New chairperson Sludden lays out priorities

NEWLY elected Tyrone GAA Chairman Martin Sludden has laid out his most pressing priorities for his tenure, which include the return of Club Championship matches to one of Ulster GAA’s most famous grounds, O’Neill Park in Dungannon.

Mr Sludden received a strong endorsement from delegates during Tuesday evening’s annual convention at Garvaghey, becoming the first ever Dromore clubman to assume the prestigious role.

The experienced referee was elected as Tyrone vice-chairperson three years ago, a role that entails overseeing the fixtures committee in the county. Under his watch, the majority of All County League games were played on Friday evenings, a significant shift from their usual Sunday afternoon slot.

Now he’s taken the step up to the chairmanship, replacing Éire Óg’s Michael Kerr, who stepped aside under the five-year rule.

Speaking on Tuesday evening, Mr Sludden – who thanked his family including his wife Maggie and children Gábhán and Clodagh – gave an early idea of his plans for the coming year.

“The lights at Healy Park are something that needs to be seriously discussed. I always felt the lights are not at the sufficient quality for our club championship games let alone national league and intercounty championship matches.

“We also have to be supportive of the Dungannon club in their current endeavours to redevelop their facilities. We’re seen the work done under their current chairman John McNulty, and it’s something we’re strongly supportive of as we need to see Club Championship games back in East Tyrone.

“The Edendorks, Coalislands and Clonoes of this world have had to come and play in Omagh on Friday nights and once the development at O’Neill’s Park is finished, we’ll be able to have significantly more club championship games in East Tyrone.”

Martin acknowledged that the vote in his favour was a vindication for the work undergone during his time as head of the Tyrone Competitions Control Committee (Tyrone CCC). He also voiced his support for the widely publicised Errigal Ciaran proposal for the return of minor to U18 at club level.

He said: “I’d like to think the clubs realise what we’ve done for fixtures over the last three years. There was a big push towards games being played on Friday nights so the players could reclaim their weekends. If you take youth games last year as well, a lot of the teams who got to semi-finals and finals played up to 14 matches, which was a lot of games.

“The U17 issue is still a problem. Cork didn’t support the proposal last year but they seem to be coming out very strongly now on getting it changed. Down and Monaghan didn’t back it either but hopefully that’s changed and those counties will row in behind the motion and we can get back to the U12, U14, U16 and U18 age groups. The U19 grouping hasn’t worked and it’s not going to work – there’s absolutely no room for room for it and a lot of clubs don’t have the appetite for it.”

He also labelled the lack of progress on upgrading the A5 road after another year of tragedy for Association members in Tyrone as a ‘disgrace.’ Sludden’s son Gábhán plays for Killyclogher, and his teammate John Rafferty lost his life in a collision on the notorious stretch of road in October.

“John and Gábhnán lined out in defence together. He was away in Portugal for a wedding that weekend and I rung him that morning about John’s passing, it was awful news.

“It’s a total disgrace that the A5 hasn’t been upgraded and thank God a subcommittee has been set up with some really good people involved and hopefully they’ll push it along.

“You only have to look at the amount of players who access the road at Kelly’s Inn. It’s just too dangerous – look at the frost at the moment and the backroads aren’t gritted or anything.

“The road has always been a death trap and it’s not a nice term but that’s what it is.”

Mr Sludden, who has refereed for the last 29 years, also spoke of his pride in representing Dromore in his new role.

“The first game my father brought me to was back in 1978, Carrickmore and Dromore in Healy Park. I happened to be there when Tommy Fiddis scored the great free.

“I’ve always been a strong supporter of Dromore, we had a lot of bad days and then had the breakthrough in 2007. Last year the boys really rose to the occasion and delivered our first O’Neill Cup since 2011. Our club is in a good place and I’m proud to say I’m a Dromore man.”