Passed time that everyone in Louth faced reality and pulled together
GAA is always a big talking point in an Irish summer.
Usually the talk is about the quality of the football or hurling and the contenders for the Sam Maguire and Liam McCarthy cups.
Sometimes it is about a controversy about a sending off or a suspension.
This past week however all the talk was about last Saturday’s All Ireland Qualifier between Kildare and Mayo and the venue. We now know that the match went ahead in Newbridge - and they won - but that wasn’t so certain earlier in the week after the game was originally fixed for Croke Park.
Kildare’s stand is money in the bank now. It has rescued a miserable season, who knows where it will take them, but the bounce in the Kildare GAA heartland will have registered on the richter scale, just as Mexico’s win in the World Cup did so recently.
Locally in Louth the Kildare standoff has brought a renewed focus on our own plight. Louth has no home. If we were in Kildare’s shoes last week, our situation would have been embarrassing.
We could, like Kildare have stuck to our guns and insisted that the game go ahead in our County Grounds which is currently designated as Drogheda - even though it was announced in the spring that redevelopment plans for the venue were scrapped and no money would be invested into the venue, either by Louth County Board or GAA Headquarters.
Had we been in Kildare’s shoes at the weekend, the Gaelic Grounds in Drogheda would have been full of Mayo season ticket holders.
We have ceded home advantage time and time again in the All Ireland Qualifiers due to the standard of the County Ground.
Kicking the County Board has become a popular sport in Louth and to be frank, much of the criticism is fully deserved.
But we can continue to be the hurlers on the ditch, kicking up dirt along the sidelines, carping at the shortcomings and troubles like the club supporter hurling abuse at the management doing their best along the sidelines.
We all know those supporters, with an opinion on everything from the lack of pace of the corner forward, the lack of courage of the full back, the lack of legs in midfield and the puke, defensive football the new outside coach has the team playing. It was never like this in his day when men were men and ‘Big Red’ would flail anyone who dared take the mickey and play handpass keepy football against him.
I am sure every county is much the same, with sideline and bar stool experts aplenty, but in Louth everyone is an expert and everyone has a different view on the problem, who is to blame and what needs to be done to put right.
We might not be top dogs on the field of play right now, but we are experts at playing the man.
It has to stop, or we will be listening to the same whines and grumbles in years to come that we are hearing today and that we have been hearing for the last number of years.
The definition of stupidity is doing in the same thing time and time again and expecting a different outcome.
What has been done in Louth GAA for years hasn’t worked in terms of the bigger picture and bringing Louth forward and it won’t work unless there is a sea change in attitude, across all it elements of the game.
Clubs are only interested in themselves and not the county. There are club facilities right around this county that are superb and put the county ground in the ha’penny place.
That the club comes first, is understandable, because the GAA is all about the club, but if the county rises it will lift all boats, but clubs have forsaken the county set up and looked after themselves.
We need the brightest and the best to put their shoulder to the wheel in terms of getting Louth on the right track.
There is huge talent in the county and huge talent amongst the GAA public to get Louth moving in the right direction.
There are people of vision out there, people with a track record in fundraising, people with business and financial acumen, people with strategic vision and infrastructural experience who could play their part but they are not being invited into the tent and asked for their advice. There are others who wouldn’t step into that same tent for all the tea in China but are great clubman and women. We need to convince these peoople that they are needed and wanted.
Everyone interested in Louth GAA are saying that things have never been so bad or so low.
We have to recognise that and accept that. We have to be brave and put our hand up and say we need to come together and ask for support and advice.
We need a blueprint and plan which outlines, short, medium and longterm objectives both on and off the field.
If we don’t do something radical nothing will change.
Come on, we are Louth and proud. So let’s start showing it.
WE MIGHT NOT BE TOP DOGS ON THE FIELD OF PLAY RIGHT NOW, BUT WE ARE EXPERTS AT PLAYING THE MAN