They Said It ....

April 2004

Imagine this happening 30 or 40 years ago. Sheila Reilly’s heading in the Longford Leader reads GAA Races out further clashes with Sunday Masses. Sheila goes on to quote County Chairman Martin Skelly who says Early Sabbath throw-ins were a once off.
The GAA County Board has been rapped on the knuckles for scheduling a number of club games on the Sunday morning of the Longford v Tyrone Senior football clash. Although a force to be reckoned with in its own right, the GAA has found itself in hot water with an arguably mightier opponent over the decision - the local clergy. At least one county board delegate has expressed disquiet with the county board’s decision to hold a number of club games at 10am and 11am last Sunday week which clashed with local mass times.
It is not known if the numbers attending mass dropped, drastically due to the county board’s decision but nonetheless the local clergy was said to be none too impressed at the GAA straying into its territory of Sunday mornings.
“It won’t happen again,” Mr Skelly County Board Chairman told the Leader after acknowledging that he had been contacted by a county board delegate about the matter.
“It was the day of the Tyrone match and a few games were fixed for early on Sunday morning because of the very big crowd we were expecting for the Tyrone game,” Mr Skelly explained. Anticipating large crowds to see the All Ireland Champions play Longford, the county board decided to hold the club games earlier that day. Some games were held the day before.
“We needed everyone from the clubs there and you couldnt let a club game run against a major fixture like the Longford-Tyrone game,” Mr Skelly continued.
Mr Skelly went on to say that the GAA is always cognisant of religious ceremonies when scheduling games.
“We try to be sympathetic to the needs of the community in an area,” he said, adding that where possible they try to avoid arranging fixtures that collide with religious ceremonies in parishes.
“By and large, matches do not start until 1pm on Sundays,” he pointed out. The County Board Chairman added that the matter was unlikely to arise again this season since Longford only had one more home fixture for the NFL against Fermanagh on March 21.
Mr Skelly pointed out that as the days get longer, matches are held at later times. The Fermanagh game could be scheduled for 3pm in the afternoon giving club players ample time to go to Mass, play their matches and catch up with events in Pearse Park.
“The evenings will get longer now, so there’ll be more opportunity to play games on Saturday evenings,” he added.
Ironically, a number of the club games scheduled for early morning last Sunday week did not go ahead due to fog on the pitches. Mr Skelly had no comment on the theory that the inclement weather was down to the wrath of God over the scheduling of the games.

We had Watergate, at present we have Rule42gate and I promise we will not discuss any of this (well in the April edition anyway). Over amongst the plains of Kildare we as Paul O’Meara reports in the Leinster Leader have Whelangate.
The Kildare GAA County Board is planning to open an office in Newbridge, writes Paul O’Meara. First mooted a few years ago, the initiative is not new but chairman Andrew O’Sullivan is determined to press ahead with the project.
The proposal forms a central part of the statement which was released last week and brings an end to the ‘Whelangate’ saga - the row which erupted over secretary-treasurer’s support for Seamus Aldridge in his bid to win a Leinster Council job.
Mr. O’Sullivan told the Leader last week that the office would open in Newbridge “as soon as possible” and it will be the official address for all Kildare GAA business especially correspondence.
It will also provide a focal point for all of the clubs in their week-to-week dealings with the County Board and officers.
Mr O’Sullivan also revealed that the office will be staffed by an administrator “to undertake the ever increasing workload of all board officers and any other tasks as may be directed by the county secretary.”
The appointed administrator will not be a serving board officer.
He told the Leader that no decision has been made about whether to locate the office in the building at St. Conleth’s Park or at another location on a Newbridge street.
Security and insurance considerations may dictate that the office will have to be located in a less isolated location than will be available at St. Conleth’s Park.
For example, the office will be a temporary home for sums of money paid over by clubs and supporters for tickets to championship fixtures involving Kildare.
Mr. O’Sullivan also said that the setting up of office in St Conleth’s Park may hinder other activities already carried out there.
He accepted there may be cost implications but he feels these are minimal because grants are available for this purpose from the Leinster Council.
“I’m hopeful that the office will be open by the summer or by the end of the year and that it will be self financing. At the moment we are exploring what might be available for use in St Conleth’s Park or elsewhere and for the time being I want to keep all our options open,” he said.
Several other county boards around the country already have offices.

What takes a club 30 miles away from their base to train. West Clare unit Kilrush have problems. Words from the Clare Champion.
The most recent statistics on population trends will tell you there is an exodus of people out of the western half of Clare. A lack of job opportunities is cited as one of the main reasons behind this trend and its effects are felt across a wide range of West Clare communities.
Though the footballers of Kilrush came agonisingly close to fulfilling their county ambitions last year, the obstacles they had to overcome on the road to Cusack Park were a little tougher than those encountered by most other Clare clubs.
With most of the squad living far from home, midweek training sessions have had to take place almost 30 miles to the East of their club grounds in Ennis.
The decision to relocate for the weekly gatherings was taken due to the large amount of players who work in Ennis, Limerick, Galway and beyond.
With team members having to travel round trips of up to 80 miles, the commitment levels had to be high.
“A few younger lads have moved onto the senior grade this year and they would be living at home in Kilrush, but outside of that, only about four or five senior players would still live in Kilrush,” said Colm Browne, joint club secretary.
“That’s mainly due to the fact that there aren’t a lot of jobs available in Kilrush. For a town of its size, there are very few employment opportunities.”
With so many natives scattered across the Mid-West region, the training sessions in Ennis, held mainly in the grounds of St Flannan’s and St Josephs, provide players with the chance of meeting up regularly and keeping up with goings on at home.
“Most of the players have to travel a distance to the training sessions, meaning they have to sacrifice some time each week,” adds Colm. “The more the sacrifice the greater the bond between the players, so there’s great unity in the squad.”
The current trend of migration out of Kilrush and its environs doesn’t augur well for the future of football in certain parts of West Clare, according to Colm. “With people moving away from Kilrush, it will become more difficult for us to compete with the bigger population centres such a Shannon and Ennis. If this trend continues then I could definitely see a situation arise where senior clubs in West Clare will have to amalgamate.”
This coming season, the Kilrush minor team will also include some isolated players from Killimer. It’s the first time in recent years that this move has materialised.
“This highlights the fact that we might experience difficulties in the coming years. If young people see their neighbours and relations moving to Ennis or Limerick, it will be natural for them to follow. If the football scene is bleak in Kilrush or other parts or West Clare, then you could see people from here moving away and joining another club.”
If the high standards of last year are to be maintained and bettered, it may be a case of tackling the social problem of migration rather than improving standards on the field of play.

Official passes being abused, it was alleged reports the Kilkenny People. Hell, we simply don’t believe it. But then wouldn’t you go to 3 club games at different venues in Catland the one afternoon if DJ was on show in one, Henry Shefflin next up and say young Power in the third. Anyway matters are under control.
Official County Committee passes are being abused, it has been alleged.
The passes allow the holders free entry to local matches. But the passes are being spread around, it has been suggested.
The matter came to light at the March monthly meeting of the County Committee when chairman, Ned Quinn asked for the 2003 passes to be returned by delegates.
A delegate who was manning a gate at Nowlan Park for a big game some time ago said the same pass was presented twice to him.
Sean Tyrrell (James Stephens) agreed that the passes were being abused, although he wasn’t saying County Committee members were doing it.
He wondered could the picture of the holder be added to the passes in a bid to stop the abuse.
He was told that sponsors and other people also received passes from the ‘Committee, so it wasn’t possible to put a picture on every pass.
Mr Quinn said it was ‘a small problem’ but he admitted people had been written to about it in the past.
The procedure is that the number on each pass is noted when presented at a turnstile. The ‘Committee has a record of who has what pass.
The turnstile lists will be examined more closely in future.

And how did Paidi feel taking on his beloved Kingdom when the men in green and gold came avisiting his adopted Mullingar. John O’Dowd of The Kerryman had words with the Ventry publican.
Despite suffering another defeat and moving perilously closer to the relegation trapdoor, Westmeath manager Paidi O’Se took many positives out of Sunday’s interesting clash with his native county.
“It isn’t all gloom. I felt for a good period of the game, especially in the first half, that we were the better team,” he said.
“Taking away the two goals at the end of the half, I thought we played the best football for the first half-hour. Unfortunately, we conceded two goals, and that’s six points, and six points in any man’s language is a difficult lead to win back.”
In the second half, the Ventry man was more impressed with the way Kerry didn’t make mistakes, rather than any serious deficiencies in his own outfit.
“At the start of the second half, I thought the Kerry support play was magnificent. We knew they were going to do that, or I knew anyhow, because they just didn’t give the ball away to us.
“We had a few unfortunate misses and we should have possibly been a little bit closer at the end. I don’t know, maybe if we had gone in at half-time just one or two points down, which could have very easily happened, you just wouldn’t know what could have happened,” he added.
So, all in all, the Westmeath boss was satisfied that there had been an improvement on their previous match against Dublin.
“It was a better performance from us than the previous week. These games for us at this stage are preparation games for the championship. That is just around the corner on May 16 and we’ve two more quality games against Tryone and Mayo, and we’ll use those to our own benefit and to try and use them as a learning process for our game against Offaly.
“We certainly weren’t lacking confidence in the first half against the wind. We played the better football in the first half, but then there was the touch down for the first goal from Micheal Quirke and, after that, there was the penalty.
“We also could have scored a goal in the first half and we could have had a goal at the start of the second half,” stressed O’Se.
The former Kerry manager admitted that it had been difficult to face his old team and that it would have even more so, if his nephews had been available to play.
“Facing the green and gold was a bit strange alright but it’s over and done with now and we don’t have to worry about it at all for the rest of the year. In hindsight, it was better not to have had to face my three nephews. Yes, that would have been a little bit uncomfortable, to be honest, and I dont’ think they would have relished it either.”
And what of Kerry on the day?
“I thought Kerry played very well in the second half, their support play was excellent. What can I say about Kerry, Kerry are Kerry, they seem to get players overnight.
“There was a young Declan O’Sullivan there, Seamus Moynihan was excellent, and all of the players did very well. They had a very workmanlike second half and didn’t give the ball away easily, although we did knock it away from them a few times, and if we had been a little bit more clinical, we’d have scored a goal and maybe three or four points,” he concluded.
Páidí O’Sé may have a new job on his hands in the midlands but, one thing is clear, Kerry football will always remain close to his heart.

When former Roscommon Chairman Tommy Kenoy says a few words people normally stand up and listen. After all Kenoy has more than any other individual kept the open up Croke Park debate (we did mention it once) alive. In his weekly column in The Roscommon Herald Tommy now turns his attention towards RTE under the heading Second class Coverage
RTE is supposed to be our national broadcasting station. It must be said that their coverage of the national games at the moment does not reflect this.
The past weekend saw saturation coverage of rugby and soccer. On Saturday it was rugby, more rugby and yet more rugby followed by Premiership soccer. More of the same on Sunday.
Meanwhile the All-Ireland Club Football semi-finals were on, but all we got were glimpses on the sportsnews. The peep we got of Caltra versus The Loup looking like it was done with a badly focussed camera by an amateur. Indeed maybe it was. Only for TG4 Gaelic Games would have been totally ignored.
Clearly coverage of GAA activity at this time of year is not part of the GAA/RTE deal. Well, it should be. The NFL, both in hurling and football are the second more important competitions in the GAA world.
The All-Ireland Club championships are growing in popularity. It’s unacceptable to the viewers that our national TV network virtually ignores them from September to April