Monaghan Hurlers

[johnneycool]

Are ye all serious? Division 3A hurling! Get a grip lads.

Division 3A hurling is progress in Monaghan. Either we're serious about promoting the game or we're not.

I have to laugh, there's only 3 or 4 teams in Division 3B! It's not like in football where a Division 3 team could compete with an All-Ireland contender or even where it would be difficult to make a county panel.

If people think this is good enough reason to be calling off club fixtures you'd never get any competition finished. Club fixtures are being fecked around too much as it stands without postponing games for the likes of this.

Hurling is a great game but wasting money on 4th or 5th rate county teams is not "promoting the game". If people are actually serious about promoting hurling there's no mystery about how it's done - loads of coaches and start with kids. Not giving grants, gear, meals, mileage etc to guys who pretty much wouldn't make a decent club side.

Who are you kidding? When was the last time a Div3 footballing county won an AI?

Certainly it's easier to keep the score down in football, but I wouldn't call that being competitive.

IMO Croke park should be ensuring all counties promote all codes equally or they get their grants cut.

Monaghan county board went back on a agreement that the hurlers could train on a Wednesday night, but lo and behold the hurlers actually did pretty well and got to the final meaning another week or two's training. A county team irrespective of how they'd compete with a team gets to a national final at their respective grade should be afforded a bit of respect.

Your arrogance is disgusting but you're far from alone I'm afraid to say.

[Applesisapples]

Are ye all serious? Division 3A hurling! Get a grip lads.

Division 3A hurling is progress in Monaghan. Either we're serious about promoting the game or we're not.

I have to laugh, there's only 3 or 4 teams in Division 3B! It's not like in football where a Division 3 team could compete with an All-Ireland contender or even where it would be difficult to make a county panel.

If people think this is good enough reason to be calling off club fixtures you'd never get any competition finished. Club fixtures are being fecked around too much as it stands without postponing games for the likes of this.

Hurling is a great game but wasting money on 4th or 5th rate county teams is not "promoting the game". If people are actually serious about promoting hurling there's no mystery about how it's done - loads of coaches and start with kids. Not giving grants, gear, meals, mileage etc to guys who pretty much wouldn't make a decent club side.

Don't be such a p***k. Any hurling match is better than any football match. No blanket defence, plenty of scores and more skill. The only way County's and Clubs will be able to develop hurling is if they get equal respect and support as football. Croke park does lay out minimum standards depending on grade. Put your self in a youngsters shoes, your good at both sports but your county board puts lots of money and resources in to football whilst their hurlers can't even get a pitch to train. Which code would you go for? Equality of treatment means hurling teams can attract the best on an equal footing. And it is just as hard to make a County Hurling panel and the training and committment expected is just as great as the footballers...That is why you have this dispute. Look at the progress made in Armagh all kick started by Mattie Lennon.

[magpie seanie]

Are ye all serious? Division 3A hurling! Get a grip lads.

Division 3A hurling is progress in Monaghan. Either we're serious about promoting the game or we're not.

I have to laugh, there's only 3 or 4 teams in Division 3B! It's not like in football where a Division 3 team could compete with an All-Ireland contender or even where it would be difficult to make a county panel.

If people think this is good enough reason to be calling off club fixtures you'd never get any competition finished. Club fixtures are being fecked around too much as it stands without postponing games for the likes of this.

Hurling is a great game but wasting money on 4th or 5th rate county teams is not "promoting the game". If people are actually serious about promoting hurling there's no mystery about how it's done - loads of coaches and start with kids. Not giving grants, gear, meals, mileage etc to guys who pretty much wouldn't make a decent club side.

Don't be such a p***k. Any hurling match is better than any football match. No blanket defence, plenty of scores and more skill. The only way County's and Clubs will be able to develop hurling is if they get equal respect and support as football. Croke park does lay out minimum standards depending on grade. Put your self in a youngsters shoes, your good at both sports but your county board puts lots of money and resources in to football whilst their hurlers can't even get a pitch to train. Which code would you go for? Equality of treatment means hurling teams can attract the best on an equal footing. And it is just as hard to make a County Hurling panel and the training and committment expected is just as great as the footballers...That is why you have this dispute. Look at the progress made in Armagh all kick started by Mattie Lennon.

That is untrue. I know lads who are regulars on county hurling panels who think our club football training is completely over the top and unnecessary. 

I don't appreciate the name calling by the way.

As regards the other reply - I saw Sligo play Kerry (who went on to win the All-Ireland) in a qualifier in Tralee and Kerry were blessed to win. Imgine what would happen if Sligo or Monaghan played Kilkenny or Tipperary in a hurling championship game?

[Harold Disgracey]

Fair play to Mattie and the Monaghan hurlers for taking such a stand. Mattie is a gentleman through and through and doesn't deserve to be treated with such contempt.

Seanie, even at 50 I'd wager you that Mattie would be fitter than most club footballers.

[johnneycool]

Are ye all serious? Division 3A hurling! Get a grip lads.

Division 3A hurling is progress in Monaghan. Either we're serious about promoting the game or we're not.

I have to laugh, there's only 3 or 4 teams in Division 3B! It's not like in football where a Division 3 team could compete with an All-Ireland contender or even where it would be difficult to make a county panel.

If people think this is good enough reason to be calling off club fixtures you'd never get any competition finished. Club fixtures are being fecked around too much as it stands without postponing games for the likes of this.

Hurling is a great game but wasting money on 4th or 5th rate county teams is not "promoting the game". If people are actually serious about promoting hurling there's no mystery about how it's done - loads of coaches and start with kids. Not giving grants, gear, meals, mileage etc to guys who pretty much wouldn't make a decent club side.

Don't be such a p***k. Any hurling match is better than any football match. No blanket defence, plenty of scores and more skill. The only way County's and Clubs will be able to develop hurling is if they get equal respect and support as football. Croke park does lay out minimum standards depending on grade. Put your self in a youngsters shoes, your good at both sports but your county board puts lots of money and resources in to football whilst their hurlers can't even get a pitch to train. Which code would you go for? Equality of treatment means hurling teams can attract the best on an equal footing. And it is just as hard to make a County Hurling panel and the training and committment expected is just as great as the footballers...That is why you have this dispute. Look at the progress made in Armagh all kick started by Mattie Lennon.

That is untrue. I know lads who are regulars on county hurling panels who think our club football training is completely over the top and unnecessary. 

I don't appreciate the name calling by the way.

As regards the other reply - I saw Sligo play Kerry (who went on to win the All-Ireland) in a qualifier in Tralee and Kerry were blessed to win. Imgine what would happen if Sligo or Monaghan played Kilkenny or Tipperary in a hurling championship game?

I'm not going to get into yet another debate of hurling vrs football as it's futile and irrelevant.

All I will say is that for any county paying lip service to football like Kilkenny, there are a dozen and more counties paying lip service to hurling and Croke park should be more proactive to ensure that this doesn't happen. Duffy and Co were very quick to put to bed the Laois/Armagh dispute with all sides coming to an 'agreement', yet little or no pressure was put to bear on Monaghan county board in this instance. The match was initially canceled, other fixtures rearranged within hours and now they've the game down as postponed!

The Kilkenny thread went onto a dozen odd pages, yet the Longford one and this one will see three or four at best.

Yes indeed imagine what would happen if a county the size of Sligo or Monaghan who put all their resources into hurling for years and the highlight being giving the eventual AI champions a bit of a scare once in a blue moon.

[orangeman]

If this were about a more high prfofile team than Monaghan hurlers ( no disrespect intended ), Croke Park would be sorting this mess out - they'd have delegations dispatched to the county insisting that it be resolved.

They weren't long in sending for the Armagh and Laois county boards a few weeks ago - funny there hasn't been a word about the dispute that never was !!!


Paddy Heaney's article about doing things ( or not ) the GAA way is backed up in this instance yet again - if the GAA want it to happen, it will happen, if they don't it won't - simple !!!  It's called democaracy ala GAA.

[Applesisapples]

Are ye all serious? Division 3A hurling! Get a grip lads.

Division 3A hurling is progress in Monaghan. Either we're serious about promoting the game or we're not.

I have to laugh, there's only 3 or 4 teams in Division 3B! It's not like in football where a Division 3 team could compete with an All-Ireland contender or even where it would be difficult to make a county panel.

If people think this is good enough reason to be calling off club fixtures you'd never get any competition finished. Club fixtures are being fecked around too much as it stands without postponing games for the likes of this.

Hurling is a great game but wasting money on 4th or 5th rate county teams is not "promoting the game". If people are actually serious about promoting hurling there's no mystery about how it's done - loads of coaches and start with kids. Not giving grants, gear, meals, mileage etc to guys who pretty much wouldn't make a decent club side.

Don't be such a p***k. Any hurling match is better than any football match. No blanket defence, plenty of scores and more skill. The only way County's and Clubs will be able to develop hurling is if they get equal respect and support as football. Croke park does lay out minimum standards depending on grade. Put your self in a youngsters shoes, your good at both sports but your county board puts lots of money and resources in to football whilst their hurlers can't even get a pitch to train. Which code would you go for? Equality of treatment means hurling teams can attract the best on an equal footing. And it is just as hard to make a County Hurling panel and the training and committment expected is just as great as the footballers...That is why you have this dispute. Look at the progress made in Armagh all kick started by Mattie Lennon.

That is untrue. I know lads who are regulars on county hurling panels who think our club football training is completely over the top and unnecessary. 

I don't appreciate the name calling by the way.

As regards the other reply - I saw Sligo play Kerry (who went on to win the All-Ireland) in a qualifier in Tralee and Kerry were blessed to win. Imgine what would happen if Sligo or Monaghan played Kilkenny or Tipperary in a hurling championship game?

Didn't say you were one I asked you not to be one. I don't know what panels your talking about but I do know Mattie Lennon and I can gaurantee you he would not expect any less from his panel that the county footballers give. In relation to hurling unlike football it needs constant work on touch to just stay still let alone improve. This isn't about winning All Irelands it is about improving the standard and playing base of Our National Game.

[Bingo]

I think its easy to see from what Seanie is coming from but at same time he is looking at it as an outsider and very simplisticly.

In this instance its about fixtures not been cancelled - 3 Intermediate matches but behind that is broken promises and how the hurlers have been messed about over the years. For example at one stage they weren't allowed to train at the Training centre in Cloghan because the Banty wanted it closed to all other people when the senior squad was training, the county final was fixed/cancelled at short notice, played on poor pitch, players promised gear and was not received etc etc. Was alot going against them at times.

I know the county board argued that they had poor training numbers, players missing matches etc but the new Manager promised to put this right and was true to his word but county board weren't.

Its easy to say its just Monaghan hurling, they should accept what they are and move on. But isn't that the case in every county in Ireland. Their are teams and clubs that as it stands will never win anything or would be hammered if they tried to play the top dogs in their county or even their league. Should they just disband or accept getting the rough end of the stick? Be dictated to by they powers that be? Should they never try and better themselves so that they improve and move onto the next level and see what the futures hold?

Its a very fine line but in the future, even at club level I don't think we will even see dual players as the pressures and demands on them will be too great.

[Harold Disgracey]

Good article by John Fogarty.

http://sport.irishexaminer.com/post/2012/04/11/Monaghan-hurlers-fight-reflects-wider-problem.aspx

John Fogarty

For the past three years, incoming GAA president Liam O'Neill has headed up the Hurling Development Committee (HDC).

He is a hurling man – he makes no bones about that. His club Trumera in Laois is predominantly a hurling club.

In February, he launched the Hurling Development Plan which will see Carriganore on the ring road outside Waterford city become the base for a hurling and camogie development centre.

However, it was the creation of the Táin club leagues for weaker hurling counties as well as the establishment of a nationwide network of mentors that caught the eye.

Recognising that the game has no chance of flourishing in counties without the grassroots first embracing it, the hope is the Táin club league will engage players to compete at a level suited to them before taking it on to inter-county level.

Borrowing a line from the GPA tutoring scheme, Tipperary's Liam Sheedy and Eamon O'Shea working in Tyrone and Donegal will be major boost to the fortunes of both counties' second GAA sport.

"Hurling was hanging by a thread, literally, and it needed some sort of an intervention. It was never going to happen if we did what we did before," O'Neill said at the launch.

"It was all about throwing money [at the problem], but now this has changed. This is a people-based plan and it is about games first.

"We set our stall out straight away with the Táin League. This is about games, getting hurling played, because if you don't play games you can't develop hurling."

That last line couldn't be more appropriate this week as the Monaghan County Board have decided to throw away all the good that their hurling team has done this year.

They may not exactly be guilty of contravening the rule that dictates they promote Gaelic games but they sure have stymied the encouragement of hurling.

By arranging intermediate club football fixtures for the same date as hurling training not to mention just four days before the Division 3A final, they have demonstrated disrespect to their own county team.

A definite chance of picking up some silverware has now been spurned. You could say they have shot themselves in the foot but then such is the indifference shown towards hurling in the county that some would argue it's someone else's toes they have aimed the barrel at.

It's hardly surprising Mattie Lennon and his players have decided to down tools in protest. They had been swimming against the tide but had done it so impressively they were hardly going to sit idly be and see all their efforts compromised.

If anyone was in any doubt about the Monaghan County Board's modus operandi, they were put right when hurler and GPA representative Mickey McHugh revealed officials had already scheduled in a round of intermediate club football for this Sunday, the same day the hurlers were supposed to face Fingal.

A quick look at the county board website confirmed that. They wouldn't have robbed their graves as quickly.

Remember, this was the same Monaghan County Board who had fought so strongly against the Central Hearings Committee's (CHC) decision to strip their footballers of home advantage in Division 2.

They had contested the €5,000 fine handed down to them by the Central Competitions Control Committee for some of their players' involvement in a melee in the home game with Kildare in February.

Their fight was vigorous and expensive as they took their case to the Disputes Resolution Authority, which, for starters, carried a €1,000 application fee.

They were eventually beaten but not without a battle.

What they perceived as an injustice is exactly what their own hurlers feel has been done to them by their own administrators.

The willingness of the county board to defend their footballers and their reluctance to cut their aspiring hurlers a little slack couldn't be more different.

Why couldn't three club intermediate football fixtures be switched for the greater good of the county hurling team winning a title and gaining promotion to Division 2B?

Was that something to fear?

The county board surely knew that Lennon had organised training sessions on Wednesday nights. The hurlers couldn't be blamed for thinking the county board wanted this confrontation.

On Twitter, the #SupportMonaghanHurlers hashtag has been doing the rounds and gaining the backing of several prominent inter-county hurlers and Gaelic footballers.

However, that encouragement must extend further than a mere retweet or a handy mention if their campaign is to be successful.

Coming after Longford's failure to field a team, it's been a miserable few weeks for hurling and Croke Park are undoubtedly worried about it.

Unless they are prepared to take sterner action with counties, all their good work at central level will continue to be undermined.

Monaghan's hurlers should be praised for standing up for the game, which is exactly what they're doing.

As O'Neill says, the development of hurling is to do with people. As Fingal manager Willie Bourke says, it's those in the weaker counties who keep the game alive that are the real hurling men.

They are in the minority though, and changing the life-long attitudes of those in charge of counties where Gaelic football has held precedence is a burdensome task.

Sadly, the situation in Monaghan indicates just a small part of that problem.

[nrico2006]

Are ye all serious? Division 3A hurling! Get a grip lads.

Division 3A hurling is progress in Monaghan. Either we're serious about promoting the game or we're not.

I have to laugh, there's only 3 or 4 teams in Division 3B! It's not like in football where a Division 3 team could compete with an All-Ireland contender or even where it would be difficult to make a county panel.

If people think this is good enough reason to be calling off club fixtures you'd never get any competition finished. Club fixtures are being fecked around too much as it stands without postponing games for the likes of this.

Hurling is a great game but wasting money on 4th or 5th rate county teams is not "promoting the game". If people are actually serious about promoting hurling there's no mystery about how it's done - loads of coaches and start with kids. Not giving grants, gear, meals, mileage etc to guys who pretty much wouldn't make a decent club side.

Don't be such a p***k. Any hurling match is better than any football match. No blanket defence, plenty of scores and more skill. The only way County's and Clubs will be able to develop hurling is if they get equal respect and support as football. Croke park does lay out minimum standards depending on grade. Put your self in a youngsters shoes, your good at both sports but your county board puts lots of money and resources in to football whilst their hurlers can't even get a pitch to train. Which code would you go for? Equality of treatment means hurling teams can attract the best on an equal footing. And it is just as hard to make a County Hurling panel and the training and committment expected is just as great as the footballers...That is why you have this dispute. Look at the progress made in Armagh all kick started by Mattie Lennon.

That is untrue. I know lads who are regulars on county hurling panels who think our club football training is completely over the top and unnecessary. 

I don't appreciate the name calling by the way.

As regards the other reply - I saw Sligo play Kerry (who went on to win the All-Ireland) in a qualifier in Tralee and Kerry were blessed to win. Imgine what would happen if Sligo or Monaghan played Kilkenny or Tipperary in a hurling championship game?

There is greater scope for a huge win/defeat in hurling than there is in football due to the complexity of the skills involved in hurling.  I have played both football and hurling and the physical training within the hurling club was equally as tough as that within the football club.  I remember some boys who only played football would try and slabber that hurling was a waste of time etc, that was until one summer a few years ago a challenge game between the football club and hurling club was organised with a half of each sport played.  After the match there wasn't much talk out of the same fella again. 

[Hardy]

There is greater scope for a huge win/defeat in hurling than there is in football due to the complexity of the skills involved in hurling.

Nothing to do with the so-called "complexity of skills" in hurling. There is greater scope for a huge win/defeat in hurling than there is in football due to the ease of scoring in hurling.

[AZOffaly]

There is greater scope for a huge win/defeat in hurling than there is in football due to the complexity of the skills involved in hurling.

Nothing to do with the so-called "complexity of skills" in hurling. There is greater scope for a huge win/defeat in hurling than there is in football due to the ease of scoring in hurling,if you are skillful enough to find the target from 100 yards.

Fixed that there Hardy

[nrico2006]

There is greater scope for a huge win/defeat in hurling than there is in football due to the complexity of the skills involved in hurling.

Nothing to do with the so-called "complexity of skills" in hurling. There is greater scope for a huge win/defeat in hurling than there is in football due to the ease of scoring in hurling,if you are skillful enough to find the target from 100 yards.

Fixed that there Hardy

Is it easier to score in hurling?  You can be hooked and blocked in hurling so there is more chance for defenders to stop you from striking, whereas in football you only have the block from the front.

[Hardy]

There is greater scope for a huge win/defeat in hurling than there is in football due to the complexity of the skills involved in hurling.

Nothing to do with the so-called "complexity of skills" in hurling. There is greater scope for a huge win/defeat in hurling than there is in football due to the ease of scoring in hurling,if you are skillful enough to find the target from 100 yards.

Fixed that there Hardy

Leave me alone. I'm busy worrying that Banty may not go.

[johnneycool]

There is greater scope for a huge win/defeat in hurling than there is in football due to the complexity of the skills involved in hurling.

Nothing to do with the so-called "complexity of skills" in hurling. There is greater scope for a huge win/defeat in hurling than there is in football due to the ease of scoring in hurling,if you are skillful enough to find the target from 100 yards.

Fixed that there Hardy

Leave me alone. I'm busy worrying that Banty may not go.

Get the county fixtures secretary to schedule a full raft of club fixtures the week of your first championship game. That's a surefire way of getting rid of managers. (c) Monaghan County Board.