‘This summer probably represents a line in the sand’

KEVIN McSTAY has labelled the stance taken by both Roscommon and Kildare over home venues as a ‘line in the sand’ in terms of future relations with Croke Park. Last month McStay, backed by the full support of his county board, declared that Roscommon would not play their Connacht final at Dr Hyde Park, with the provincial council eventually agreeing. That stance provided the backdrop to Kildare’s successful ‘Newbridge or nowhere’ campaign, but McStay believes that in the aftermath of those controversies, the GAA will take a more considered approach. ‘I don’t think you are going to see too much more of this because I have a sense as to what happened this summer probably represents a line in the sand. ‘Young energetic county managers and young squads, who are putting so much into it, and are denied the right to play where they should be playing, well it is just not good enough. ‘It would be much better if the people who are administering are better tuned into the sensitivities of the teams and managers and then there is no need to take such a position in the first instance.’ McStay also believes that GAA administrators have to adopt a more consultative approach when dealing with teams on match day. ‘Sometimes what the organisers of the game want can be at complete odds with what the manager and the players want in terms of event management. ‘For example, we want a place to warm up on and the organisers want to play an underage game beforehand, they want to bring the team from 25 years ago back and therefore we don’t get the pitch to warm-up on. ‘You would think that the event controller or the operations officer would, as a courtesy, contact you to have that conversation.’