O’Neill: ‘Hurling is hanging by a thread in some counties’

“Hurling is hanging by a thread in many counties.”

Those were the words of GAA President-elect Liam O’Neill in Croke Park yesterday as he launched the long-awaited National HurlingDevelopment Plan.

“We looked at the nine developing counties [Longford, Louth, Leitrim, Sligo, Donegal, Tyrone, Cavan,Monaghan and Fermanagh].

“We looked at the clubs in those counties. We couldn’t believe how thin a thread hurling is hanging by in some of those counties. It was only after we did the work and investigated that we found out how weak hurling really is and we said that we have to develop the club hurling.

“Hurling was hanging by a thread and needed some sort of an intervention. It was never going to happen if we did what we did before. The only other parallel [with hurling] in Irish society is the amount of effort that has gone into the promotion of the Irish language. We’ve had money thrown at the Irish language over the generations, bad efforts made at schooling as well — we did the same with hurling, it’s been all aboutthrowing money.

“This is a change. We’re getting buy-in from people and this is people-based, it’s about games first, about getting hurling played.”

To that end, and a major element of the plan, a comprehensive new 60-club five-division competition called The Tain Club League, with the four Ulster counties (Antrim, Armagh, Derry and Down) also involved, has been launched.

Two rounds of that competition have already been played, reinforcing the impression O’Neill and his group are determined that this will be much more than just a talking-shop.

“It has to work — this is not just rhetoric. I think this is one of the most significant things to happen in thehistory of the organisation,” said Liam.

“We now have a situation where we have a 13-county, 60-teamconglomerate with the imprimatur of Central Council that no fixture can be made against them [on those game dates].

“If someone told me five years ago that in the nine developing counties you would get to a situation where that could he brought about, you would have said that this was crazy.”

Galway and Antrim apart, Connacht and Ulster are weak hurling provinces, but the northern province have been hugely cooperative in this new initiative.

“The most significant day we had was the day the Ulster Council said that they would buy into it. The fact that we have those nine counties, that we have their expertise, the 13-county league actually makes iteasier to get a geographical platform.”

From the tiny Trumera club in Laois, O’Neill is himself long familiar with the battle to promote hurling, and is determined now to make this plan a central plank of his presidency.

“Yes of course, it is big. Hurling matters a huge lot to me — I’m from a hurling club, it’s all we play.

“I know the difficulties that are involved in the promotion of hurling.

“I’ve seen the failure up to now and I think this one will make a difference.”