Rothar Routes

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Half Dozen GAA Moments 2024

End of another great year, and it’s nice to look back. So many great memories, these are a few personal ones from visits to games and grounds across the country! Where would we be without the GAA?

Munster SFC Cork v Kerry, Fitzgerald Stadium

Every visit to Fitzgerald Stadium is full of nostalgia for me; it brings me back to great family holidays in Kerry, a love of Kerry football, Munster Finals with Tommy Wogan and John Owens – sneaking into the Kerry dressing room after one epic battle with Cork in, 1989 (if memory serves me correct), listening to Billy Morgan coming in to congratulate the Kerry Team! Cork started this year’s clash very well and dominated for 50 minutes but fell away in the end. Is there a more picturesque ground than Fitzgerald Stadium?

Ulster SFC Armagh v Down, Tiernach Park, Clones

If Thurles is the spiritual home of hurling, Clones can lay claim to be the spiritual home of football, at least in Ulster. It’s a venue I love attending and I regularly by pass games in Croke Park to head to Clones on Ulster Championship days. This was a tight one – a one point win for the Orchard County, 0-13 to 2-6. Conor Laverty got the most from the Mourne men but Kieran McGeeney’s side showed real glimpses of class in how quickly they transitioned the ball. I was delighted to see Armagh go all the way in 2024, another county I have a soft spot for! Great memories of Armagh v Tyrone in 1989, played in Omagh; it was the day the blond haired Jon Lynch, corner back for Tyrone, got pulled into the Armagh dressing room at half time and got a flew slaps! The Giant Grimley brothers were playing for Armagh, two huge men. The atmosphere was electric and Armagh were well on top in the first half. Maybe the tunnel incident changed the game on its head. The great Kevin McCabe kicked 0-9 that day, 0-6 in the second half. The silky skilled Ciarán Corr bagged a goal for Tyrone. Our own John Owens was in and around the Tyrone panel at that time when he was togging out for The Moy, alongside Plunkett Donaghy.

Team Building Day on the Curragh

A memorable day carrying out team building exercises under the watchful eye of Tom Devereux (087 7052140). Highly recommend it for any team. The players bought into it and gave it everything. Sometimes the journey is as important as the destination! Hopefully the lads will arrive at their destination in 2025!

A packed Dr Cullen Park for Carlow v Wexford

A bit of a chastening experience for our hurlers as they slipped to a heavy loss. A series of unforced errors cost them dearly and as a result they didn’t do themselves justice on this day. But what days the hurlers have given to Carlow GAA in recent years. It’s easy see why when you see the standard of the County Senior Hurling Final this year between St Mullins and Mount Leinster Rangers. Poetry in motion. Warriors.

Scotstown GAA – An Bhoth

I passed by the club over the summer when climbing the Monaghan High Point, Sliabh Beagh (373 meters). Football is a religion in Ulster and Scotstown are currently top of the pile in Monaghan with 9 titles in the past 12 years and 24 altogether. I love the swash buckling style of a team sprinkled with star dust – Darren and Kieran Hughes, Rory Beggan between the posts, Jack McCarron, Conor McCarthy and Shane Carey among others. Uniquely the Club also provided the GAA with a great Uachtarán in Seán McCague (2000-2003) and an equally impressive Director General, Pauric Duffy (2008-2018). You can sense the pride and culture in the club when visiting the Grounds.

A memento from a visit a few years back to Pauric Duffy’s office in Croke Park! Pauric didn’t know why the Green Bay Helmet was in his office and he gave it to me as I was leaving. That brought back more memories of another great occasion in Lambeau Field, with Tommy Wogan in 2007 when we saw the Packers play the Raiders in -24 degrees!

Aidan Forker lifts Sam Maguire Cup for Armagh

I was very privileged to have a ring side seat for the Sam Maguire presentation this year – unbelievable seat! Armagh always bring colour and crowds; a GAA mad county and one I have really strong affinity for stretching back to 1977, the year Dublin beat them in the All Ireland Final. You see Armagh fulfilled a promise and came to Carlow to play our lads. Players like Colm McKinstry, Joe Kernan, Jimmy Smyth, Paddy Moriarty, Jimmy Kerr and Tom McCreesh were heroic figures to me. Years later I was privileged to befriend the greatest coach I know, the late John Morrison. We became very close and spoke almost every day. John would send me his articles that he was preparing for the Ulster Gazette to read and critique. There was nothing I could add to them – he was teaching me. In my experience John was one of the biggest influences on coaching in Gaelic Football.

Kerry SFC Final Dr Crokes v Dingle

A miserable day in Austin Stack Park where Dr Crokes finally got on top of Dingle to run out as fortunate winners by 3-8 to 0-11. It could have been so different if Dingle had taken goals instead of points from three great first half opportunities when they were completely dominant. Fair play though to Pat O Shea, though, he got to grips with the challenge and his side went on to run out deserving winners. Is there an All Ireland Club title there for them in January? Time will tell but I don’t think so.

B.Y.O.B

Bring your own ball!

Alternative Fixture Proposal

I burnt the midnight oil last night trying to put some structure on those random ideas that were flying around in my head earlier while out on my cycle!

Like many others before the call for Proposals in 2016, I tinkered with a restructuring of the Fixtures programme to address the failings of the fixtures programme.

Time moves on but as the weekend has shown, frustration has grown with the inability to agree change. It’s concerning how this debate is framed. It’s always easy side with players but we shouldn’t deny the validity of other points of view. Far better we think independently than follow a herd mentality and get change for changes sake.

The one thing all were united on at Congress was that change is needed and it is needed sooner rather than later. There is a momentum for change and everyone has to now walk the walk.

Martin Wynne (@martywyn) tagged me in a post, and it was a bit of a eureka moment for me. He mentioned an interview with Cahair O Kane of the Irish News in which he talked about a radical change to the NFL. And that for me is one of the keys to unlocking the potential of reforming the entire structure.

Can this work? Maybe maybe not. There are probably flaws in this and I’d be interested to hear what they might be.

(1) It retains the provincial championships. Provincial Councils and their constituent counties have a responsibility to come up with structures for their Championships that are better than the present options. Leinster in particular, with 11 teams should be able to devise a competitive structure – the Ulster Championship being a good example for them to follow. I don’t buy into the defeatism around the Leinster Championship; small things have aided the strongest in the province. Remove seedings; insist on home venues for teams and remove in built advantages for the strong. It can be reformed. Ironically the period of Dublin dominance may be on the wane and the sands of time may bring a natural reordering in the province.

(2) It links the league to the All Ireland. There has been a call for more competitive football in the summer months for all counties. With tightened fixture scheduling it is possible to link the NFL with the All Ireland once the Provincial Championships are concluded. Rather than training ad naseum, players want to reduce the training to games ratio – it makes sense; we are obsessed with drawing out competitions longer than necessary.

(3) It includes all counties. Proposal B really failed a lot of tests in my opinion. No one is excluded here in this and the step up for lower ranked teams is incremental if they progress. In addition the Tailteann Cup is broadened out to include the last sixteen teams, which depending. on results, could in fact include teams from the top two divisions of the league. It’s suddenly a more attractive proposition and if the follow through is that the Final is indeed played alongside the All Ireland Final, then maybe it has a future.

How to solve the Fixtures……

I’m cycling in the dark of night on quiet back roads just over the border in County Laois. Gusty winds. Twinkling stars. I love these autumn nights on the bike.

Waiting on a call from Stevie Poacher. “I’ll call ye in 10”.

Seeking inspiration. How to solve the greatest mystery since the Incident at Dyatlov Pass.

I shuffle my phone playlist while I wait for the call back.

  • Ventura Highway by America. One for dreaming to.
  • I say a Little Prayer by Aretha Franklin
  • A Simple Song (from Mass) by Leonard Bernstein, one of Mary’s great choir pieces.
  • Sting singing Mo Ghile Méar accompanied by The Chieftains. Absolutely Class.
  • The Dixie Chicks belting out The Long Way Around. Great bike song.
  • Bruce and Born to Run
  • Willie Nelson On The Road Again
  • One – U2 & Pavarotti.

I revisit in my mind previous iterations I had devised in 2016 of how to restructure the Championship. Things have moved on since then. Demand for change is growing. Frustrated players feel they are not being heard and would settle for any change at this stage. But whatever we do it can’t be worse than what we have.

Each song raises my spirits; I’m cruising along past Killeshin GAA Club and ideas are flowing through my head. The bike is a great place for thinking. My 20kms passes in what seems like a few minutes. I’m buzzing.

Head in to the house and start typing the bullets flying round in my head before I forget them and have to do it all again!

The outline of what can be an alternative plan is formulating in my head. One that might provide players with more meaningful games, more opportunities for teams to develop, yet retains our Provincial and League Finals and provides ‘layer upon layer’ all within one season. It’s radical. Needs refining. Watch this space!

Stevie calls and he fills me in on the Down Championship semi finals and on the success of his Coaching Clinic last Saturday. A one man whirlwind.

Tweaking is Taunting

Language matters!

Out for a cycle along the Barrow, listening to Saturday Sport discussion of the result of the vote on Proposal B. If this is going to move forward and be a positive, people need to bin the sales pitch. Talk of ‘tweaking’ the proposal is taunting those who opposed this; the points on which this was rejected weren’t minor matters – we are not talking tweaks here; we are talking fundamental change to what was proposed. It will have to be substantially different to what was proposed. The proponents of this proposal must recognise they got this badly wrong or we are doomed to repeat the mistakes again.

Sadly, balance has been lacking in the discussion on national media. Today being a prime example. There were four high profile GAA members interviewed – and all of them passionate but all were in favour of what was rejected. There was no voice representing the rejection of the proposal. Many presenters have been cheer leading the Proposal and nonchalantly dismissing the very valid concerns of those opposed to this particular proposal. Some presenters acted as Influencers. In saying this the provincial councils, when they got the opportunity, were far too defensive and dismissive in interviews during the past fortnight, with one interview being car crash stuff.

At times Saturday Sport sounded like Callans Kicks! I don’t mean to be cruel or demean people but some of the arguments put forward were spurious in the extreme:

Very little opportunity to get All Stars, win Provincial titlesAgreed but how does this Proposal change that?
Referees learning their trade in Division 3 & 4Agreed but how does this Proposal change that?
No opportunity for endorsementsAgreed but how does this Proposal change that?
Training to match ratio is a jokeAgreed but how does this Proposal change that?
Decision making process is a circus; replace delegates with a ‘group of elite level managers, GPA reps, couple of good business people, couple of ex PresidentsReally?

The reason I mention these things is because words matter. People are influenced by what they are hearing and when it’s wrong, they should be pulled up. And there should be balance in the programme.

One thing we all agreed on – even before the debate, change is needed. But it can’t be change for changes sake. Hopefully now that the debate has happened there is greater understanding about what the parameters for designing the structure must take account of.

The factors to be considered are becoming clearer, among them:

  • Unlinking the Provincial Championships not acceptable
  • Positioning Provincial Championships as a preseason tournament not acceptable
  • Competition must be merit based
  • Provincial structures must be improved. Taking Leinster as an example, simple advantages removed for stronger counties – bring in open draw. Dublin not to use Croke Park as a home venue. Teams drawn at home v Dublin play at home. Stop using neutral venues. The success of Ulster Championship is partially down to open draw – indeed winners often begin in the preliminary round – in away venue. Consider Div 4 teams play at home of drawn against team from higher Div.
  • The split season has merit. Define the inter county season. This above all will dictate what can be accommodated. Provinces will have to dovetail with that.

I think this can be done in a short time frame; the players in many counties are rightly frustrated with their lot and change has to come. However no competition structure is going to solve the vast gulf between counties when we have the vast disparity in funding between counties. There has to be a fairer distribution of resources. Centralisation of sponsorship? Spending limits? Central funding of team support structures? Lot still to be done in this regard and that debate may take longer to resolve!

The GAA’s Berlin Wall

It’s early morning after Éire Óg’s great win in the Leinster Club Championship Semi Final over Portlaoise.

Carlow Clubs will this year contest a 7th Leinster Club Senior Football Final since 1980 and a second Leinster Club Senior Hurling Final. 

Éire Óg first appeared in the 1980 Final when losing to Meath’s Walterstown. Éire Og were trained by Dan Carbery at that time. Dan was from an athletics background – he had ran in the historic first sub four minute mile to take place in Ireland, the first occasion five men had run sub four minutes in the same race. He was a lover of all sports and life long student of sports performance. Dan always claimed the reason they lost the Final was they never truly believed in their ability.

In other words they expected to lose.

Roll on to the glorious 1990s and Laois legend Bobby Miller, arrived into Páirc Uí Bhriain where he instilled that self belief and structures which enabled Éire Óg to transform from an underachieving club from a success starved county into the dominant club team of the decade. 

Five Leinster Club titles. Two All Ireland Final appearances.

They expected to win.

Fast forward to 2000, Éire Óg’s cross town rivals O Hanrahans (100 years old this year) picked up on that self belief and in a changing of the Carlow mindset went on to Leinster glory when defeating Na Fianna of Dublin 1-7 to 0-5.

Mount Leinster Rangers Hurlers fed off this new found self confidence in Carlow club to claim an historic first Leinster Senior Hurling Club title when beating Oulart-the-Ballagh 0-11 to 0-8 in 2013.

Last week St Mullins emulated Rangers by qualifying for this years Leinster Club Final having taken the scalp of two time All Ireland winers Cuala in the opening round and Rathdowney Erill in the semi final.

Two Carlow Clubs contesting the two provincial Senior Club finals in the same year.

There are four senior hurling clubs in Carlow and eight senior football Clubs!

Carlow Senior hurlers and footballers have also achieved ‘above their station’ in recent times.

Despite the great progress of the senior hurlers, they were relegated unnecessarily out of the Leinster SHC. The same fate possibly awaits Laois in 2020. It shouldn’t.

And now the GAA are intent on football apartheid by denying Division 3 and 4 Counties the opportunity to play for the Sam Maguire. Second class citizens of a supposedly community based sports organisation.

‘Where we all belong’ Yeah right. Slick marketing campaigns may be catchy but are meaningless and insulting.

A genuine dual county. A tiny county.

I compare it to the Berlin Wall. 

An artificial man made barrier dividing the same nation. 

The super powers (GAA HQ) sometimes complete a prisoner exchange and allow a limited number through Checkpoint Charlie. The top 2 teams in Division 3 escape and the bottom 2 in Division 2 are incarcerated.

But the masses have little chance of penetrating that barrier. 

For years we knew little about life in East Germany. It will be like that in the Tier 2. Forgotten. Out of the media spotlight. No opportunity to promote the game. We will become a wasteland.

The sad part is that some of our counties have voted for this.

In the words of the great Jim Larkin, ‘The great appear great because we are on our knees. Let us rise’.

The reason some counties voted for this ludicrous proposal is because their expectations are at an all time low. They have stopped believing.

Dan Carbery was right. 

Bobby Miller was right. 

Henry Ford was right. 

‘Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right’.

Thank you Éire Óg. 

Thank you O Hanrahans. 

Thank you Mount Leinster Rangers. 

Thank you St. Mullins.