For there to be any bite in a GAA match there usually needs to be something at stake. Competition is what makes the juices flow. Hence next Sunday’s NHL game between Galway and Cork is unlikely to send anybody to A&E with chest pain, which is just as well considering the cut-backs in health.
Both teams have already qualified for the league final and both John McIntyre and Denis Walsh will use the game as an opportunity to give fringe players and players returning from injury and club duty some game time.
However the big controversy that is exercising people’s minds in the hurling fraternity is the fixing of the league final for 7pm on Sunday May 2.
The Galway Hurling Board is furious with the decision – not so much with the GAA’s efforts to avoid a clash with the rugby - but rather the idea of bringing both sets of supporters to Thurles on the Sunday evening of a Bank Holiday weekend.
The Galway board met during the week to formulate its objection to the GAA, and its likely suggestion for a resolution
According to board chairman Joe Byrne, the fixture is a “kick in the backside”.
“We feel it should be moved to Monday, and we will be making every effort in the coming days to ensure that common sense prevails.
“We have put a huge effort this year into promoting the game with children and making the link between them and the flagship team in the county, the senior hurlers.
“We have put schemes in place to encourage parents to bring their children along. They all now go on the pitch for a few pucks at half-time during a league match in Pearse Stadium, there are autograph sessions with players, free jersey offers, and so on. But now, having reached the final, we find that it would be around midnight before they are back home from Thurles, and that certainly does not encourage parents to bring young children. Putting the match on at that hour is a kick in the backside to all the efforts to involve the children right through the league campaign.”
Galway will have to wait and see if the GAA proves flexible, and until then Galway must make do with the shadow boxing that will be on show this Sunday.
