John Delaney special guest at Limerick soccer club event this Saturday

JOHN Delaney, the man at the epicentre of the FAI storm for the past ten days, is expected to be the guest of honour in Askeaton this Saturday when he will name the Desmond League home base at Clounreask, as Mick Hanley Park.

But local TD Niall Collins, one of a number of TDs who has been critical of Mr Delaney and of the FAI, says, he will not be holding a protest.

Anti-JD posters were held up during Tuesday’s Ireland Georgia match on Tuesday night. But said Deputy Collins: “I am not going to be challenging John Delaney. I know him. It is not personal. It is Mick Hanley’s night and I won’t detract from that.”

However, he has called for an independent external audit of the FAI books.

“In Ireland, we have had a number of national sporting organisation who have had very poor corporate governance,” he said. “This is another example of it which needs to be dealt with.

He was also critical of the recent switch in Mr Delaney’s role from chief executive to vice-president. The new position , he said, had been invented and came out of left field.

“It’s highly irregular and it completely undermines the role of the interim and the next CEO,” he continued.

“If there is no issue, why doesn’t John Delaney just come out and make a statement to say that?”

Meanwhile, the Desmond League is continuing with its preparations for Saturday’s night big event at Clounreask which former Ireland internationals Paul McGrath and Andy Reid are also expected to attend.

But the main man of the night will be Mick Hanley, whose name has been synonymous with the Desmond League for many decades. He was chairman of the League from 1975 to 2012 and is currently vice-chairman. He is a member of the FAI Board of Directors which has also come in for a lot of criticism in recent days.

Speaking to the Limerick Leader’s Rory O’Connor this Wednesday, Mick said he felt “very humbled” when told the park was to be named after him. “All my life I’ve done as much as I could for soccer and this league and it’s great to be honoured in this way. I’m very proud”.

And he paid tribute to the FAI for their support. “The FAI showed us great support when we needed the pitch resurfaced. We hadn’t €35 but they sent people out and they ended up doing the job for free when it could have cost us €35,000.”