HEAVY DEFEATS FOR Westmeath and Laois in the Leinster hurling championship over the weekend sparked a conversation on The Sunday Game about how to best help develop the game of hurling in weaker counties across the country.

Saturday’s three games in the Leinster hurling championship produced two massively one-sided contests, with Kilkenny beating Laois on a score of 2-34 to 1-14 in Nowlan Park while Galway were 3-37 to 1-17 winners at home to Westmeath. The weekend previously, Westmeath conceded 5-23 against Kilkenny in the opening round of the championship round robin.

The lop-sided nature of those scorelines led to a discussion on the The Sunday Game last night about what the GAA can do to help the development of hurling in weaker counties, with the likes of Laois and Westmeath expected to experience more difficult outings in the coming weeks.

Sunday Game host Des Cahill put it to Dónal Óg Cusack and Anthony Daly that the current structure might not be beneficial for a team like Westmeath in the long run. 

“The margin of victory in those two games, and it’s tough for Westmeath going in against a Galway team that had to prove something to themselves, but conceding 3-37, people are questioning is this valid?” Cahill asked.

“Is it worthwhile? Is it good for Westmeath?”

Donal Óg and Anthony reckon the GAA needs huge, planned investment in the smaller counties if hurling is to thrive. pic.twitter.com/5kpWe0IxFL

— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) April 24, 2022

“Well I think if you ask the Westmeath players themselves, they’d prefer to be up playing at the top level and I fully understand that, but when it comes to that question I can’t help being drawn towards… It’s almost a travesty that we can’t spread hurling more on this island,” Cusack said.

“Everybody talks about how they love watching hurling, they think it’s such a unique part of our culture and so on, and I really think it needs investment in the likes of Westmeath, but real investment –money, that dirty word that people don’t want to talk about.

“We’ve seen in Dublin that the GAA specifically – and they were right – they knew it was really important that for the long-term success and health of the GAA, they needed to invest in Dublin. They were absolutely right, it’s the capital of the country.

“But I think it’s as important if you look at the likes of Belfast, for the future of the GAA, that hurling is won in Belfast. And I think to do that it needs money and proper investment. 

There’s a lot of talk around the directors of hurling over the last while. It’s not about going out doing ball-alley sessions, for me. It’s about if you are in that position, you’re actually watching where is that money going. Kildare need that money, they’re showing great strides. Kerry, are we just going to abandon (them)?

“I think it need investment.  I think you have to admit, say the likes of Kerry, the county board structure has been responsible for hurling there for almost 150 years, yet you see where Kerry hurling is. I think the GAA needs to go on a specific mission with money, take control of it and invest in those counties. The likes of Belfast (Antrim), Kildare, Westmeath, all of those, in the same way that they did to ensure the success of the GAA in Dublin.”

Former Clare and Dublin manager Daly stressed the importance of having competitive teams involved in underage competitions.

“When I went to Dublin in the winter of 2008 to start in 2009, you think about it, the combined Dublin Colleges team had won an All-Ireland colleges (title), Leinsters were being won. Dublin beat Kilkenny in the minor last week, no-one raised an eyebrow,” Daly said.

At one stage in Kerry, they had a combined second-level colleges team competing in the Harty Cup. For a fella going out saying he beat a Flannan’s or a Colman’s or someone in a Harty Cup game and going then playing minor with his county and (moving) up along, he has big expectations. I think that’s crucial.

“A director of hurling, we’ve had two fantastic blokes in Paudie (Butler) and Martin (Fogarty) doing that, but we need a better strategic plan in my opinion to look at the big picture, not just going in for a night doing a session.

“You need a bigger plan to look at getting possibly the two Joe McDonagh counties, could we even have given the two that are there home fixtures against the big four in Leinster?

“Just say it’s on in Mullingar, it’s on in Portlaoise, get on with it and we’ll toss for whether you are at home or away when you meet. It would be a help, because I saw Westmeath giving Galway a bit of a fright down there a few years ago. It would be a small help.”

Originally published at 14.26