If there is such a thing as the ‘dreaded vote of confidence’ in the GAA then Kevin Walsh has just got it and even more GAA flags have been spotted on the world’s highest mountain.
Walsh gets the dreaded vote of confidence
If Kevin Walsh was the manager of a soccer team in England, he’d have plenty of reason to be worried about the comments of Sligo County Board secretary Gerry O’Connor in the wake of Eamonn O’Hara’s controversial appearance on The Sunday Game at the weekend.
Of course, Walsh isn’t a soccer manager and the vote of confidence in GAA isn’t as ‘dreaded’ as it is across the water, but we’d be slightly concerned that O’Connor didn’t really mention anything about Walsh managing the Yeats County beyond the qualifiers this season.
Regarding O’Hara’s comments, O’Connor is quoted in The Irish Daily Star today saying: “That is Eamonn O’Hara’s opinion and it is obvious there is a personality clash or a difference of opinion between him and the manager, but Kevin Walsh will be leading Sligo in the Qualifiers.
“I spoke with the chairman and the question hasn’t arisen and why would you change? We’ve had some great games in the Qualifiers; we almost beat Kerry in Kerry a few years ago.
“I have the height of respect for Eamonn and he is in a unique position. But it is very easy to be critical at times like this and what’s forgotten is that London have been threatening to pull off a result like this for quite some time.
“It is important to remember that Kevin Walsh brought us to two Connacht finals and from Division Four to Division Two of the national league.
“Eamonn is a commentator and he is paid for his comments, but that is just his opinion.”
Fairly strong stuff from O’Connor but if we were Kevin Walsh we wouldn’t be getting too comfortable in the Sligo hotseat all the same.
Even more GAA flags on Mount Everest
Coming into work today, Hospital Pass didn’t expect that “GAA flag on Mount Everest” would be a line we’d write at any stage but in the end we ended up writing it three times after a mountain of pictures – well, three – made their way into us of the GAA flags of various counties being held aloft at the summit of the highest mountain in the world.
First there was a Mayo flag, then a Donegal one, but it seems as if both of those counties were beaten to the punch by Galway after a proud Galway man, Peter O’Connell from Killererin, made his way to the top of Everest on Monday, May 13.
In the process, at least according to an e-mail from JOE reader Daryl Fahy, a cousin of Peter’s, he became the first Connacht man to reach the summit of the great mountain, a claim that will no doubt be disputed by climbers from Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim and Roscommon and who knows, maybe even New York and London. They are in the Connacht Championship after all.
With those pictures all coming from counties west of the Shannon, counties on the east side would really want to get their sh*t together as far as GAA related mountain exploration is concerned, but on a far more serious note, Peter’s climb was equally significant as it was for a great cause, a major fundraising campaign for Pieta House West.
The climb was fully funded by Peter’s construction company, O’Connell Construction and all proceeds go to Pieta House West. They have raised over €30,000 to date and will stage a final event this weekend as part of Peter’s homecoming celebrations with a charity Auction in the Red Gap in Barnadearg at 10pm on Saturday 1st June.
Nice work Peter.
