I'd say Paddy is suffering from the same thing that most GAA followers suffer at this time of year - there is so little happening that you're stuck for conversation points.
The quality of his column has dwindled a bit over the years, but that's the nature of the beast. When he started writing Against the Breeze, to fill in the quieter weeks he could call upon a wealth of general GAA topics and ideas that he had stockpiled over the years. Those quieter weeks produced many of his best articles as they were ideas that were probably fermenting for months.
But a stockpile like that is always going to dry up at some stage. If you've no stockpile and very few topical issues worth discussing, it's going to be to difficult to write a interesting column. Yet Heaney still does much better than most in this regard.
Let's not forget that the Ulster intercounty scene is hardly bursting with personalities to explore, and that players and managers at that level are more than likely to close up shop if a rigorous examination of their weaknesses or faults is undertaken. As the Irish News relies on strong relations with players and managers to sell papers on the back of their GAA coverage, controversy of this nature I'd say is avoided at all costs.
The quality of his column has dwindled a bit over the years, but that's the nature of the beast. When he started writing Against the Breeze, to fill in the quieter weeks he could call upon a wealth of general GAA topics and ideas that he had stockpiled over the years. Those quieter weeks produced many of his best articles as they were ideas that were probably fermenting for months.
But a stockpile like that is always going to dry up at some stage. If you've no stockpile and very few topical issues worth discussing, it's going to be to difficult to write a interesting column. Yet Heaney still does much better than most in this regard.
Let's not forget that the Ulster intercounty scene is hardly bursting with personalities to explore, and that players and managers at that level are more than likely to close up shop if a rigorous examination of their weaknesses or faults is undertaken. As the Irish News relies on strong relations with players and managers to sell papers on the back of their GAA coverage, controversy of this nature I'd say is avoided at all costs.