I understand the benefits and the unique nature of the gaa and how the grass roots element makes it so special to us all. However, it must be pointed out that, where you are from determines how successful you will be within the GAA. For example Longford could have the next Henry Shefflin, but that individual will never get the opportunity to play at a high level and use his talent simply down to the fact that he is from a weaker county. Ultimately, whatever county you are born in determines how successful you will be. Just food for thought.
that point says more about the structures of the hurling championship in my opinion than the inter county setup as in football we have seen the likes of declan browne with tipp mattie forde with wexford niall mcnamee with offaly paul barden with longford emlyn mulligan with leitrim leighton glynn with wicklow all unsuccesful teams they played on but became household names around the country
27/11/2014 15:38:18 upandwin County: Down Posts: 87
For example Longford could have the next Henry Shefflin, but that individual will never get the opportunity to play at a high level and use his talent simply down to the fact that he is from a weaker county. Ultimately, whatever county you are born in determines how successful you will be.
But in fairness if Lionel Messi was born in New Zealand or Leitrim he would of never made it as a soccer player,If Brian O Driscoll was born in West Kerry he prob wouldnt of played professional rugby,Who knows if Shefflin was born in England he could of played premier league soccer.
Of course it comes down to where you are born,Who your influences are? The history of sport in your area,Shefflin wasnt born the great hurler he was,He worked dam hard at it & had great coaches and a tradition to push him to that level.
But in fairness if Lionel Messi was born in New Zealand or Leitrim he would of never made it as a soccer player,If Brian O Driscoll was born in West Kerry he prob wouldnt of played professional rugby,Who knows if Shefflin was born in England he could of played premier league soccer.
Of course it comes down to where you are born,Who your influences are? The history of sport in your area,Shefflin wasnt born the great hurler he was,He worked dam hard at it & had great coaches and a tradition to push him to that level.
Very good post in fairness. Henry Shefflin did work damm hard to get where he was today. However I suppose the point that UpandWin makes is that he is lucky to be born in Kilkenny where the structures and tradition provide a reward for his hardwork. There are, I am sure, very dedicated LOngford hurling people that simply cannot ever reach the level as their structures prevent them from doing so.
I think this also ties in to successful counties too. Take Dublin for instance, with such a large population it is very likely that great players can be overlooked simply because you can only have so many on the panel and may not get noticed in such a large population. You always have people complaining that Dublin have an advantage because of the population size, that can work against you too. Also, your chances of making the Dublin team are greatly reduced if you are not from teams from the north side of the city..... Just sayin like.
Being a household name guarantees little. What titles have the above household names? How many all stars between them? 2 maybe. Pretty sure they would swap all stars for a piece of silverware at provincial level.