THE LAST TIME I got up off the sofa involuntarily was in 2013, and the Clare hurlers were to blame. I know that seems a long time ago, but it takes a lot to get me off the couch against my will.
It was Conor McGrath’s goal, the one that finally broke Cork’s resistance in the All-Ireland final replay, that had me on my feet; a reflex reaction to the latest twist in that spellbinding drama.
“Is this really possible?” I gasped, spilling my tea.
Once the dust was settled and the Liam MacCarthy hoisted and the tea cleaned up, I had a thought: Hurling could well be the best thing that we Irish do, in any field of human endeavour.
I’m sticking to that 2013 view, but it’s not been easy lately. Hurling has been getting a bad press. It’s all the fault of sweepers, tactics, systems and other nasty, industrial-sounding words.
We should welcome the criticism. For if something is the best thing that we do, then we need to make sure we are doing it well.
Appropriately enough, the latest uproar about the state of the game was hushed by those same Clare hurlers and their much-maligned Waterford counterparts in Sunday’s league final replay.
After the stultifying drawn game, the replay was a rip-roaring affair, full of great scores, great skill, goals — yes, goals! — and ending in a good, old refereeing controversy. Local radio commentators shrieked, mentors hopped up and down, supporters shook their fists and no-one was talking about defensive screens.
Phew. All’s well with the world again. Until the next time.
Gaelic football is a few years ahead of the curve on this debate, so we know it will resurface. Football died last year, remember, according to Jarlath Burns’ infamous tweet during a league game between Dublin and Derry, and may well do so again in the coming months.
The argument centres on a couple of questions. Should a sport be allowed to evolve naturally, following whatever tactical and philosophical paths it so wishes? Or does it have an obligation to entertain, to enrich our lives, to delight. And if it isn’t doing that, should we intervene to fix it?
It is pointless to hark back to an idealised past of 15-on-15 duels, high-fielding heroics and all-round ‘manliness’.
In his Irish Times column this week, Jim McGuinness talks about the primacy of the ‘gameplan’, the coherent strategy any All-Ireland winning team must have.
“If you can come up with 20 or 25 variables built around intelligence and everyone knows what is happening next and everyone is switched on and believes in it and can see that it works, then you have a game plan.”
You get the picture of a modern inter-county team being an intellectual as much as a physical endeavour; these days you have to strategise your way to an All-Ireland.
But how does this square with the need for spectacle, that desire for the games to be the best thing that we do?
You have to remember what Gaelic games are, and where they came from. They were part of the Cultural Revival of the late 19th century, the sporting wing of the movement to re-energise an Irish consciousness laid low by foreign rule.
Writing a month before founding the GAA, Michael Cusack said that the Gaelic Revival must make “adequate provision for the preservation and cultivation of the National pastimes of the people. Voluntary neglect of such pastimes is a sure sign of national decay.”
Preservation and cultivation. It’s not enough for football and hurling to just sort of ‘happen’ – they have to be tended to and shaped so that they continue to be a matter of national pride and celebration, not grumbling and fretting. Or else there’s no point.
This is why it’s OK for the traditionalists to have a moan. GAA people are rightly proud of their games, but they are also not afraid to call a spade a spade. And these days a lot of people find the games distinctly spade-like.
While it’s right and proper that a game should evolve tactically, all sports make changes to improve the spectacle on offer. Soccer did this in the aftermath of the grim 1990 World Cup, clamping down on tackles from behind and the back-pass to the goalkeeper. Rugby does it all the time with rule interpretations.
Similar attempts are being made in Gaelic football, with the black card and the upcoming introduction of the mark. And at the same time, there are signs that football is evolving positively, becoming more about fast counter-attacks than massed rearguards.
Light-touch regulation is more likely in hurling: it’s difficult to think of obvious changes to deal with negative game plans and over-populated defences. But that doesn’t mean they should be avoided if the need arises.
Hopefully last Sunday’s solution will be the one that catches on: namely, brilliant players and clever management teams finding ways to hack the systems; touch and skill so sharp that they unlock any defence. And any game that can preserve and cultivate a talent like Tony Kelly can’t be in that much trouble.
But it’s OK to worry about hurling. We all want to be on our feet again soon, spilling tea everywhere.
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The national team and football on this island could not have needed a lift more than it does now. Thank you Aaron for bringing a buzz back for the next games.
@Stanley Baggins: perfectly summed up
Start him
Should have been in there instead of Curtis anyway. Curtis and Maguire don’t look up to international football
Is Mick brave enough to start him, sadly i think not..
It’s the first time I’ve been excited about the future of Irish football since the late 90s when Keane and Duff were coming through. We have some excellent young players in all positions, coupled with some senior players who have still something to offer. I hope we get results against Georgia and Switzerland and make it to the euros. Imagine playing a couple of those games in Dublin. I’m excited.
@Ger: Do you mean the main man or Robbie?
@running man: Robbie but Roy was in his prime then too.
Rooneyesk?
@This Is This: more an Aguero to me.
@This Is This: More a Pele to me
Getting a bit too excited lads…. he’s 19 0and even he is as good as he looked yesterday how will he manage in a poor Ireland team