THE momentum appears to be with the striking 2008 Cork hurling squad after members at the influential Nemo Rangers club voted 185-1 in favor of two motions that support the players. Despite the fact that the club delegates voted in support of beleaguered manager Gerald McCarthy at the most recent County Board meeting, the Nemo members have supported two motions arising out of a meeting between the striking players and the Cork clubs. Former Cork footballer and county team boss Billy Morgan was one of those to speak in favor of the motions and the striking players at the Nemo meeting. And it has also emerged that the club delegate who voted in support of McCarthy at the County Board meeting initially resigned but has since been reinstated. The Clonakilty club has also given the striking players a lift after inviting the chairmen from all junior, intermediate and senior clubs in the area to attend a meeting in Clonakilty Community Hall on Friday night to debate the impasse. The striking 2008 panel will meet club representatives again on Sunday, while supporters have planned another protest march before Cork’s NFL game against Fermanagh in Pairc Ui Chaoimh this weekend. Striking midfielder Tom Kenny has called on the clubs to support the 2008 squad in big numbers again at this weekend’s scheduled meeting. “Hopefully, there will be as big a turnout as the last day. We’d like clubs to come back with the ballot results on the motions, from their meetings on club-headed paper and signed by the club officers,” said Kenny. Meanwhile, Croke Park officials will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss the latest developments after two failed attempts on their part to resolve the impasse. The current Cork team were hammered in the NHL by Galway in front of just 600 fans at Pairc Ui Chaoimh on Sunday, but manager McCarthy was still defiant afterwards. “The clubs have backed me twice, by overwhelming majorities,” said McCarthy. “I am not going to answer anything that’s happening that has no bearing on the rules of the GAA. The rules of the GAA are vested in Cork County Board and they have voted twice overwhelmingly that I am the manager. “Two groups, the Cork management and the County Board executive, agreed to changes and structures and one group, the players, didn’t. That’s all I can say.” Galway won by 14 points, but manager John McIntrye said, “I thought we were a bit sluggish. Our lads were a bit under pressure after the Dublin match and it showed. That wouldn’t be near good enough for what’s facing us in Pearse Stadium next Sunday against Kilkenny. “I know it’s easier from the sideline looking in at it. Those young Cork players battled honorably and battled hard, they are brave young men in very difficult circumstances. But that wouldn’t be good enough from a Galway perspective at all. “You should never apologize for winning, but we did not look slick or sharp and made heavy weather of it. To be honest, against better opposition, we would have been in trouble today.”
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