Last December Tom Boylan stood down as Treasurer of Cavan GAA County Board after 27 years service in the job. Tom says he "enjoyed every minute of it." Cavan GAA County Board's 2007 Annual Convention was a momentous occasion for the Mullahoran Dreadnoughts club. Our Lady of Lourdes Park was en fete as delegates from all of the county's 40 clubs plus a raft of county officers gathered at the magnificent John P Wilson complex to reflect on '07. The occasion was tinged with more than a hint of sadness though as it marked an epoch in the history of Cavan GAA. It was a day when Tom Boylan called it a day. After a phenomenal 27 years as Treasurer of Cavan County Board, the Cavan town-based businessman decided to hand over the purse strings to someone else. Safe to say, the sympathy of the world and his mother is with the new incumbent Martin Cahill (Denn) as he seeks to fill the great man's shoes. Tom admits that being that bit removed these days from the inner circle of the county board is taking some getting used to but his exit from the centre stage had a soft edge to it. "I will miss acting as treasurer but I suppose that's only natural. If you've been doing a job for 27 years, you're obviously going to miss it," Tom explains. "But the fact I'm now a member of the management committee of Cavan County Board and also a member of Breffni Park Development Committee has given me something to do." Having been an eager-beaver in the cabinet for the guts of 30 years, the experience now of being a more relaxed back-bencher is one which Tom is patently enjoying. Intermittent meetings, (as a member of the management and Breffni Park committees) as opposed to the almost daily grind of keeping on top of Cavan GAA's financial affairs, help satisfy Tom's voracious appetite for Gaelic games' administrative affairs. As Treasurer, Tom was wont to talk practically every day to bank personnel, accountants, auditors, sponsors, Croke Park officials, clubs, county board officers as part of his work. It's a long, long time ago since the Castletara native first donned his administration hat. Suffice to say, a lot of currencies have floated underneath the bridge since he made his bow. Way back in the seventies, he served as Chairman of Ballyhaise and it was during his stint in high office that his native club enjoyed some of the best times in their history. With players of the calibre of Steve Duggan, Hughie Newman, Enda McGowan and Louis Lyons, Ballyhaise were good enough to reach the county finals of 1976 and '78. In January 1981, Tom was proposed by his club for the post of Treasurer of Cavan County Board at the annual convention held in St. Patrick's College, Cavan. Tom dutifully allowed his name to go forward for election and, after a contest, he took up his seat on the executive where he would remain over the course of three decades. Such was the esteem in which he was held by his county board colleagues and club delegates that he found himself returned unnopposed at successive county conventions. These are changed times for the GAA countrywide and the landscape in Breffni territory has been altered gravely since Tom first became an integral cog in Cavan GAA's wheel. For instance, when the College Street-based shopkeeper cut his teeth as Treasurer, expenditure for the year amounted to around £75,000 - a no mean figure back then either. Meanwhile at the same period of time, gate receipts from club championship games amounted to just under £20,000 while refreshments for the county team came to just under £29. "When I took over the job of Treasurer, the county board was in the middle of clearing the debt on the small stand in Breffni Park which had been completed in 1976," Tom explains. "I'd like to give credit to the clubs of the county for their loyalty over the decades and they always made their financial contributions with a heart and a half. "There have been massive improvements made to Breffni Park over the years to the tune of around six million euros and everyone in the GAA in Cavan should take pride in that." Winding the tape forward 26 years, delegates attending the 2006 county convention in Cornafean learned that expenditure for that year came to 1.3 million euros. Meanwhile gate receipts for the club championships amounted to a healthy 270,000 euros which added greatly to the county's coffers in tandem with other sources of income. "Nowadays the county board is fortunate in being able to tap into more lucrative sponsorship deals, greater backing from the corporate sector and supporters' clubs," Tom explains. And the importance of a winning Cavan team in boosting the county's income in any given year? "Very important. It goes without saying that our share of the national league pool is more the further we go in the league and we get more money if we're in a higher division. "If we're competing in division one, we'll benefit more financially from the league than if we're operating out of division three for instance. "For instance, for our game at home with Monaghan in this year's national league, we had maybe 4,500 paying customers whereas when Waterford visited us a while back, that figure might have been around 1,500 paying customers." Over the years, Tom has noted many changes effecting the GAA family with all-ticket matches, massive live TV coverage, Croke Park's enhancement and player welfare issues. In the latter regard, Tom has witnessed the creation and development of the Gaelic Players Association with some interest but he believes Cavan players have been treated well. "In my estimation, players who have represented Cavan have always been treated exceptionally well with regard to travelling expenses, gear or whatever they need. "During my time at least, Cavan County Board has never been found wanting in looking after our players and I'm sure that will remain the way of things into the future." And his take on the spectre of a pay-for-play system for players coming into vogue sometime down the line? "I would be fearful of the consequences if it comes to pass that players are actually given a wage for playing our games," Tom declares. "Having to pay out a weekly or monthly wage to a whole squad of players, presumably almost all year round, would be a huge drain on any county's financial resources. "To go down the road of paying players would mean county boards would have to allow for a large increase in its annual expenditure and you'd have to wonder where that additional money would come from and if cutbacks would be needed in other areas. "In Cavan we're lucky to have so many fundraising committees but I'm not so sure all other counties would be able to draw on the kind of resources we have. "Thanks to the great work of our supporters clubs and very good sponsorship deals plus our Corporate Nights, Cavan county board has been in a healthy financial state. "But you'd have to wonder at the sort of expenditure that we'd have to face up to each year if pay-for-play came into existence." Dedicated to lending his experience, financial nous and positive outlook to the well-being of Cavan GAA in his roles on the management committee and the Kingspan/Breffni Park Development Committee, Tom is confident that Gaelic games in Cavan have a rosy future. "We've a great GAA tradition in Cavan and enthusiasm for our games at the present time is as strong as ever even though our results in the national league haven't been great so far. "Hopefully with the amount of coaching and games development work going on, we'll see an improvement in our fortunes at every level in the near future." Tweet

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