Hope, as they say, springs eternal!!
I'll leave the honour of the announcements to the players or manager themselves.
the lower counties will have to scramble for the crumbs.
Guys firstly please don't read anything into the way I've editing the quoted text. It's more that I'm expanding into your conversation agreeing with all three and adding to the points without having anyone reading, re-reading all that text or scrolling past.
Just yesterday I went to Ballybofey for the Ulster coaching conference - long story. Now the workshops and keynotes were excellent and worthwhile, but I and almost everyone else got much more from the lighthearted Q&A session with Chrissy McKaigue, Neill McGee and Stephen Poacher (no I didn't know who he was either)! Neill McGee was excellent if a little timid and quiet, but the real point of this post was the other two men and two key points.
Firstly Chrissy McKaigue. I honestly could listen to that lad talking all day. An inspiration and superbly intelligent. His main point is the amount of work and commitment involved as a player. Then double that as a dual player. That's just club and then add county football and then on top of that, county hurling. Throw a full time career into the mix and then life is non existent. His take - "It's my drug of choice and it's much more addictive than anything a dealer could sell you. It's because of your home. Your community. The people you grew up around and the people you love driving you on. It's easy to see why it's for the very few!"
Stephen Poacher, involved with one of those "lower counties" and coming from Down, knows about dreaming and believing along with a tradition from back in time and how that shapes the expectation from supporters. His main point - "Jesus people need to take a seriously hard look at what they want and how achievable those expectations are. Only one team can and will win the ultimate prize. The rest will have a hope of winning a game and maybe a freak run to a provincial final. Others will make the last eight, four will win a provincial title, but realistically outside the established teams, at the minute, regardless of how much money is thrown at a team, they have to realise their level and manage themselves appropriately. Louth started training 3 weeks ago. Christ their expectations are massively beyond the reality. They should be keeping fit doing what any athlete would do to maintain that level and then after Christmas start enjoying field work. And therein lies the key. Where the hell has the enjoyment gone in this scramble to improve? Who has made massive improvements in that last twenty years other than Dublin? Teams like tyrone, Monaghan, Donegal are gonna be about their own level with Tyrone being the only team in Ulster managing to maintain a level, but even all their training and tactics and science haven't brought them more success in nearly ten years now. So does that mean we all throw the towel in and accept the inevitable? Absolutely not, but we need to get real. A player at county level will have proven that he or she is already fit. They will have already proven that they are skilled. They have already proven that they are committed, but by god they are going to be driven away from the sport we all love because of the stupidity and nonsense of expectation. Let's get back to enjoying this sport again for the masses. Stop the stupid drive for massive financial income and generate enough to cover costs and look after our playing assets before we look back at how good it used to be - like Spillane already does! Let the players enjoy what they are creating. Let them be there because they want to be there. Not because they feel they have to be. Professional sports like soccer and Rugby don't do the daft training regimes we expect from our lads and the girls (a point remade later by Peter Donnelly who should know having worked with some major teams) and they don't hold down a full time job. Love the game and respect the players!"
I have to be honest and say I agree with the sentiment, but I'm not sure if it is achievable as my learned friends have already outlined, maybe a little more eloquently than I have transcribed.
By the way, the piece was recorded on the phone by one of the young ladies with me and we listened to it back again on the way home yesterday and she sent to me today. What I have typed might not be "exactly" as it was spoken, but it is close enough. Now that's enough typing for a few weeks - Oh and it was mentioned yesterday at lunch that the Dr. McKenna draw will be on Thursday 30th November and it was hoped Armagh tv would be streaming it live again if they are available. Seems it'll be on Ulster GAA Facebook, so that means
@PatMustard will have to settle for reading about it here!!
