Blues great Niall Twomey lands important Cork GAA role

TWO-TIME Bantry Blues Cork senior football championship winner Niall Twomey is the new Cork GAA Head of Games Development.

Twomey, who won his county titles with Bantry in 1995 and ’98, will now look to make an impact off the field in his new role.

‘We are delighted to have someone of Niall's calibre to lead our Games Development department at a time of such growth,’ Cork GAA Chairperson Marc Sheehan said.

‘We have no doubt that he has the leadership and organisational skills to manage what will be a key pillar in the development of our games and we look forward to supporting his role.’

The adopted Ballinascarthy man – whose son Dan was on the Cork U20 football team this season – has previously volunteered across several areas in Cork GAA over the past decade, as Cork minor football selector, U21 football trainer and senior football development squad manager, as well as club coaching officer and underage chairperson with Bal GAA. Twomey also acted as a facilitator for Cork GAA’s urban club review pilot recently.

He previously served in the Irish Defence Forces, which included overseas missions in DR Congo, Lebanon, Kosovo and East Timor. Since 2012 the West Cork man has worked as the Civil Defence Officer for Cork West, responsible for the management, training and deployment of personnel to respond effectively to emergency situations at local and regional level.

He will commence the role as Cork GAA Head of Games Development on July 24th.

Also, Cork GAA is welcoming applications for the role of eight new GAA Games Development Coordinators (GDCs) across the county. This will be in addition to the six Games Development Administrators (GDAs) currently in place, who will be offered the opportunity to migrate to GDC roles, resulting in a total of 14 coaching staff tasked with improving participation and playing standards at ground level.