IN THE 49th minute of Saturday’s Sigerson Cup final, wing-back Kieran Molloy was heavily involved in the NUI Galway move that led to Adam Gallagher’s goal.
The decision to spring him off the bench 10 minutes earlier looked like a masterstroke.
Molloy had just completed a madcap dash from Tullamore to Santry when he joined his college mates on the field in the 39th minute against UCD.
Less than 90 minutes earlier, he was celebrating on the O’Connor Park turf with Corofin as they reached the All-Ireland final despite playing almost the entire game with 14 men.
Molloy completed the full 60 minutes for the Connacht champions before receiving a Garda escort to Santry where he was unable to prevent NUIG falling to a one-point defeat to the Belfield side.
“It’s obscene,” NUIG boss Maurice Sheridan said of the demands placed on Molloy. “It’s absolutely horrendous.
“We dashed him up the road. He’s a heroic type of guy. He loves his club, he loves his university and he’s a very honest individual.”
Molloy’s fellow Corofin defender Liam Silke missed the chance to win the title with UCD on the field of play. The corner-back raced forward to bury the game-winning goal in the final minute against Moorefield, but didn’t join Molloy up the road to the Sigerson final.
Silke was treated for an injured finger after Corofin’s success, although UCD manager John Divilly said he was never going to play twice in the one day.
“Liam was going to travel up if we wanted him to, but I wasn’t going to put him in there today. No way,” said Divilly.
“Fair play to Kieran Molloy, he was savage. He came in and he played brilliantly. But I wouldn’t do that to a player.
“He’s after giving an hour’s football. It’s not fair, I just feel very sorry for Kieran and Liam, and I’d know them quite well.”
Meanwhile back in Tullamore, victorious Corofin manager Kevin O’Brien bemoaned the situation, which also saw both Molloy and Silke feature for their respective colleges in the Sigerson semi-finals on Wednesday night.
“Very disappointing,” he said. “It was unfortunate that the decision was taken out of their hands like that, but UCD in John Divilly and NUIG in Maurice Sheridan – we worked with them well.
“There was a great understanding there between the three camps. The lads played during the week and it was unfortunate that they couldn’t play today. It’s not right, but I don’t make the fixtures.
“(On Wednesday night) we asked the managers to put them only in for a period of time and they did that and I’ve huge respect for them for that.
“Liam went in for 15 minutes and ended up playing 45 so I didn’t enjoy my cup of tea on Wednesday night, but he came through it well and fair play to them.”
For both Sheridan and Divilly, there was a sense of frustration that the GAA didn’t see this fixture clash coming down the line.
“It was flagged three months ago that this could happen,” said Divilly.
Sheridan added: “It’s a pity that we didn’t have Kieran (for the whole game) and it’s a pity that the final wasn’t allowed to be on a bit later in the day, which would have accommodated him.
“The GAA have to look at that with player welfare and all the stuff that they go on about,” he continued.
Divilly was insistent all parties need to sit down and come to an agreement on a proper fixture schedule if the Sigerson Cup is to remain alive.
“If the GAA are serious about this – and there is a new GAA President coming in – he needs to sit down with third level colleges, and I don’t mean the third level committee,” he said.
“The committee are trying their best but they need to bring us all in and say, ‘How can we make this competition survive into the future?
“Okay, it doesn’t matter that there weren’t that many spectators here – the players love it, the effort, it was savage out there. They all want to participate, they all want to win.
“I hope the GAA learn from the debacle in the last few weeks. Don’t start talking about it, just sit down and bring us into a room and maybe listen to the people who are at the coalface and start taking decisions from the ground up.”
Dual Players, make 2 all Irelands, sounds to me like the experiment is a resounding success?
Dual players has been going on at minor level for years, it just so happens this year both teams were successful and went all the way to the final, which i would say was helped by a momentum gained from having dual players.
They were both successful in reaching the final and minor has 2 purposes, yes winning is one ,preparing seniors is another and having experience in a final will surely help .
Also why have so many only have those that will figure on team or used subs , have only hurlers after that this will reduce disturbance of squad.
Ger Loughlane point is much more important, with the size of the “home of hurling” and the amount of clubs not promoting football , why are these clubs not able to supply a minor team with only a few gems making the cross over.
Is the dual player an effort to promote hurling or demote football, Mr McKeever did not have to raid the issue the week of the final,
What Liam is actually saying is that the players are good enough there but with all the commitments they have at that age that it’s impossible to get a full panel together for enough sessions to understand how their teammates play, the more they play together the better they work as a unit, but they are missing that time to get the best out of the unit and that’s possibly why they fell at the final hurdle as it was impossible to get the right preparation done for it, it’s the age old saying “fail to prepare, prepare to fail”, it’s not the players fault, not the managements fault or the county boards fault, it’s the results of having a good underage structure, it certainly has to be looked at but it’s certainly a good complaint to have, I’d much prefer it than to been mediocre at one and non existent at the other
I’m saying it ages! Make a choice u either play hurling or football
making two All Irelands and winning none of them so where is the success there? Am I missing something!
I totally agree with Liam Cahill Tipperary is a hurling county always was and always will be
no point in sending a football team out against Kerry or Dublin and getting whipped by 20 points and being a laughing stock and then being too tired and lethargic to compete in the minor hurling final which is our priority sport
the County Board needs to have a good look at itself and decide if it wants Tipperary to win hurling All Irelands again or not
Bloody hell yet have more football all Ireland’s than Mayo! :(
I m fully behind the dual mandate. Well.done to tipp. Why make an 18 yr old choose for the sake of a medal? How is loosing a final, a single game, hindering their development? Wonderful achievement getting to both. Would they have won either if they had concentrated on one code? I dont think so.