Billy Morgan has described the now-paused proposal to rename Páirc Uí Chaoimh as “disgraceful”.
On the same evening that Cork football manager John Cleary declined to get involved in the renaming controversy, former boss Morgan took direct aim at a county board executive that was not opposed to SuperValu Páirc replacing Páirc Uí Chaoimh as the new name of Cork GAA headquarters.
Following a 24-hour public backlash, that renaming proposal has stalled for the time being.
“I think it is disgraceful, to be quite honest. I wonder sometimes do those board members know what Cork is all about and who Pádraig Ó Caoimh was,” said Morgan.
“I was very disappointed when I saw the proposal. But it mightn’t happen yet. Hopefully, it won’t, and that his name will be kept there.
“I know there is a debt there, but in terms of what they will get, how much of an impression is that going to make on the overall debt? Very little, I think.”
Morgan, the most synonymous name with the Nemo Rangers club that Padraig Ó Caoimh founded, said history should not be thrown away lightly.
“We can’t be forgetting our heritage and history, particularly in a county like Cork. We are called the Rebel County. We are not called that for nothing.”
John Cleary, meanwhile, was willing to say very little on the matter, save for his hope that Páirc Uí Chaoimh will be retained in whatever new stadium name is drawn up.
“I’ve enough to do now looking after this team. That would be fairly well down the list of my priorities at the moment. That’s for other people, that’s their business. I am sure they will come to the right decision.”
Speaking ahead of Friday’s McGrath Cup final at home to Kerry, Cleary confirmed that goalkeeper Micheál Aodh Martin (groin), Seán Powter (hamstring), Steven Sherlock (quad), Killian O’Hanlon (hip), and Tom Clancy (calf) will miss their Division 2 League opener away to Donegal on January 28. Round 2 away to Louth a week later might also come too soon for the five.
Martin, Powter, O’Hanlon, and Sherlock comprise almost one-third of the starting team that went down to Derry in last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final.
And with no date set for the return inside the whitewash of Castlehaven pair Rory Maguire and Brian Hurley, Cork could be without six first-team regulars as the league throws in.
Forward Cathail O’Mahony will miss the entire League campaign due to a quad injury.
“He had an operation there before Christmas,” Cleary said of the injury-plagued forward.
“He is recovering. He won’t make the league. That is the hope (that he will be back for the championship). That is the plan.”
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