DUBS QUARTET RETURN
ON Wednesday night, for the third time in four weeks, I left St Loman’s in Mullingar absolutely soaked to the skin.
DUBLIN are rolling out the big guns for tonight’s record breaking Allianz Football League clash with Roscommon at Croke Park (7pm). Three-time All-ireland winners James Mccarthy, Cian O’sullivan, Paul Flynn and Bernard Brogan (both left) have been named to start as Dublin look to break Kerry’s record of 34 games unbeaten in League and Championship which has stood since 1933.
It was the third under-21 inter-county game played under lights in less than a month. As I left alongside hundreds of drenched Longford and Dublin supporters, I reflected on what an insult it was for all present. And what a savage indictment it is on county boards and the GAA in general in 2017 that the most basic of facilities haven’t been delivered countrywide. The playing surface itself is in magnificent condition for this time of the year. It’s an absolute credit to the club. But it is only a senior club ground. It’s not a venue that is suited to host inter-county games. All of this because of no floodlights in a county ground. There was torrential rain on Wednesday night. You wouldn’t have put ducks out in it – and St Loman’s was not fit for purpose for an inter-county game. But the game was played there, with only a shed with a roof as a stand for the couple of hundred supporters. Remarkably in Leinster there are only three county grounds that have floodlights – O’moore Park in Portlaoise, Parnell Park in Dublin and Dr Cullen Park in Carlow. It’s just not acceptable in this day and age and with the money that’s in the association that Leinster only has three floodlit county grounds. In Connacht, they only have one – in Mayo – and in Ulster, several counties are also going without. Incidentally there was an heroic effort given by the Longford players. Dublin led by four points to three at half-time, but Longford could have scored 1-7. And bar for a kamikaze 10 minute spell at the start of the second half, when Con O’callaghan was gifted two goals by the Longford defence, it could have been a different story for a county with a limited pick of players. Supporters travelled on a wet Wednesday night to watch a game of football at Under-21 Championship level and the least they can expect, surely, is to be kept dry. Not so, and it will only drive people away. Watching them walking forlornly to their cars, you can’t help but wonder will they come again. It’s absolutely crazy. You look at the Kerry v Dublin game last Saturday night and you understand that the GAA is missing a big trick here. With Sunday now more of a family day than ever, the biggest selling point for the National League should be Friday and Saturday night games under lights – it’s how the league should be packaged. You look at the way the Under-21 Championship is shoe-horned into February and March when the weather is generally dreadful and how badly it serves the players and the supporters. The same could be said for club games. And you notice how messed up the whole situation is when a redeveloped Pairc Ui Chaoimh that might be two-thirds full once every year or two costing €60-70 million while so many other grounds have no floodlights. Croke Park must intervene and provide subsidies for a floodlight programme countrywide or produce a business plan so that counties can, over time, pay HQ back for the purchase of lights.