One of the more compelling subplots in the weekend’s fixtures will be in the first match on the double bill at Dublin’s Parnell Park this Sunday. Champions Kilmacud Crokes take on Templeogue Synge Street in Group 1 of the county championship.
The holders top the table and are on the way to the knock-out stages but there will still be intense interest in the match.
One of the biggest stories of the club season broke after the All-Ireland football final when Galway’s Man of the Match Shane Walsh, who had gone toe-to-toe with Kerry Footballer of the Year elect, David Clifford, announced he was leaving his club Kilkerrin-Clonberne to join the Stillorgan club.
The move couldn’t have been less timely. The Galway star was the most famous he had ever been in his career in that week after the All-Ireland.
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Initially opposed by his home club chair, Ian Hynes although ultimately no official objection was lodged, the transfer was cleared by the GAA.
People have always moved around in the GAA. There’s hardly a club in Dublin that would exist today were it not for those moving into the city
Sunday is believed to be the day that Walsh will debut for Kilmacud, for whom recuperating former Dublin All Star Paul Mannion may also make an appearance after injury — having missed last February’s All-Ireland final, which his club lost to a last-minute goal against Kilcoo.
The Walsh move hasn’t played well in the court of public opinion. Despite the Dublin champions having an admirable record in developing their own players, the sight of a top player from another county being recruited by the south Dublin club and its 4,000 members, triggered a lot of criticism.
GAA historian and writer Mark Duncan, who was involved in both of Kilmacud’s All-Ireland titles, in 1995 as a player and most recently in 2009 when he was a selector says that the controversy has dismayed those within the club.
“Most people in Kilmacud that I know, the last thing that they would have wanted was to be involved in the type of conversations that have been had in the past few weeks. The focus hasn’t been on what the club is doing. It’s been deflected away from that by stuff that’s not of our own doing.
“We didn’t need to bring in Shane Walsh. Clearly, we were a point away after extra-time from winning the All-Ireland without our own stellar performer (Mannion). That was our third final. There was no need to go looking for someone to bring in but when a player knocks on your door and the whole thing goes public, I would have been very uneasy if we’d said no.
“On what basis would we have refused him? For what reason now does a GAA club say, ‘no, you can’t join us’?”
There were many suggestions advanced as to how the matter should be dealt with, ranging from versions of American football’s draft rules to requiring those playing senior championship being obliged to declare for Dublin.
All in all, they would have been tough remedies to defend in the context of a voluntary, recreational activity.
Traffic goes the other way, too. There are Kilmacud people who end up playing in other places
“On one level, it’s straightforward,” according to Duncan. “People have always moved around in the GAA. There’s hardly a club in Dublin that would exist today were it not for those moving into the city and getting involved in the development of the games. It’s a story as old as the GAA in Dublin.
“What’s remarkable is that there are very few such players in the top levels of the club. There were nobody in the All-Ireland final panel, who hadn’t played under-age for the club. I’m almost sure that it’s similar for the seconds and that you have to go to the thirds to find players, who have moved into the area.
“That’s exceptional for the club in terms of its history. We’ve always had that input from outside. Look at the 2009 All-Ireland winning team. There were three players from outside Dublin.
“Adrian Morrissey (Wexford) was a teacher in St Laurence’s at the time and he’s still involved in the club, running one of the under-age teams. Liam McBarron (Fermanagh) is teaching in the area and running the under-15 team and Brian Kavanagh (Longford) is a selector with our second team.
“Depending on circumstances, players come and some pass through but by and large people have come in, played and remained to make a contribution. We’ve been very lucky that so many have stayed around to do that.”
Although migration is always more pronounced going into the capital, it also moves in the other direction. Life and work take people in different directions and Duncan points out that then club has seen its own members make the same moves.
“Traffic goes the other way, too. There are Kilmacud people who end up playing in other places. Ross O’Carroll, who played hurling and football for Dublin, lined out in the Sligo championship last year. I understand that there’s not an equivalence with Shane Walsh but people have reasons to move around the country.”
He also questions the justification of the club not welcoming an adult of nearly 30, who had made a similar life decision.
“If we had turned him away, what would the implications have been for him. He’s come to Dublin and made public his request to join a club and they’ve turned him away. It would have been different if he had been refused permission because his transfer was contrary to rule. Then everyone just moves on. Now he’s in, he’s one of our own.”
