By Barry O’mahony EchoLive.ie
Cork GAA CEO Kevin O鈥橠onovan has said his vision is for SuperValu P谩irc U铆 Chaoimh to be open to all sports moving forward.
The West Cork native was speaking on The Rebel Army Podcast ahead of Cork City鈥檚 match with Celtic down the P谩irc next Tuesday evening with kick-off at 6pm.
The Cork Super Cup game between the two teams is only the fourth ever soccer match to be staged at the GAA stadium and is the first ever competitive men鈥檚 game.
The contest is also expected to provide a potential 鈧6 million economic boost to the area.
The Cork Super Cup is a joint initiative between Cork GAA and sports marketing agency Druid Sport to bring another record-breaking mid-summer event to the stadium.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a significant match in terms of the city and sport in the city,” O’Donovan says.
“I think Cork people have that in their DNA, this ecumenical approach to sport, whether it鈥檚 Roy [Keane], Sonya [O鈥橲ullivan] or Ronan O鈥橤ara.
鈥淚 played junior football against John Caulfield in West Cork, so that cross-pollination, we鈥檝e always seen that. I鈥檝e always seen Cork people supporting a team regardless of the sport.
鈥淲hen we won underage titles over the last decade, Cork City were the first to invite us to parade the cup at a match in Turner’s Cross. While we鈥檙e all competing for the hearts and minds probably every day and promoting our sports, when it comes to the teams, there鈥檚 just nothing there, everyone is just on the same bus. So, it鈥檚 great to have a match like this to symbolise that.
鈥淲e had the Liam Miller match in 2018, that really broke down the door and since then, we鈥檝e been racing through. We鈥檝e had the two Munster rugby games, we鈥檝e had the two women鈥檚 soccer internationals, so this is kind of just another evolution of that.鈥
This game between two historic clubs will attract a bumper crowd that will help reduce the 鈧31 million plus debt on SuperValu P谩irc U铆 Chaoimh.
鈥淎ll these matches not involving GAA are a little bit symbolic,鈥 O鈥橠onovan said.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e showing the stadium as the people’s stadium. My vision is for it to be a municipal stadium. I think stadiums are expensive public goods that need public support and funding and need to be multi-sport. SuperValu P谩irc U铆 Chaoimh wasn鈥檛 built for that, but this is our way of maybe retrofitting a little bit of that. Building multi-sport training facilities in the future will be harder.
鈥淩oy Keane is here for most of our games. Roy is up there in his seat for a lot of the Cork GAA games. So, I just think ecumenical sports, we all wear the shirt.鈥
O鈥橠onovan came in as Cork GAA CEO in December 2018, succeeding the great Frank Murphy after 45 years of distinguished service as secretary. Bringing in other sports to the redeveloped P谩irc was a big thing.
鈥淭he Liam Miller testimonial match was a turning point in that it brought in the change of rule. Now, the rules were very restrictive after that in that it must be an event of national importance. It must not conflict with the values of the GAA.
鈥淚 think there鈥檚 a growing appreciation that it鈥檚 the right way to go. It has been a case of one game at a time for us.
鈥淭his stadium is actually used far more than people actually know because we鈥檝e all the club programmes, several inter-county teams and the camogie and ladies football are in here now. But, is it used 365 days a year? No, should it be used 365 days a year? It kind of has to be to pay the bills, the rates, the energy costs and so on.
鈥淥f course, the pitch can鈥檛 be played on seven days a week, so the pitch is kind of the limiting factor. It鈥檚 a world class pitch though, it has five percent artificial fibres in it. We know that we can take a Munster rugby game and turn it around three days later for it to be ready for Nemo Rangers in a Munster club championship game.鈥