ON AN AFTERNOON of outstanding Tipperary performances, one stood head and shoulders above the rest.
And tonight at Dublin’s Burlington Hotel, full-forward Seamus Callanan was named as the All-Ireland final man of the match.
The Drom & Inch sharpshooter finished with a remarkable 13 points, nine of which came from play, as Tipp ran out nine-point winners against Kilkenny in Croke Park.
With more than 4,500 votes cast on The42 since full time, Callanan had received 69% at the time of writing.
John ‘Bubbles’ O’Dwyer and Ronan Maher were the other Tipperary players shortlisted by the Sunday Game panel of Eddie Brennan, Cyril Farrell and Brendan Cummins.
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It’s an interesting argument. Is Ferguson an exception to the rule? Going to England at an older age, you would probably be a bit more mature, possibly have a qualification obtained, but you’d lose out on two years of training with incredible facilities which probably would develop you quicker.
There is always a risk involved though. ( Injury, or rejection due to competition).
If we had the same training conditions here, then it would make sense to stay at home, for many reasons. There is no decision to make now, as you have to be 18, so the challenge is to adapt to the new reality.
@Matt Vaughan: It’s not an easy decision by any means but it’s incorrect to say that there’s no decision to be made anymore when you see the likes of Zefi at Inter Milan and Heffernan at AC. There’s a big continent out there.
Last part of the article is telling, Irish clubs don’t have the facilities to compete with Fleetwood town.
A lot of investment needed.
@Bert Carolan: a lot of clubs in the uk at that level get grants from the FA and the national lottery for such community based initiatives. Now I’m not sure about the Irish national lottery providing such funding but for sure the FAI cant as they can’t pay for themselves at the moment. It will take 15 to 20 years for the sport to develop in Ireland under current conditions and with investment. I can’t help but think that certain prominent parties have written football off in Ireland in favour of rugby and the GAA.
@Lucious Sweet: It’s a depressing outlook.
There is money available at a certain level, sports capital Grant’s etc but not to the amounts necessary after a certain age.
Evans ex coaches say that the gap in resources/ finances kicks in after under 14. So this is where the investment needed.
Gaa fund themselves mainly, also nothing outside Ireland to compare to.
Rugby facilities must be as good as anywhere. Be interesting to see a comparison in investment per capita between Rugby and Soccer.
We produced most of our world class players before academies…., Brady, McGrath, Moran, the list goes on… I’m sick of reading about the ” lack of facilities” being blamed for the poor standard of players we produce now…we have a lot better facilities now than we did when we had world class players playing for us… it’s down to the clubs to produce players…if we think that throwing money at a ” problem” will fix it without the excellent club coaching..we are wrong.
@Ronan Skelly: Those players were from a different era, you may as well try to compare a Morris minor with a Tesla.
@Ronan Skelly: Did you read the article? It’s those obviously excellent coaches who are saying we can’t compete with facilities. Are you saying you know better than them?
@Ronan Skelly: And that’s assuming other countries, like Portugal, Denmark, Belgium or whatever haven’t improved their funding and facilities massively since then. But of course they have..