Getting fans in on trial basis would be massive boost
It’s the 90th year of the National Hurling League. That sort of milestone got me thinking about the history of the competition and what it means – from past right up to present. Particularly in this strange year of Covid when we won’t have crowds at matches. When the action at Páirc Uí Chaoimh between Cork and Waterford today will take place behind closed doors, the same as at multiple venues all over the country this weekend. The Gaelic Grounds, Parnell Park, Corrigan Park, Wexford Park – they, like everywhere else, will stay silent and subdued.
But the value of a National League medal can’t be underestimated.
In Offaly, we only won one ever – in 1991. If you’re in the top five or six counties, maybe you take it for granted that you have a real shot at a title. But for the rest, it’s huge for development.
To get up to Division One can be such a big thing. Look at Antrim this year, back in the big time. We’ve seen in the past how counties can find it hard to survive. Haven’t the necessary structures in place or panel depth and can bounce up and down. It happened me during my time managing Meath, and it’s to Páirc Tailteann in Navan that Offaly open their own Division 2A campaign this afternoon.
What caught my eye too in Division One was the sight of Westmeath swimming with the sharks. In a normal year, there’s the glamour of a big name coming to town, like Galway to Cusack
Park yesterday. Or Clare to Corrigan Park in Belfast today where Antrim play host. The value of those games are in the promotion of such a fixture, of the next generation seeing top flight hurling up close. Another thing lost due to the current restrictions.
When I talk to the Offaly lads, I hear Johnny Flaherty talk of the significance of beating Tipperary comprehensively in the league in 1967, by 3-13 to 2-7 no less, milestone moments like that.
Because the history of the competition shows how much it has been dominated by some familiar names.
Of the 89 leagues played to date – it was suspended during the war years of the early 1940s – only 10 counties have won it. Five counties in fact have won 74 of those titles between them. Tipperary have 19, Kilkenny 18, Cork 14, Limerick 13 and Galway 10.
Kilkenny actually went from 1933 to 1962 without winning one. I can imagine the gnashing of teeth going on during that period when their main rivals Cork and Tipperary were strong. Take a player like John Doyle of Tipperary, who has 10 National League medals. That’s some going for one player when you’re sitting at the bottom of the pile like me with one.
The rest of the roll of honour then reads Wexford 4, Clare 4, Waterford 3, Dublin 3, and Offaly sitting proudly with 1.
The league final we won, we beat Wexford by 2-6 to 0-10. It’s kind of what the league was then – heavy sliotars and the weather not so good. I don’t remember too much fast, freeflowing hurling. We beat Tipperary in the semi-final on a 1-7 to 0-7 scoreline on a horrendous day of hard, dogged, physical hurling.
If you fast forward then to the great Tipperary-Kilkenny rivalry of the noughties and on, there were some classic matches. And matches of serious intensity. You had Charlie Carter coming on and having a blinder to help win the 2003 final for Kilkenny – then ending up getting dropped. I remember the 2009 final when Seamus Callanan broke Brian Hogan’s shoulder in the tackle.
The roll of honour does give you a glimpse into a past life. How difficult it is to win for so many counties. It still does mean a lot to have a National League medal. I see commentary going around about it being a glorified challenge game circuit. I certainly wouldn’t agree with that. With the training nowadays, I don’t think it’s in the players’ psyche to hold back. With no crowds and championship action coming so close, this will just flow.
Go back 10 years ago and Dublin won it. I think that had a massive impact. That was a huge occasion for Dublin hurling and was certainly a stepping stone to a Leinster title in 2013 and to an All-Ireland semi-final.
With no All-Ireland since 2005, every year is a huge year for Cork. It’s top of the ground action straight away, which is what they love, traditionally. They host Waterford this afternoon, and in this campaign they need wins. It doesn’t matter where they get them. For the likes of Laois and Westmeath and Antrim – to stay up would be huge.
Bringing hurling to the Glens should have been a big story for supporters. I can’t believe we can’t put a few people into the matches.
Even those who have been vaccinated, or a small segment of our older supporters. I heard Micheál Martin on Off The Ball on Tuesday night with Joe Molloy talking about July. Now things are opening up and I don’t want to be negative. I’m delighted that the games are returning this weekend.
But there are all sort of things that will be allowed in an outdoor setting by then. If we’re talking about outdoor dining, then surely we can let an old couple go to the match. That fear thing has overwhelmed us all. If we let 200 in — well they have to get to the match is the response. Or where are they going after the match?
But county boards were able to issue individual tickets last summer when the club games were allowed back. Its own form of track and trace.
It was interesting to hear the Taoiseach on the topic of PE – I would have been pushing that agenda on safe, outdoor activity all along. I would have had the kids outside first. At times, Government or civil service officials don’t seem to understand society. How important the mental and physical health benefits of staying active are, particularly in this past year.
It’s so frustrating that we have a year’s evidence and all the health and safety protocols in place and yet still seem to be making it up as we go along.
Charge vaccinated supporters nothing. Or those older supporters who were cut off this past year. Say: ‘This is our welcome back.’
That would have been just brilliant. Just a couple of hundred on a trial basis. To show — look, we fought this and we’re coming out the other side.
My overriding feeling is that I’m so glad we’re back. But I just think it’s an opportunity missed in looking at bringing back crowds in a safe and sustainable way.