LEITRIM’S HURLING manager has said the sport in the county “will never come back” if plans to exclude five teams from the Allianz league from 2025 are realised.
Ulcan Conway is the latest to voice opposition to CCCC proposals to deny inter-county hurling league games to Fermanagh, Leitrim, Cavan, Longford and Louth from 2025. Fermanagh GAA spoke out yesterday.
“The GAA’s motto is ‘Where we all belong’; it hasn’t felt like we all belong in the past couple of weeks if you’re a Leitrim hurler. We can be cut loose; cut adrift. We’re expendable,” Conway wrote in a Facebook post.
He added: “I have known for some time that our county board treasurer has been one of the biggest supporters of the CCCC proposal. He laid out his case at the weekend. I want to provide some context.
“The estimated set of accounts I was shown a number of weeks ago showed costs of €203,000 based upon both the senior hurling team and the U17 hurling team. We immediately offered to fundraise to help with these costs but were told not to. When we looked into it further, the net cost of hurling was just over €70,000 to the county board.”
Conway said there are “real, practical solutions” that “don’t involve killing hurling in Leitrim for the sake of saving money”.
“And make no mistake, that is what the CCCC proposal is all about,” Conway added.
He continued: “We know we are a small county. We know we don’t have endless resources. We know that football takes precedence. We’re willing to find solutions but we also expect fair play and not to be made a mockery of.
“Travel expenses are a huge issue and there is no getting away from that fact. Both hurling and football have this challenge. There are a number of lads based in Galway and Dublin etc, but is that their fault?
“I know nearly all of them come home every weekend and spend as much time in Leitrim as they can. Leitrim is a fantastic place to live and most of the people from Leitrim who don’t live here do so through necessity rather than choice.
“Most of these young men have to leave because of employment opportunities or to go to college. I have seen first-hand the effort it takes to get to training and their dedication is now being held up as a problem. We should be commending these lads for their commitment not using it against them.”
Conway said the outlook for hurling in the county was grim unless the sport was resourced and nurtured.
“Hurling has been under-funded in this county for years and now the people that have kept it alive are being asked to pay the price,” he said. “Rather than being encouraged in our efforts to keep alive a game recognised by Unesco, we’re being told it’s better to pull the plug. Take it off life-support. Let it slip away. When it’s gone, it will never come back.
“If the Leitrim hurlers don’t belong in Leitrim GAA, then where do they belong?”
A fund should be available from Croke Park to help struggling counties if the need arises. The whole basis for the GAA is to be part of the local community. Hurling is a huge part of the games that club members play. If you take the opportunity to play the game away it seldom comes back. No point in championing international participation from London and New York if you’re not going to look after the local clubs.
@Paul Linehan: Leitrim have 2 hurling clubs. They have made no effort to expand the game.
@John Buckley: And they’ve been given no incentive to do so, by the sound of it.
@John Buckley: incorrect, it was 4 clubs when I was playing, but due to emigration and the concentration on football clubs had to cut their hurling teams, the players play with the other 2 clubs. Hurling in Leitrim is mostly made up of dual players, the hurling chmpship was never played until the football chmpship was over. Players with the county were often encouraged not to turn out for games if there was a big club football game on. The commitment these hurlers give to their county is no different than what the footballers give with a far better win rate. Out of the 32 counties in Ireland, I would reckon they are ranked similar enough. It is a testament to the current team that they are currently beating teams with the 5+ clubs in their county.
@Paul Linehan: they could use cash generated by gaago matches. A lot of hurling behind that pay wall. Supposed to be filtered back but obviously not happening
I just can’t get the rational of ‘we want to promote the game so let’s restrict participation and funding’.
@Stanley Marsh: doesn’t make sense to me either Stan. Read somewhere else that Louth and Leitrim officals were actually in support of the idea, but looks like the proposal will be rejected. Also said that the onus will be on counties themselves to try and increase the hurling club activity, or they might end up pulling out of competitions themselves.