URHAN GAA Club Chairman Seamus Sullivan hopes Cork GAA CEO Kevin O’Donovan ‘will look favourably’ on the Beara club’s wish to take part in the Carbery Junior A football championship.
As it stands, Urhan are the only junior A football team in Beara and they have no championship or opposition in their home division. That makes their Cork JAFC quarter-final win against Bride Rovers last Saturday even more remarkable, as they ended a 14-year wait for a victory in this championship.
Looking at the bigger picture, Urhan chairman and secretary Seamus Sullivan is hoping they can join the Carbery championship to give their players more meaningful matches.
‘As regards the future, we’d love to join the Carbery division where we could get good games at the right time of the year,’ Sullivan said.
‘We hope Kevin O’Donovan, the county administrator, will look favourably on that. We know it would mean no junior champions coming out of Beara but if we want to develop the club and develop this team in particular, we’ll have to get proper competition for them. Carbery is the answer to that problem.
‘I don’t see the divisional structure changing any time soon but they are looking at the junior championships and this would solve one problem for them, what to do with us as the only junior A team in Beara. Something will have to be done about the whole situation in Beara and the sooner the better.
‘Carbery allowed us into the U21 championship and it has proved a huge success for us. This adult team is the fruits of that and we are definitely on an upward trend at present. It only makes sense that we should follow now in junior. Of course, if we win the county this year, we would be going up intermediate and that would solve a lot of problems for us.’
A delighted Sullivan also likened his side’s dramatic county JAFC quarter-final win against Bride Rovers as ‘an All-Ireland final’ for the Beara club.
‘It’s been hard going for a long time now, not winning any game in the county. Could you imagine if we lost this game again here today? Everybody would be devastated,’ Sullivan said.
‘I know it’s only one game in the county, no silverware but it’s onwards and upwards. This was like an All-Ireland final for us today and we have big ambitions for this squad of players. We want to go all the way in the county.
‘We try our best to keep the whole thing going, we’re all volunteers, doing our best. Of course we make mistakes but we try, what else would we be doing. Today we finally got it right.’
