O’Brien feels GAA could be doing more for weaker counties
LOUTH hurling boss, Philip O’Brien, feels that Croke Park should and could be doing more to promote the game in weaker counties ahead of his side’s Allianz League Division 3A decider against Warwickshire on Saturday (Trim 1.00).
Louth and Warwickshire have defied the odds to reach Saturday’s showdown for national silverware, which comes with the added bonus of promotion to Division 2B next season.
Roscommon, Tyrone and Monaghan would all have been ahead of Saturday’s finalists in the betting at the outset of the campaign, but the sides emerged from the round-robin group on merit, drawing with each other in Darver the process.
But O’Brien feels that teams like Louth are raising the bar in the lower tiers almost in spite of Croke Park.
As a Meath man O’Brien has experienced the lack of support for the minnows of the game first hand over many years, and he sees it in Louth too.
‘I don’t think enough is being done to support weaker counties. I worked in Dundalk 30 years ago and I don’t think hurling has moved on much in that time. You have wonderful people working tirelessly on the ground to keep the game alive, but the GAA are only paying it lip service.
‘There needs to be more underage competitions and there has to be better coaching and structures put in place at underage level. People are doing great work at club and county level here, but it needs to come centrally. There are only four hurling clubs in Louth so they need to be doing more to encourage the new clubs or football clubs to get involved.’
But O’Brien realises that’s a battle for another day, and for the moment his focus is on clinching national silverware and promotion.
Louth have come a long way in 12 months as this time last year they were rooted to the bottom of the table without a win, avoiding relegation merely because it had been pre-ordained that there would be no team dropping to Division 3B.
O’Brien feels that preparation and subsequently sheer hard work from his players has been the key difference.
‘Last year myself and Ken McKenna didn’t really get started with the team until December and we didn’t know the squad or what other players might be out there. I saw them in the Lory Meagher final, but that was about it.
‘So the Kehoe Cup and league were upon us very quickly and a few experienced players weren’t available. It got better in the championship, but it was a tough year.
‘This time we got started in October and got a good pre-season in, a strength and conditioning programme, and I got to see players in action with their clubs during the summer. We had a few lads who couldn’t commit until January, but after Christmas we had everybody available, so the preparation was a lot better.
‘We got Shane Callan back and the Arthur brothers and Mark Molloy came on board, so it all came together a lot earlier this year.’
O’Brien insists the Reds won’t be doing anything out of the ordinary this week as they prepare for Warwickshire, whom they drew 1-16 apiece with in early February.
‘We’ll train Tuesday and Thursday as normal and we won’t overdo it. I like players to enjoy the game and if you heap too much pressure on them the enjoyment starts to go out of it. I know they have the ability and that they’ll die for every ball and that’s good enough for me. We don’t have to over-analyse it or put any more pressure on them than necessary.’
But O’Brien is calling on an extra bit of effort from Louth Gaels, insisting that the players and management need all the halp and support they can get.
‘One thing I would love to see is hurling clubmen and even just Louth supporters come down to support the lads. Trim’s not that far and they’ve plenty of hotels and establishments to make a day of it. Maybe we can organise a few supporters buses!’