BROUGHT in to help ‘weaker hurling counties’, as they were termed before the PC brigade jumped on, the now-so-called ‘special eligibility provisions for hurling’ were controversial from the outset.
Aside from the disadvantage to Ulster counties - which we’ll get to in a minute - there was the unspoken issue of how very un-GAA it was. Take James Logue’s comments last January. He was one of the recruits to Kerry last year as they won promotion to Division 1B and the Christy Ring Cup.
At the time, he said: “My burning ambition is to play senior for Tipperary at some point in the future but, for now, I am fully committed to the Kerry cause and thoroughly enjoying my experience there so far.”
More like the words of a professional footballer stuck at Burnley with ambitions of playing for Manchester United than of a GAA player. Allowing up to five players per year to be sanctioned under this rule gave such massive scope for the counties neighbouring the big guns to give lads the opportunity to play inter-county hurling.
The ruling has left Ulster hurling at its most isolated. No representation in the top two tiers of the league system or the Liam MacCarthy in 2016 is how it stands. Antrim or Down may yet go on to win the Christy Ring Cup, but there is a general apathy about Ulster hurling that only a buoyant Armagh seem to be avoiding right now.
Down travelled to Derry last weekend for a crunch game with just 19 players. They emerged with a three-point win, sealed late in the day. It’s not the only time in recent years they’ve travelled to Owenbeg in those circumstances.
The Ulster counties have repeatedly stated over the past decade that the Christy Ring has become their primary Championship, ahead of the Ulster series itself. Down, now in a semi-final, could conceivably still win the Christy Ring Cup. Yet they train together just once a week at present. On Tuesday nights, the players train with their clubs. Depending on their injury situation, the county squad then meets up for a light session on either the Thursday or Friday before their game on a Saturday.
Michael Johnston, who managed Armagh for four years, has been hamstrung by his players’ work commitments. It’s totally understandable that lads can’t commit to a Saturday afternoon game in this day and age. The reason those games are played on a Saturday is to cause minimal disruption to club games, both football and hurling. In one way, that demeans these players’ Championship.
With a growing number of county hurlers now dual club players, there were lads in Down two weeks ago who played games on four consecutive days. A round of club football on Friday night, Christy Ring on Saturday, club hurling on Sunday and another round of club football on Monday. Clearly, that is not how it’s supposed to be.
Last year’s beaten finalists Derry find themselves at a low ebb 12 months on, facing a relegation play-off against Wicklow on Saturday week. A return to the Nicky Rackard Cup would be a real disaster for the Oak Leafers. But their plight has highlighted the main issue facing the Ulster counties.
Derry, like the rest of Ulster, have no influential neighbours to call upon. Armagh, Down and even Antrim find themselves in the same waters, fighting the tide. And like the rest, there is a distinct lack of depth. Since the Hinpheys retired and a few more dipped off the scene, they have sunk like a stone.
No Ulster county has ever reached an All-Ireland minor final. Antrim were the first to reach an U21 final three years ago and, as much as they deserve credit for that famous semi-final win over Wexford, they lost the final by 24 points to Clare.
Somewhere along the line, Antrim became content for their minors to be competing with U17 teams down the country. They might win those games but, ultimately, they remain a long way short of the minors from those counties, which has manifested itself annually in the All-Ireland series. And given that they’ve won 19 of the last 21 Ulster minor titles, it doesn’t say a lot for the current standing of the underage teams the rest are producing.
That is not to criticise the coaches involved in trying to keep the game alive and promote it. Overworked and underresourced, they are faced with an impossible task. Who’s to blame for that? Do the clubs themselves obstruct its development by actively not promoting the game? Do the county boards themselves do enough to really push it in the other clubs or through the schools? Do they really invest the same amount of money in hurling as they do in football?
The same questions should be asked of the Ulster Council. Or is it that the purse strings aren’t sufficiently loosened in Croke Park to allow the game to flourish outside of its traditional hotbeds?
To hear the GAA’s director of games Pat Daly last year admit on the very day the hurling development committee launched a plan of action to tackle the problems that there was unlikely to be any change summed it up.
Croke Park, last year, invested €5.1m into the development of football and just over €2m into hurling development, of which €400,000 went to hurl and helmet subsidies. Yet, the U21 hurling Championship was worth €298,232 to the association, in comparison to the U21 football competition, which brought in €94,211.
The GAA’s accounts break down how much is invested in each county, but not how much of that goes to hurling and how much goes to football. It wouldn’t take Einstein to do the maths for most of them.
The lower tier counties fight over the scraps to improve hurling. Kerry, Roscommon, Mayo - these counties are able to bring in outside talent from their neighbours to boost their ranks. Those two or three top-tier players can be the difference between whole tiers, as Roscommon have shown this season.
It’s not exactly a viable long-term solution though. For all the progression of their seniors, Kerry, Roscommon and Mayo have no underage success to show for it. Kerry didn’t enter the Munster Minor Hurling Championship last year. There has been no Connacht Minor Championship since 1989 and neither Mayo nor Roscommon compete in Championship anywhere at that grade.
As a result, they all have little depth. Their upturns are likely to be brief and of no threat to the traditional powers. If hurling is to properly improve, it needs something better than quick fix transfers to the neighbours.
