ALLIANZ LEAGUES:SEVERAL COUNTIES face the prospect of certain relegation unless they can garner some points from this weekend's penultimate round of the league in both football and hurling, and with Wexford hurling in particular tensions are high.
Colm Bonnar’s team must get something out of Sunday’s meeting with Cork in Wexford Park if they are to survive in Division One, but in the meantime a dispute has developed on the availability of eight of the county’s under-21 players currently playing in both codes.
Under-21 selector Garry Laffan, an All-Ireland senior medallist with the county in 1996, has criticised the county board for the apparent preference been given to the under-21 football team, especially at a time when the hurlers could do with them most.
Laffan claims he was promised the use of eight dual players for a challenge match against Offaly last Sunday, before they were subsequently pulled from the squad.
Central to the dispute is the fact that the players in question, Liam Óg McGovern, Michael O’Regan, Matthew O’Hanlon, John Lacey, Barry O’Gorman, Alan Nolan, James Breen and Emmett Kent, are preparing for next Wednesday’s Leinster under-21 football final against Longford – yet Laffan has warned that unless the under-21 hurlers get some access to the players during their preparations for the upcoming Leinster championship then their challenge will be considerably compromised.
“Ger Doyle, the county board chairman, agreed that after the first round of the under-21 football against Louth, that dual players would be released for both codes,” says Laffan. “They won that and then went on to beat Kildare and Carlow to reach the final. But we’ve hardly seen our hurlers. In the last eight weeks, we’ve seen four or five of them twice, with the other two or three on four occasions. It’s not good enough.
“I don’t want to be portrayed as anti-football because nothing could be further from the truth. We knew the under-21 footballers had a good team and we had to look at the eventuality of them winning a Leinster or even an All-Ireland. But we’re trying to prepare for Kilkenny on June 8th and they’re playing practice matches twice a week, without any dual issues.
“And if we don’t prepare properly, Kilkenny will come to Wexford Park and blow us out of the water. They were minor champions three years ago and we have to prepare 100 per cent to challenge them in the first round of the championship.
“Wexford hurling is not in a great place, but this under-21 team is very good. We have 13 of last year’s team unlucky to lose against Dublin in the Leinster final and this is a team we targeted to win a Leinster championship. But at this moment in time, we’re finding it hard to get access to players.”
At the other end of the Division One hurling table, Dublin’s prospects of reaching a league final for the first time since 1946 received a further setback with the news that forward Conor McCormack will miss the rest of their campaign after sustaining a broken bone in his hand in the defeat to Galway last Sunday.
McCormack joins captain Stephen Hiney, who recently tore his cruciate knee ligament, on the long-term injury list.
Dublin need to beat Kilkenny in Croke Park on Saturday evening to keep alive their hopes of making the final, although better news for manager Anthony Daly is that defender Peter Kelly is back after missing the Galway game with a shoulder injury, having had his initial four-week suspension overturned.
Kilkenny are already without defenders Tommy Walsh and JJ Delaney, while James “Cha” Fitzpatrick is also unlikely to be fit.
In football, meanwhile, Armagh aren’t out of danger yet in Division One and will want to take full points from bottom-placed Galway to put some further distance on Monaghan and Mayo.
Manager Paddy O’Rourke has seen his panel strengthened considerably this week with the return of seven of the Crossmaglen Rangers players that won the All-Ireland club title earlier this month.
However, there is still no sign of any imminent return of forward Ronan Clarke as he continues his rehabilitation from a long-standing Achilles problem.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael MEP and former GAA president Seán Kelly yesterday arranged a special presentation to the European Parliament on how the GAA legacy of inclusion and volunteering should be considered an example of best practice in Europe.
The presentation was made by GAA director of games development and research Pat Daly, with those in attendance including EU Commissioner for Sport, Androulla Vassiliou, along with Uefa and Fifa officials.
“Ireland’s traditional sporting heritage emerged from small beginnings at a grass-roots level,” said Kelly. “I’m very aware of the dedication GAA club members and volunteers give to their local teams and the resulting benefits. Some of our most talented sports stars started out at small clubs.
“Ensuring sports policies are inclusive and social in their objectives is essential for member states in terms of physical health and in regards to healthy social interaction and integration. In this way, the GAA’s success demonstrates the remarkable way in which sport can strengthen communities and bring people together.”
