This article is from page 56 of the 2011-01-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 56 JPG
IT was a night of change at the reconvened Bord na nÓg Iomaint convention in The Aubrun Lodge Hotel on Thursday as Clarecastle’s Martin Reynolds took over at the helm from Sean O’Halloran who had served for 12 consecutive years on the board.
“It’s a tremendous honour for me personally to be elected to this position.” admitted the new chairman in his acceptance speech.
“As most of you probably know I have been involved with Clarecastle for a number of years at all levels. I’m glad it was an unanimous decision because when a new man comes into this position, obviously he needs the support of all the clubs and I’ll be looking forward to everybody’s sup- port during the year.
“I’d also like to pay tribute to Sean [O’Halloran], Rosaleen [Monahan] and Gerry [Lynch] who have been tremendous officers for the last number of years. In my capacity in Clarecastle, I have dealt with Rosaleen and Sean while not so much with Gerry and I have found them to be a lady and gentleman of the highest order. Their contribution to Clare GAA shouldn’t go unnoticed.
“So finally I would just like to say I look forward to working with all the clubs, getting to know all the people in the clubs over the next couple of months and hopefully we’ll have a successful year at underage.”
However, the new administration may have to wait until the first meeting of the year to begin in earnest after a dearth of nominees willing to take up other positions on the executive.
As a result of the five year rule, chairman Sean O’Halloran (Bodyke), secretary Rosaleen Monahan (Tubber) and treasurer Gerry Lynch (Tulla) had to vacate their positions but as the election of officers unfolded, replacements weren’t forthcoming.
Nominees for Vice-Chairman, Secretary, Assistant Secretary and Treasurer all withdrew for varying reasons, with only Tom Sheehan (Sixmilebridge) retaining his position as PRO while Clooney/Quin’s John Culligan took up the assistant secretary role. Outgoing chairman Sean O’Halloran was asked by the meeting to consider the vice-chairmanship for the com- ing year so as to maintain continuity and aid the incoming board but the Bodyke delegate indicated his preference to continue his role with the Development Squads Committee and other underage work.
It prompted the new chairman to make a final hearty appeal to the delegates to go back to their clubs and locate new nominees for the positions by the first meeting of the year.
“There are people within every club that are doing these jobs and there are others who are well capable of doing these jobs so I’d be hoping to hear from a lot of people over the next week or two. We have to have officers to run things and we have to get it up and running as soon as possible because we are a little bit behind schedule. So anyone who has