Michael Moynihan

THE THAW isn’t confined to the roads and boreens of Ireland, it seems. Even the flintiest hearts can eventually shed that ice.
Eagle-eyed readers and the not-so-sharp of vision alike will have noticed the comments of Sean Og O hAilpin in this newspaper on Monday, when he said he was not quite as dogged in his opposition to the players who lined out for the Rebel County twelve months ago during the bitter stand-off in the county.
"Last year, anyone I saw who went across the ‘picket line’ had a black mark in my book,” said O hAilpin. “They’re only human too, and so that’s when the softness came out on my behalf.
“From our perspective, the alternative Cork team didn’t help the cause; I reckon the whole thing would have been sorted out long before it was if there wasn’t another team out there. But I think people on our side of the fence now realise why the lads played away and hopefully they realise what we did as well. Maybe there’s a bit of respect there now on both sides that wasn’t there once.”
There are probably readers who would prefer to submit to root canal treatment without anaesthetic rather than reading one more word about the various strikes in Cork, but those who don’t learn from history being doomed to repeat it and all that, there’s a lesson here to be learned.
Not so much from the improvement of relations between the Cork 2008 and the Cork 2009 panels - which, despite the apocalyptic warnings of twelve months ago, shouldn’t come as a surprise given many of said players are club and college teammates.
The real lesson is in what O hAilpin added to his proclamation of peace on (Leeside) earth. When he referred to the growing respect between the two groups of players, he said: “That’s down to Denis (Walsh). He has done so well to get the spirit going in the camp. It was nearly like apartheid trying to get two sides working together.”
True enough. That’s the lesson that other counties have taken on board - or one other county, at least.
Clare looked as if they were looking down the barrel of an equally bitter stand-off until last year’s manager Mike McNamara walked away, and his replacement, Ger ‘Sparrow’ O’Loughlin, has already been hailed for bringing peace to the Banner hurlers.
O’Loughlin had the benefit of managerial experience with his own Clarecastle and Adare in Limerick, cast-iron status as a Banner legend from 1995 and 1997; and those who know him speak highly of his man-management skills. All told, the perfect candidate, then.
The situation is a little more fluid in Limerick, where tonight’s county board meeting has been deferred due to the bad weather. The ongoing controversy about senior hurling manager Justin McCarthy shows no sign of subsiding just yet, which is a bitter pill for Limerick GAA fans following their hurlers’ capitulation against Tipperary in the All-Ireland hurling semi-final.
For what it’s worth, though, those difficulties will come to an end. Then the challenge will be to build bridges and move on.
If we can stretch that metaphor a bit more, picking the right man to build those bridges will be a real conundrum. Anyone who’s read 'Unlimited Heartbreak' by Henry Martin will be aware of the Shannonsiders’ capacity for infighting, and right now it would take a psychic to come up with a manager who’d be able to appeal to all sides in this particular case.
That’s the biggest challenge for the GAA in Limerick this year. They might as well write off the coming season when it comes to silverware, or even progress. If they can keep their heads above water in the national league they’ll be doing well, based on the experiences in Cork last year.
But if they don’t get the right man to steer them they’ll be writing off a lot more years than 2010.

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