PRICE of POWER
Departing Cork supremo Murphy leaves a legacy of overspending and underachievement
After 46 years at the top table in Cork, Frank Murphy will depart with an uncertain legacy
NOTHING diminished the legacy of Frank Murphy quite like the way his successor announced himself. At the end of a county board meeting in July 2016, the board’s coaching officer Kevin O’Donovan left his place at the top table and made his way to the back of the room, where he handed out a 16page discussion document to departing delegates which charted a way forward for Cork football and hurling.
Nothing unusual about that, except the document was being distributed unbeknownst to the county executive he served on and the county secretary he worked under.
It was accompanied by a statement which confirmed that he had resigned from a strategic steering committee, lamenting the prevalence of ‘group think’ in a group dominated by board officers.
As ever, it all invites an unflattering comparison with the market leader.
When Dublin outlined the strategy for All-Ireland domination in 2011 it was done with a glossypaged strategy document delivered to much media hype as ‘The Blue Wave.’
When Cork got around to producing theirs five years later it was released in such a furtive manner the only wonder was that there was not an instruction to ‘read and destroy’.
Tonight, less than two and a half years later, the once isolated O’Donovan becomes the first man in 46 years to sit in the most powerful chair in the GAA’s biggest county who does not answer to the name of Frank Murphy.
It may not be a coup, but in the history of GAA politics, is it difficult to recall a more radical handover of power.
In truth, it has not been as traumatic an appointment as it might appear. O’Donovan was coming to power anyhow; he was elected vice chairman last year which meant that he would have succeeded Tracy Kennedy at the end of 2020 in the board’s most senior elected position. And in his final convention report, Murphy made a point of not only warmly wishing O’Donovan well but also of reminding everyone that his successor was his ‘own man.’ There is little doubt that Murphy was just that and the tributes will flow thick with sincerity and appreciation in what is likely to be an emotive convention at Páirc Uí Chaoimh tonight. But when the emotion fades, Murphy’s legacy is likely to be a confused one. On a micro level, it hardly needs stating he had no equal. His capacity to run off fixtures – not to be dismissed given the size and duality at play in Cork interpret the rule book and dictate and dominate in all matters of procedure was beyond reproach. That merely underlined he was a great administrator, but there is still quite the leap from there to being a great leader. It would also be wrong to suggest that he was not a man of ambition or vision; after all, where tonight’s convention takes place is proof of that. He did not just rebuild Cork’s home; he did so twice which showed conviction and courage, but which also left the board and O’Donovan saddled with such debt that the board’s autonomy has been compromised.
The final overrun of what was initially budgeted as a €70million project and was subsequently revised to €86m could be as high as €110m, leaving their finances in such dire straits that Croke Park have now assumed control.
But far more than the money, the investment of vast resources on a stadium when there was such a glaring need for investment elsewhere begs the question as to whether his vision was misplaced.
They like winning in Cork but it is fair to suggest that they will struggle to get a kick from their stadium getting the top construction award or for being honoured by that august body, the Irish Concrete Society.
Especially not in a summer when their footballers took their leave of the Championship on the back of an aggregate 33-point thumping to Kerry and Tyrone, while their hurlers’ semi-final defeat to Limerick meant that a 13th year has passed since they last brought the Liam MacCarthy home.
To put the latter in perspective – and that is the trophy they covet more than any other – it is the second longest title famine in their history, only outstripped in misery by their barren run from 1903-1919.
Is it fair to lay that at Murphy’s door?
Whatever about the fairness, it is unavoidable.
The game and the role of leaders have changed. Once again Dublin is proof of that, where John Costello has governed with the sole purpose of making them great again.
It can be argued that Costello has got to play with a loaded deck, having been gifted the resources, financial, population and facilities — not least in access to Croke Park — but he has delivered.
Murphy was not without resources. The 256 affiliated clubs make Cork the largest unit in the country in terms of the most precious resource of all, while they have tradition and population to fall back on.
The accounts ledger, on that basis, is not impressive.
In his 46-year reign, Cork have won 13 senior All-Irelands (nine hurling and four football) – which is an underwhelming strike rate given their status.
But what is damning is that they have won just three since the turn of the millennium — a period when size was diluted by
The tributes will flow thick with sincerity but when the emotion fades his legacy is likely to be a confused one
Kerry have a far superior set-up for a fraction of the cost
science — and the argument that the back-to-back All-Ireland hurling wins in 2004 and ’05 were won in spite of him and not because of him, is easily prosecuted.
Those three player strikes in the Noughties – all of which he lost – will always be a stain on his legacy, but without the first of those stand-offs in 2002, the players would not have been empowered to go win those back-to-back titles under Donal O’Grady and John Allen.
It was also the first time that a clear line was drawn between the dressing room and the board room, given Murphy’s dual influence down the years.
But what is particularly significant is that as the game embraced science, the sense was that Cork clung to the belief that their size and tradition would be enough to keep them up to speed.
For example, most of the GAA’s top counties have developed formal relationships with the college sector – Dublin with DCU, Waterford with WIT, Kerry with IT Tralee while UL has been supportive of both the Limerick and Clare hurlers, yet Cork never sought to develop an integrated relationship with either UCC or CIT.
While it is claimed that the new Páirc Uí Chaoimh has provided Cork with a new centre of excellence, one 4G pitch and a gym pales in comparison with what Kerry constructed at pretty much the same time in Currans for a fraction of the cost.
They have delivered a six-pitch centre of excellence, state-ofthe-art off-field facilities and a sports science link-up with IT Tralee.
It might not get any awards from the Irish Concrete Society, but in terms of facilitating a player pathway it is more likely to get the job done.
And others in Cork have long since cottoned on to that.
In that 16-page document O’Donovan distributed – it included 25 recommendations in total – he suggested that Cork needed to look at linking up with either UCC or CIT to allow the county embrace a new age.
He also suggested a link-up with clubs around the county, assisting them by providing facilities which would in effect develop regional centre of excellences, which, given Cork’s size, is a necessity.
It was an ambitious document, but the fact that it was published and distributed off his own back served as a powerful cry for new leadership. They have got it now. What Cork make of it could utterly transform the GAA landscape without ever laying a single block.