvement altogether. To maintain the current farce serves no one.
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