Club Notes January 16th 2022

The Club Constitution is the document in which members describe the processes by which we interact with one another and is intended to ensure that the Club is organised in a fair and equitable and transparent manner. Up to very recently our Club operated under a Club Constitution which was passed at a Special General Meeting in December 2002.That 2002 document was largely based on the template provided by the GAA with some slight amendments to suit the Club requirements at the time and also specific Club Bye Laws in the preceding years.

The phenomenal growth of Ladies Football in the last 20 years is one of the major success stories in Irish Sport and this also meant that our Constitution did not reflect the new demands on human and physical resources within the club or any club for that matter. While it is imperative that female teams and members were treated equally and fairly, certain factors needed to be identified and dealt with. One of the  biggest (possibly unknown to many) is the GAA  and LGFA  are two entirely separate organisations. The LGFA has its own structure of Clubs, County Boards, Provincial and Central Councils, all of which are unaffiliated to the GAA. This can lead to much misunderstanding and unbalance the needs and demands of two seperate organisations. Within any given club there could be in effect a two club situation, one affiliated to the GAA and another affiliated to the LGFA. How would this pan out in a balanced manner in relation to allocation of facilities ,sponsorship/revenue and membership rates amongst others was one of the biggest considerations.

To that end in 2017 the GAA in association with the LGFA and the Camogie Association published a “One Club Guidelines” document which was intended to address this .As a Club Killarney Legion did adopt some of the recommendations which proved very welcome and successful but as a Club which always strives to treat all our members equally and fairly we agreed ,at the 2020 AGM ,that a total redraft of the Club Constitution was needed. A steering committee of Pat Moynihan, Selina Looney, Tom Griffin, Elizabeth Mohan, Tim O Leary and John Doona met on numerous occasions during 2021(remotely) and using the GAA Club Constitution, LGFA Constitution and One Club Recommendations as reference they eventually came up with a very unique document which they believe will serve all members of Killarney Legion GAA well .In effect it is bringing together the two organisations, GAA  and LGFA, in the Club, something that had always been strived for, a shared approach for the benefit of everyone.

The Club members recently unanimously approved the adoption of this new Constitution which replaces the existing one and were grateful for the time and effort the steering committee put into it.

To the best of our knowledge we are the first  Club in the country to incorporate and formalise the One Club concept  into the official Club Constitution

A copy of this new document can be viewed at www.legiongaa.com.

The Club has a healthy relationship with the Sigerson Cup dating back as far as 1943 when Jackie Lyne won it with UCC. Father and son John (who was captain in 1988) and Shaun Keane (2014) also gained honours for UCC while Brian Kelly was the University’s No.1 in 2014 also. Padraig Lucey was midfield  in the UCC team that won the 2019 edition defeating St Marys in the decider. University College Galway were victorious in 1948 with John Trant and Donie Murphy in their line up while John was again a winner in 1950 with UCG. Tralee RTC(now known as MTU Kerry) won a trio of titles in a row, 1997, 1998, 1999 and the latter triumph featured Sean Hegarty and Alan O Neill. Interestingly Pat Flanagan, a member of our outgoing Senior team management ,was an integral part of the Tralee RTC management.

The 2022 competition kicked off last midweek with MTU Cork defeating UCC with Finbarr Murphy (grandnephew of 1948 winner Donie) kicking an all important point. Cian Gammell was a lynchpin in the UCC defence and they now face UCD in the losers round. UCD themselves lost out to MTU Kerry who had Darragh Lyne starting in midfield while Ryan O Grady was introduced as a sub. Tralee will be the venue for the clash of the MTUs , Kerry and Cork, and at time of writing it is fixed for Tuesday January 18th at 7pm. More on this as the competition progresses.

Again the Club has a long association with the famed Killarney nursery and we had four players involved as “The Sem” were to the pin of their collar by Colaiste Na Sceilige last Saturday, January 15th, in Cromane. 2021 Kerry minors Darragh Fleming  and William Shine were joined by goalkeeper Aaron O Sullivan in the starting fifteen while Sam Benson was also in the panel. They squeezed out of Cromane, on a scoreline of 2-8 to 2-7, and they now face Hamilton HS of Bandon in the Corn Ui Mhuiri semi final. Time, date and venue to be confirmed. The other semi final will feature Tralee CBS and Clonakilty. So an all Kerry final is a possibility.

The Club would like to wish Killarney cleric and staunch Legion supporter Fr Jim Linehan a very happy milestone birthday this week. A regular visitor to Direen, he says our Annual Club Mass and 2022 will see Fr.Jim have another celebration of his time as a priest. Best wishes for the year ahead.

Congratulations to Na Gaeil and Gneeveguilla on their respective Munster Intermediate and Junior wins over Corofin and Ballina. Commiserations to Austin Stacks who just came up short to St Finbarrs of Cork in the Munster Senior Club Final.

Monday January 10th