BOYLAN TALKS SPORT: Ignoring their own selling point

“The GAA - Where We All Belong”. Really? It would be ventured the remarkable folk around Enfield and Baconstown might politely decline to concur. Liam Gaffney, director of operations in the Wheelchair Shed in Pairc Tailteann (I put that name on it myself as I was involved in the design of the viewing platform with Brendan Dempsey, Colm Gannon and the late Fintan Ginnity) was to the forefront of a group that recently published a history of GAA in Baconstown, but he may now need to start working on Vol. II.

Not only due to the tremendous levels of success achieved by the lady Gaels of Na Fianna this season (so far). More so, however, due to the scandalous manner in which the Enfield/Baconstown combination were treated and therefore insulted by both the LGFA and the Camogie Association.

For context, the Na Fianna ladies are both Meath’s Senior Camogie and Intermediate Football champions this season. Further to that, this remarkable group of dual players have gone on to reign supreme in Leinster in both disciplines also.

The problem, however, is that there has never been a better example of players being victims of their own success as the shameful, shambolic manner in which they were treated this past weekend.

A Camogie All-Ireland semi final at a county Louth venue at 3pm on Saturday - which they courageously won - followed by a trek to Cork for an All-Ireland football semi final just over 22 hours later.

Pat Shortt or Rory O’Connor wouldn’t even include it in a show as part of their act as it would be deemed too unrealistic.

There was uproar - and rightly so - when a document made it into the public domain, reportedly from a club in Galway, telling players in a berating tone what they can or can’t do and what they MUST do “if they want to be part of the senior panel in 2024”. It read like something scripted by a certain figure from the 1940s.

Amidst the dismay and revulsion which naturally greeted the manifesto, the valid point was well made that whatever club Executive Committee obviously endorsed such bovine excrement need to be ousted as quickly as the whizzkids who manufactured it.

It’s hard not to harbour similar feelings about those in the higher echelons at all levels within the GAA after the way Na Fianna were treated - or more to the point let down - in recent weeks. That is to say, the faceless power brokers who hide behind committee names that long you’d need the lung capacity of an Uileann Piper to verbalise them.

That in itself would be bad enough, but it was the smug, arrogant attitude - completely ignoring their own total dereliction of duty - which really grinded this writer’s gears.

Consider that the following was the official statement on the matter from one of the governing bodies: “We asked them (Na Fianna) which day they’d rather play and acceded to their request”. Why didn’t ye ask them when they wanted to have teeth pulled on a kitchen chair without anaesthetic?

The really scary thing about the whole farce is, for once, it can’t be said it wouldn’t happen to male players. Because it has. When Kilmacud Crokes qualified for Leinster Club Finals in both hurling and football last year. Yes, there was only one dual player involved - Brian Sheehy - but that’s not the point. Fixing both matches for the same day was bad enough in principle, without putting the onus on the player to decide which match he was going to play was utter lunacy. Another case of a player being punished for their own ability.

One would love to be able to say such a thing wouldn’t happen again, but, even before the ridiculous manner in which Na Fianna were treated most recently, you’d have to feel a little bit sorry for the Naas club in Kildare. Again, a group who more or less paid the price for the brilliance in different codes.

Right, so maybe their plight may not seem as drastic as that of Kilmacud or Na Fianna, but, by the closing stages of last Saturday’s Leinster Club Football Final against Robbie Brennan’s treble winning Dublin champions, you could see the build up of lactic acid, the toll of the toil of being on the go week after week (between hurling and football the club have won eight county titles in a row) slowly but surely emptying their fuel gauge.

So much for player welfare. Or player safety for that matter. To illustrate how Na Fianna were treated even further, remember, if you consider that the camogie match finished in Darver concluded at circa 4.30pm and, thereafter, Na Fianna players, officials and supporters had to make the trek to Cork for an All Ireland Intermediate semi final well short of 24 hours.

Apart from the physical sporting effects of having to play two matches of such magnitude at this time of year with little or no recovery time, did nobody stop to think of the potential dangers involved? Players journeying on, physically and mentally drained after the biggest game many of them will ever have played? What about the signs which punctuate every major road in the country declaring “Tiredness kills”?

Granted, it’s my understanding that, through a mammoth effort as only a community coming together can, funds were raised in a whip around to ease the burden on all concerned. And of course such occurrences warm the heart, but the fact of the matter is they should never have been left in that position.

Amidst all of what the black and ambers have been through, you’d nearly forget that they did, in fact play the two matches. Beating Eglish from Tyrone in the camogie by 1-9 to 0-9, with a Kerrie Cole goal ultimately seeing Niall Burke’s charges over the line and on the road to Croke Park.

Alas, scaling the mountain once more on Sunday proved one odyssey too far as Glanmire - no doubt poignantly inspired by the loss of their beloved Teddy McCarthy - had four points to spare in the football semi final.

Nothing can or should take away from the amazing achievements of these terrific players, but those who inhibited their chances of taking their expedition even further should hang their heads in shame.