I see the Gaelic Players Association want to be on provincial councils and other GAA bodies. Before they look for that, they need to do their job with the money they’re getting. Because they’re getting millions.
To me the GPA are there to protect player welfare. Yet we have players in Limerick putting in 30 hours a week. You had a top inter-county player injured in the gym and nothing about it.
The fitness levels required now at senior inter-county level are tantamount to abuse.
The time demands on amateur players have gone crazy.
The GPA, led by former Mayo star Tom Parsons, should be there to protect player welfare
Player welfare will always be top priority for me. Why all these cruciate injuries? That’s another question that needs an answer.
Someone will have to stand up and be counted and say this is all overdone. It has to come from Croke Park… and the GPA.
That’s where their focus should be.
But that’s off the pitch. After a stay in Limerick Regional Hospital, I’m like a player who won’t be fully ready for a Munster final.
No more than some of the counties with designs on the Liam MacCarthy, it’s more about being in full fettle for the All-Ireland series.
I’m back home but not back on full farm duties just yet. I’d just like to say thanks to all my readers, and to the Irish Daily Mail editorial team, for their support and well wishes.
The match we’re all looking forward to this weekend is in Thurles this evening. That’s the one I’m trying to figure out. We’d a no-show from Clare against Limerick but there is no good in the squad looking back. Feeling sorry they didn’t do this, didn’t do that. Because there is no doubting their talent.
We’d a ‘no-show’ from Clare against Limerick but there is no good in the squad looking back
Looking at the firepower they have – players like Mark Rodgers, Tony Kelly, Peter Duggan and Shane O’Donnell are hurlers out of the top mould. But they haven’t produced it yet this Championship.
These are naturals. Players who are so brilliant off-the-cuff. But systems have messed them up. We can trace that back to Davy Fitzgerald’s time but it’s there again in how they are operating under Brian Lohan.
This is Clare’s biggest challenge because there is an awful lot riding on it.
I don’t know how Clare analysed their performance in Ennis but they have to go for this one. Things are going well underage – they won a thrilling under-20 Munster final against Tipperary on Wednesday night – so they’ll have to respond in kind here.
Both teams have a huge task in hand. It’s getting to knock-out now.
Tipperary aren’t setting the world on fire. Even though a lot of supporters are telling me they aren’t enamoured with how they team is going, I’m expecting a big display. At home, they have a performance in them.
The big debate at the moment is about standards in hurling. We’ve been listening to clichés from the managers and coaches, all talking about rucks and stuff.
Things are going well at underage for Clare, who won under-20 Munster final against Tipperary
This won’t be a factor in Thurles. This will be more about the hurling.
I feel Tipp have a stronger panel overall. They did a lot of experimenting in the league, but we won’t comment on that.
I know there’s pressure meant to be there because they haven’t put All-Irelands back-to-back since 1964-1965 but I think all of that stuff has been over-egged.
I think those days of back-to-back or three-in-a-row are over. Kilkenny and Limerick are the exceptions to the rule.
For Tipperary, only this match counts. Only this year. Not what happened all those years ago.
Anyone reading my column will know I was very annoyed by their pre-season and league performances. To me, not going all out to win game, that’s a moral cowardice.
You have to go out and perform with no gimmicks, no sideshows. No ducking or diving.
For Tipperary and Andrew Ormond only this match counts, not what happened years ago
Limerick did a little bit of that in the previous two years and it backfired.
They’re back into the mould of attacking every match like it’s a final and it’s working for them.
Clare are like a wounded animal now, they will fire everything at Tipp. I think they’ll have the overall strength and advantage.
In Leinster, the match that stands out is Galway versus Dublin in Salthill. Galway were very poor in the first half the last day against Kildare. Were well down. But after they figured out a way back, they will be hard to beat at home.
Galway have introduced all this new talent but Dublin are solid, are experienced. It’s very hard to call. I think it might even be a draw.
Wexford are going backwards though, I’m stunned by their level of performance.
Kilkenny the same. Both are really struggling. Kilkenny’s draw with Offaly is further proof. The conveyor belt that was there for Brian Cody just isn’t there any more.
Tactics have messed them up. It seems to be now about trying to mimic the style of Limerick rather than doing what they’ve always done. Maybe fine-tuning it. Instead, Kilkenny have ended up in a confused state. They don’t know whether they’re playing a short game or a long game.
Jordan Molloy is a huge loss too, on top of the couple of key players in Huw Lawlor and Billy Ryan who are away.
If you want to keep standards high, you need another layer of players coming through.
Derek Lyng’s Kilkenny are struggling and only drew with Johnny Kelly’s Offaly last weekend
It hasn’t happened though. Tradition and the whole ethos of the game have sustained Kilkenny and Wexford hurling down the years – but it seems to have dropped off.
There’s a myth that Munster hurling is the real thing. That’s only rubbish. Limerick versus Clare was only a showbusiness job. Limerick played as if there was no opposition there. The crowds bring the hype and that’s why we hear it’s all about Munster.
But there is no denying that the standard in Leinster has dropped.
A good comparison is how Munster rugby have drafted in a select group to examine their set-up. That hasn’t happened in Kilkenny. Taking over a team from the mighty Cody was going to be an impossible task. But it shouldn’t have been if they set up a group like that and put the right foundations in place.
We need counties like Kilkenny and Wexford performing to their best. We don’t want to see hurling reduced down to a few counties like Limerick and Cork, with everyone else playing catch up.
