COLM BEGLEY REMAINS an ‘important member’ of the Laois panel despite not being omitted for today’s Leinster championship game against Wicklow.
Laois ran out 0-21 to 1-11 winners in today’s provincial opener in Aughrim but Begley was not part of the squad after reportedly being dropped as he played in a Dublin senior championship game for Parnells last Wednesday night.
Laois boss Tomás Ó Flatharta accepted after today’s game that it was ‘a difficult decision’ for Begley but insisted that the player remains an ‘important member’ of their panel ahead of their Leinster quarter-final against Dublin on June 8th.
“We had to make a decision and equally Colm had to make a very difficult decision as well,” Ó Flatharta told Newstalk’s Off The Ball programme. ”He plays club football in Dublin and is also a coach with the club. I understand he had to make a very difficult decision.
“The situation is that he remains a very important member of our panel, a vital member of it. We’ve Dublin in two weeks time. We’re all going to be back in Tuesday night and ready to go at that. It’s all finished now and we move on.”
Laois now gear up for the considerable challenge of trying to stop the country’s leading side Dublin.
“Everybody knows that they’re All-Ireland champions and league champions, they’re a powerful team,” said Ó Flatharta.
“We’re in there against them and we’re delighted to be in Croke Park to be facing the Dubs. The next two weeks, we’ve to put all our focus in our preparations to perform to our ability.”
It should always be club before county
Rephrase that to HOME club id say Jack
I know it’s prob in contract he has to play with parnells,I don’t think he should have been dropped.all the county players play club champo in Dublin,it’s the league they miss most of.
But maybe he wants to play in Dublin championship,and. Doesn’t want to go “home”as you say it to train with his parish club!
CONTRACT…another dodgy word in amateur sport…and I bet theres no contract…you cannot be contracted to an amateur club in any sport
Yeah bet it’s a “verbal” contract.or whatever you want to call it,they didn’t pull him out onto the pitch to play but he knew if he didn’t, there would prob be repercussions.
The following are my comments from another thread on this topic…..
I agree fair play to him but is it not setting a dangerous precedent…most gaa players in leinster are within an hours drive of intercounty training so whats stopping them leaving there clubs to go and pay for play…cause we can sugar coat it all we want thats whats going on…he could still do his full time coaching role with parnells and play for stradbally. Its a job
and its quite obvious parnells expected him to play as they are paying him (in whatever capacity)..Laois would have had the club game fixtures around the intercounty so there would be no issue with players playing in the week before the leinster championship. He was probably between a rock and a hard place. Fair play to him for exploiting his tools to get the coaching job but I cant agree with transfering clubs because another is paying you. I bet he has no problem doing the commute to Laois training. Most intercounty players dont train with their clubs or play league games these days anyway so he wouldnt miss much…all he would have to do is turn up and play a couple of club championship matches on a sunday. Am I wrong.
The club scene is dying a death and the Gaa dont care its all about sky deals and redevelopment. Ive been to Pairc Ui Chaoimh in recent years to watch the club senior championship in Cork in front of 400 people, and they are now redeveloping the stadium to make it bigger to the tune of nearly 30 million and there is clubs in Cork on their knees. the Cork County hurling final in years gone by attracted 40,000 poeple nowadays it gets about 10,000. Most club championship matches are played before less than 800 people. If the Gaa dont get there priorities straight the grass roots will disappear, clubs all over Ireland (bar Dublin by the looks) are struggling both financially and for players/mentors………………………Its ok though at least ONE DIRECTION can play Cork soon!!!
Declan, he got the coaching job in parnells as long as he played for parnells, of course he had to play for them, it’s a job, how many men of his age have had to leave this country in search of work. Better to have him in dublin playing football than in some other country.
As I said fair play to him, but the coaching role should be separate from his playing role with the club….his club is stradbally not Parnells…There is no reason that he should not play for his hometown and coach for Parnells..its not his fault its Parnells its obvious there paying him to play for them under the cloak of being a coach in the local area…I wonder would he keep his coaching role if he wanted to return to play for his home club…I HIGHLY DOUBT IT. and in fact its the Laois county boards fault..he should be employed in that role by them..he must have a wealth of experience having been a pro in Australia..Im not blaming him as such I know its tough out there..but whats stopping a guy from wexford or wicklow or meath doing the same…the Dublin County championship will be like the champions league soon..fellas opting to get paid to play rather turning out for their club or county
Maybe the Gaa should use some of the millions they make off the back of these guys personal commitment and fund 4 full time ambassadors 2 hurling and 2 football in each county picked from the intercounty teams…this would stop the like of this crap because I bet theres guys around Ireland after getting wind of these “COACHING” roles being handed out in Dublin after this case getting so much publicity and there putting out feelers..
Absolute disgraceful decision by Ó Flatharta to punish Begley. Really sets a bad precedent.
Make no difference dublin will destroy them anyway
Especially that in theory Begley could play for Dublin now….nothing stopping him
Tricky dilemma for both player and county management. My hope now is that once invited back to the county panel, that Colm doesn’t decide to throw the toys out of the pram. Wouldn’t be the first time it has happened in Laois. He will be needed against the Dubs!!
He’s not good enough to play for dublin
You must never have seen Colm Begley play if you think he wouldn’t be good enough to play for Dublin. He’s played for Ireland and in fact was one of their stand out player’s. It was a very difficult situation for both management and Colm. As a Laois man I hope Colm and management can move on from this.