‘Shock and ‘disgust’ at proposal that would exclude five counties from the National Hurling League

A proposal to remove counties with fewer than five adult club hurling teams from competing in the National Hurling League has been met with mixed reaction from those impacted.

The GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) has recommended that from 2025 onwards counties with two, three or four adult teams should only be permitted to play in the Lory Meagher Cup, reducing their season from six to three months, and instead redirect the focus in those counties to development of hurling at underage and club level.

If successful, the proposal – which will be voted on at Central Council next month – would see Longford, Cavan, Leitrim, Louth and Fermanagh locked out of the National League.

An estimated total of €900,000 is spent annually on preparing and operating those five intercounty hurling teams, and the CCCC instead want to see that money pumped towards underage coaching and club development to increase the number of players and teams in those counties.

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Cavan manager Ollie Bellew says there is anger and frustration among his squad at the proposal.

“I’m in total and utter shock and probably slightly disgusted at the blatant disregard of the players,” says Bellew, who guided Cavan to a Lory Meagher Cup final appearance in 2021.

There are currently three adult clubs in Cavan – Cootehill Celtic, Mullahoran and East Cavan Gaels. Louth and Longford also have three clubs, while Leitrim and Fermanagh both have two.

Cavan won the Division 3B final in April, securing league promotion for 2024. However, if this recommendation goes through they would be debarred from the 2025 competition.

“I was chatting with our captain Mattie Hynes and he is devastated by this,” continues Bellew. “This year’s league final was one of the proudest days of his life. There isn’t one player on our squad that is going to welcome this.

“And this is not simply about hurling. There are lots of counties where socio-economic issues have meant players having to go to Dublin and further afield for work, but they still come home two nights a week and again at the weekends to train and play with their county. It draws them back.

“All of a sudden somebody is going to ride a horse and carriage right through all of that. It has a wider impact on counties and communities.

“This is our national game and they are going to make it easier to go find work in England and play loads of hurling over there than it would be to represent your own county.”

Adrian Moran, who managed his native Westmeath to a famous Leinster Under-21 quarter-final victory over Kilkenny in 2016, has been in charge of the Longford senior hurlers for the last two seasons.

He led them to the Lory Meagher Cup final in 2022 and they contested a Division 3B league semi-final this year.

“My overall opinion is that I’m glad this discussion paper has come out because now at least it is being acknowledged there is a problem at grassroots level in these counties,” says Moran.

“Hopefully it will lead to further discussion and ideas, the problem is a lack of clubs, there’s no point saying anything differently.

“In my opinion the players in these counties are as entitled to play in the National League as Limerick or anybody else. So is this the answer? No, I don’t think it is, maybe others do, but either way it is getting a wider debate going on the development of hurling in these counties.”

Longford’s three adult club hurling teams are Clonguish, Wolfe Tones and Longford Slashers.

The county senior team pulls from a pool of about 70 players. For Longford’s last game in this year’s Lory Meagher Cup, essentially a playoff against Monaghan for a place in the final, they had a squad of 23 togged out.

“For the 2022 Lory Meagher final we had 24 on the panel, that includes three permit players and one or two lads who qualified for Longford through the parentage rule,” explains Moran.

Moran is fully immersed in the game. Not only is he a coach/manager but he is also one of the country’s top hurley makers (Moran Hurleys).

Efforts are under way in Longford to try increase the playing pool. They are planning an under-13 development squad while Moran has been working to create an under-20 team.

“Since I have been in Longford, secretary Peter O’Reilly and chairman Albert Cooney have been magnificent and couldn’t have done more to support hurling,” adds Moran.

One suggested solution is to form an amalgamated adult club championship between the counties – geography would be favourable for clubs from Longford, Leitrim and Cavan competing in the same competition.

The CCCC want counties to change focus, removing it from the intercounty team and instead putting their energy and resources towards promoting and fostering the game at school and club level. Should the threshold of five adult teams be reached, counties would then be readmitted to the National League.

The lower tier intercounty competitions are a drain on GAA finances. In 2022, the gate receipts for the Lory Meagher Cup were €1,940 while the matchday and competition costs tallied at €39,337. With team expenses included, in 2022 it cost the GAA €165,182 to run the Lory Meagher Cup.

But what is the cost to hurling of a county not having a flagship team for nine months of the year?

“Nobody denies there is a need to invest in clubs and we need to improve the playing pool,” says Bellew.

“But this current Cavan panel have done more for the development of hurling in the county than any cheque that is going to be thrown about as a gesture.

“They’ve won a national title, achieved promotion to a division above other counties who are deemed to be doing enough to be there, and have played in a national final at Croke Park.

“We’ve had 200 kids out on the pitch at half-time in our games, our hurling development officer gave every kid a hurling ball coming in, the players stayed out with them after the game, our mantra is that they give back, the players coach in their own clubs, that’s promoting and growing the game.”

The Irish Times understands the GPA has been in consultation with player representatives on the relevant squads and a statement is expected once all the feedback has been gathered.

Meanwhile, Waterford have appointed former Meath player Paul Shankey as their new senior football manager – finalising the managerial roster in the country for 2024.

Shankey was part of Seán Boylan’s 1999 All-Ireland winning Meath panel and also a member of the squad in 2001 when they lost the decider to Galway.

The Kilmainhamwood man has been living in Waterford for several years now and the defender won a Waterford intermediate football championship with Portlaw in 2016. He has also managed Portlaw and is to be given a two-year term in charge of Waterford.

Mikey Cronin, who has been appointed Waterford under-20 football manager, will be a coach/selector with the seniors.

Shankey succeeds Cork native Ephie Fitzgerald in the role as Waterford senior manager.