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25th June 2025
11:33am BST
Back in 2008, Dublin club Parnells became the richest club in the country, following the sale of their grounds for €22 million.
With the money they built new facilities in Coolock, and began to look at new ways to improve in hopes of claiming a first county title since 1988.
This included head hunting outside players and paying high costs for coaching and travel expenses.
However, its actions led to the club going into debt and eventually liquidation, being forced to disband earlier this year.
As reported by RTÉ Prime Time, one player received close to €20,000 for expenses and coaching over a period of 16 months, while a coach was given €16,820 in travel and subsistence payment.
Their most celebrated player of recent years, Dublin icon Stephen Cluxton, has long been critical of the running of the club.
He strangely dropped to Parnell's second team around the time Dublin began to dominate in the 2010s, and while it was initially unclear why this was, it has been revealed that it was in protest to the management of Parnells.
Prime Time also shed light on a letter sent by Cluxton to all members of the club executive, in September 2014, taking aim at those in charge.
The letter included the following lines:
"I don’t agree with the policy of head-hunting players."
"I don’t agree that county players are treated to various perks."
"I am disgusted with the tax situation having to be settled in the manner in which it was."
"I am disgusted that the club is now in debt."
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