NO TEAM HAS enjoyed more recent success in the All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship than Galway, with the Tribesmen winning 13 of the last 31 titles.
Their status as the only county from Connacht in the top-tier competition has been an undoubted boost in regards to on-field success, given they enter at the latter stages of the All-Ireland series, bypassing the provincial championships.
Nonetheless, they are seeking change this weekend at the GAA’s annual Congress, with Motion 14 to focus on the county being added to the Leinster or Munster Minor Hurling Championships.
While the current system has been good to the westerners in terms of silverware, it is failing the county’s developmental efforts, according to Galway GAA chairman Paul Bellew.
“It’s not [satisfactory]. It often gets confused with success. I think we’re synonymous with success at minor level in Galway to our detriment,” he tells The42.
“It might be funny to hear from the outside looking in, why do we want to make the route harder for ourselves? But realistically at this level, it is developmental.
“Everything about it is developmental, except the level of access to games that Galway get. Our request is simple: Equal access to games for all. Nothing more. Nothing less. And Leinster is the natural home for that.”
Ultimately, more games at the level are of greater interest to the county. The 13 All-Ireland minor titles since 1992 have translated into just one Liam MacCarthy Cup success in that time-frame.
“It’s a hard thing to say that we’d turn down winning one to get them more games,” Bellew details.
“But in terms of developing them into U20 and into adult, which we’ve had serious issues with here in Galway, and which we are tackling behind the scenes on a number of fronts, we would prefer the access to games. And if that means we exit at a Leinster final stage, Leinster semi-final stage, All-Ireland semi-final stage, we’d take that all day long.
“If you roll that out to be year-on-year, you have the 16-year-old who is strong enough to be on the team the first year, he’ll get eight-to-10 games at that grade over two years rather than four.”
The motion on the table this weekend will ponder two potential landing spots for the Galway minors, but the county’s preferred destination is the eastern province.
“The motion is worded technically, it has included both. That was more from a technical element to get it on the clár. But we will go into either. We’re not going to be picky about it,” he outlines.
“But our preference is for Leinster, mainly on the grounds that we do our business in Leinster in the other two [grades]. Geographically, structurally, it makes the most sense. But we won’t turn up our noses to either. The bottom line is we just want the same programme of games as everybody else.
“The fact that the seniors went in [to Leinster] 14 years ago. The U20s went in 2018. It is just the natural home for us. We haven’t dominated either of those scenes, which is the fear with the minor level as well. If you look at the U20, since we’ve gone in, no team in Leinster has won two in a row, which is always healthy I would think.
“I think we’ve shaken up the senior championship to a good degree, despite only winning it three times. And if we do go into Leinster at minor level, what you’ll see is a rise in standards across all counties. And that’s been proven in the other two areas.”
With Congress kicking off at Croke Park on Friday evening, the vote on Motion 14 is expected to take place on Saturday morning.
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Ogbene and obafemi should our front two going forward. Their pace alone would concern most defences. Their finishing is on par or better than parrott. Parrott very wasteful and over admired by Kenny.
Kenny out !!
@Gary O’Rourke: do expand on that please. You haven’t a clue pal
I was a Kenny supporter up to now but after his inexplicable decision to leave Parrott on the pitch and take Obafemi off I’ve changed my mind.
@Joe Healy: over one sub… Ya thats the reason to sack him. Another keyboard warriors fook me they are everywhere tonight. Great display game plan, control, an actual plan to beat the high press. We didn’t convert our chances simple as, Maybe you didn’t see THAT Joe too busy with the boys on the pub.
@Joe Healy: Maybe there was a reason we’re not aware of. Obafemi is not playing at the minute and perhaps had a knock or was out on his feet.
Game wasn’t just lost on the pitch. It was the sidelines too. Ogbene should have started. Inform player scoring goals. Parrot was too wasteful. No goals in the league for Preston.. frustrating display from Ireland.
Can any Kenny Out believer please explain? You’d swear he was underachieving with this group of players the way they go on and we have defined right to get a result last night. Scotland are a better team with players at a higher level than us. We were always underdogs last night. It’s the worst crop of players I’ve ever seen, but it is the most enjoyable I’ve seen an Ireland team play since Mick McCarthy 20 years ago. Yes the result was frustrating last night because we deserved something, but by god you couldn’t fault that performance against a superior side to us. So to the Kenny doubters, no other manager would get any more out of this team and leave him in the job.