THE Carbery GAA Board will celebrate its centenary this year and have planned a number of events to commemorate this great achievement, the highlight being the gala banquet next November.
New chairperson David Whyte and new vice-chairperson Martina Burns, who will chair the vital CCC, are the new officers taxed with the honour of leading the board in centenary year but will also share the onerous task of dealing with various problems facing divisional boards in the present GAA world.
Both have plenty of experience as officers in their own clubs, St Mary’s and Clann na nGael respectively, and also as board officers, which will stand to them in their new positions.
They will also have the backing of experienced fellow-officers, Don Desmond (Bandon) as secretary, Donie McCarthy (Dohenys) as assistant secretary, Patjoe Connolly (Bantry Blues) as treasurer, Tim Buckley (Dohenys) as PRO and Gabielle Ní Chrualaoich (Randal Óg) as cultural officer.
The Carbery Board consists of delegates from all the clubs in Carbery, stretching from Bantry in the west to Bandon in the east, 26 clubs in all, bigger than some counties in the GAA, so their job is not an easy one. It takes in clubs as large as Bandon and Clonakilty and as small as Randal Óg and Goleen, dual clubs and single-affiliated clubs, football only.
New Carbery GAA Chairman David Whyte of St Mary's GAA Club.
The Carbery Board, which has changed little in territory since 1925, now caters for three grades in junior football (A, B and C/D), as well as three grades in U21 football (A, B and C). In hurling it also caters for three grades in junior and three in U21. Add in four divisions in football leagues and three in hurling and one realises that the activity of the board lasts not only from February to December on the playing pitches but the area and the work involved is much greater than a number of county boards. This is the task that Whyte and Burns have undertaken for the coming season, and possibly for five seasons, the maximum term allowed.
The nerve-centre of the board is, undoubtedly, the Competitions Control Committee, or the CCC as it is known. The vice-chairperson, in this case Martina Burns, chairs the CCC meetings. The CCC controls not only the format and grading of competitions but also the entire fixtures’ programme, as well as all refereeing and disciplinary matters arising from the competitions.
The CCC is composed of the chairperson, the vice-chairperson, secretary, treasurer, PRO, referees’ administrator, championship administrator and one representative from the clubs. Financial matters, as well as coaching matters, planned events etc., are the responsibility of the Executive, made up of all the officers and CCC members plus three representatives from the clubs.
So, as they start the centenary year, what is the workload facing the board, especially, the CCC, and what problems will they face in 2025, foreseeable problems at any rate?
First up, will be the format of championships for the new season. The group championships as run by the county and divisional boards, came to the end of their three-year trial period at the end of 2024 and the board delegates have held two very constructive meetings as to improving or changing the formations. The junior A football will remain at 16 teams, four groups of four, no change there, but a beginning will be made in reducing the number of teams from 16 to 12 over the next three seasons, to fall in line with the county board.
This will mean four extra teams being relegated to junior B over the next three seasons, making the junior A championship much more competitive. Relegation will also be automatic for the bottom teams, no play-offs involved as those play-offs could not be held until late November for teams knocked out at the end of August, a totally unsatisfactory situation. The top two teams in each section, or Roinn as it is called in Irish here in Carbery, will qualify for the play-off quarter-finals at the end of the group stages.
Twelve teams will compete in the 2025 RCM Tarmacadam Junior A hurling championship.
For the first time in four years, the junior A hurling will consist of 12 teams, three groups of four teams. The top two in each roinn will qualify for the play-offs, with the two best qualifiers going directly into the semi-finals and the other four playing off two quarter-finals. At the special meetings, clubs decided that the declining standard of junior hurling in the division must be addressed and so, the top grade, junior A, will be reduced from 12 to eight over the next three seasons. Again, this will be done by relegating four extra teams to junior B over the three seasons and this will be a huge boost to the junior B championship, which had been struggling in recent seasons. Again, relegation will be automatic in hurling, no play-offs.
The junior B grades, football and hurling, have been struggling over the past few seasons and new formats will be introduced in 2025, which will avoid groups of three, a proven failure as regards competitive games. Each team will be guaranteed three games in the group format, with the top six in football and the top four in hurling qualifying for the play-offs. Whereas the Carbery junior B winners in 2024 automatically qualified for upgrading to junior A the following season, the winning clubs will now be entitled to appeal to the CCC to remain in junior B if they feel they are not good enough to be upgraded to junior A. Another headache for the CCC to deal with. It is planned to reach an even 12 teams in junior B football and an even eight teams in junior B hurling in the coming seasons, but for 2025 there will be ten teams in football and seven in hurling.
The junior C/D football championship and the junior C hurling championship have been totally separated from the other junior championships but the possibility of them becoming part of an overall Carbery championship system is being investigated by the CCC, with promotion and relegation involved between all grades from A to D. As some clubs view these grades as ‘social’ grades and not as competitive championships, a lot of discussion will have to be held on this connectivity between all the grades.
Once the championship formats have been decided on this month, then the CCC will have to organise the various championship draws. The biggest problem facing the group championships in recent seasons is the repeated pairings being thrown up each year, leading to a fall-off in interest among supporters. How to avoid repeat pairings each year also taxed the minds of the county board CCC, who introduced a slightly revised system for 2025 to try to overcome the problem. If they succeed, then the Carbery CCC will be in a position to follow suit in 2026.
In the meantime, the revised Carbery system in junior B should definitely help in that respect. A slight change that will come in for the Carbery junior A championships in 2025 is the running order of the rounds. Instead of the usual A v B and C v D in round one, etc, meaning the two best teams in the group meeting in the first round, the new running order will be A v D and B v C in round one; A v C and B v D in round two; and A v B and C v D in round three.
