(The following was submitted to the Irish Voice on behalf of New York GAA Chairman Seamus Dooley, who faces re-election on Sunday against John Moore.)

When you cut through the terribly negative comments of John Moore regarding the New York County Board in last week’s Irish Voice, it becomes very clear that as a prospective chairman he has nothing new to offer the clubs of New York.

Indeed on the basis of his comments, one has to ask how he can hope to chair a board whose members he describes as lacking vision? Despite taking up a complete page in the paper, he mentioned just three main items, and he has nothing new to add to any one of them.

He talks about Randalls Island, but he has conveniently forgotten that the current board, under the leadership of Seamus Dooley, has managed to make significant progress on the project in the last 12 months.

He fails to acknowledge that the current board was responsible for having progress made on the site, for expanding the management of the project so that the New York Board are well represented, and for creating an environment where the project now looks much more viable than previously.

In spite of all he would lead us to believe about his contribution to the project, why was he not available when the clubs met to discuss the project last summer, and why was he not retained on the management committee?

His comments about the relationship between the minor and senior boards are hardly original. Across all sports there is a huge fall-off in participation once children reach the end of their high school years and begin college.

It is certainly not a problem confined to the New York GAA, and yet Mr. Moore’s only remedy for the problem is a call for “aggressive plans” between the boards where the “Minor Board games will be played on fields with proper facilities.”

Planning is no substitute for action, and the senior and minor boards have cooperated to a great extent addressing these problems in the last 12 months.

Under the leadership of Seamus Dooley a beneficial working relationship has been created between the boards and acknowledged by the Minor Board in a letter to the Senior Board last week.

The third item of note is the county teams, and here again Mr. Moore’s comments add nothing to the discussion.

He fails to understand that it is not beneficial to have teams in training less than three weeks after their last game of the season, particularly when the next game is effectively six months away. The players and management need time to recuperate and reflect on what was for New York an extremely busy season.

Mr. Moore claims that the members of the board are against using the media to get their message out and that this prevents progressive leaders, presumably such as himself, from emerging. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The New York GAA welcomes all media coverage of its events and will always do so. It is rather ironic that the media outlet which has given Mr. Moore his biggest platform is the outlet that has had trouble consistently covering the games in the Park.

The board, under the leadership of Seamus Dooley, has had a progressive year, slow and steady perhaps, but none the less progressive. It is acknowledged that some mistakes were made but that was as a result of inexperience.

With the support of the clubs that steady progress will be maintained in the next 12 months.