John Fogarty: Hurling not as we know it but how we must
Limerick manager John Kiely with Clare manager Brian Lohan after the Munster Championship clash. Picture:Â INPHO/Ryan Byrne
Back in August, this column mused about what Semple Stadium might look like this past Sunday. Strike that, we dreamed.
Calling for a Championship in this pandemic was not a popular opinion never mind proposing the county season precede the club. It would have been the safer move, the inter-county scene being a far more controlled, sanitised creature, but here is where the GAA are. Wiser that a split season is the way forward if its reputation has been bruised by some of those post-county final celebrations that went against Covid-19 guidelines.
But a Championship was required.
Being a Gaelic Games correspondent provides many perks such as the one given to each of the 43 media representatives who made almost a quarter of the 238 people allowed into the stadium on Sunday (17 print and online journalists were stationed in the Ó Riain Stand on Sunday, a similar number of broadcasters took up the gantry over the Kinane Stand and the RTÉ Sunday Game Live team).
More importantly, this job provides access to people. The longing, the desperation for what started this past weekend and ramps up with 13 Liam MacCarthy and Sam Maguire Cup games this Saturday and Sunday was palpable.
As a phrase, mental health has sadly been devalued to the pittance of “going forward” but in such dire times these games were always going to be needed. As something to look forward to, as something to talk about, as something to distract us from this hope-devouring drudgery.
Clearly, the Government saw the value in investing €15m in this winter sustenance (boy, did they get a deal) as the National Public Health Emergency Team in later recommending it take place even at Level 5. And while the GAA’s Covid-19 advisory body have had to update their protocols after the likes of Kerry and Offaly exposed the inconsistencies in them the safety measures are now incredibly tight.
That was abundantly clear with what Munster GAA put in place in Semple Stadium on Sunday. Dressing rooms, while available there and in Dr Morris Park, were to be used at a minimum.
Instead, players readied themselves in the outdoor concourse underneath the Kinane Stand, which was split into two: Clare taking The Town End side of it, Limerick The Killinan End. Dr Morris Park was used for heavier warm-up work to spare the stadium pitch.
As per the event plan, both panels emerged for the game within 20 minutes of throw-in from entry/exit stairs normally used by spectators, only Fergal Horgan and his team of match officials coming out of the tunnel.
For Amhrán na bhFiann, the players were asked over the PA system to take their starting positions so as to avoid huddles or players linking arms as they belted out the National Anthem. Nothing was being left to chance.
Two months ago and believing dressing rooms would be out of bounds, we wondered how the managers would be able to deliver their team talks outside but also out of earshot of the other. Voices can carry in that concourse under the Kinane Stand. When Limerick returned to the field much later than Clare, we speculated had John Kiely purposely held back his players so that he could cajole them properly. If so, their six unanswered points to start the second half proved he got his point across.
Journalists were also left in no uncertain terms of their positions of privilege on Sunday. After coming through one accreditation checkpoint in the Castlemeadows entrance to the venue, another had to be passed before a health questionnaire that was completed with the online application for a ticket earlier in the week was asked again.
Upon receiving a wrist band, we were shown to our designated seat and encouraged by steward Eamonn Phelan to use the available hand sanitiser.
Afterwards, socially distanced interviews with Kiely and Brian Lohan were conducted halfway up the Kinane Stand where a table had been put in the aisle for their recording devices so that members of the media didn’t have to mosh together, hold out their dictaphones and shout their questions.
As we were shepherded across “The Field of Legends” for those interviews by Munster GAA communications manager Ed Donnelly, a fellow journalist queried if we enjoyed it.
We were with Kiely on that one. Asked afterwards if it was worth it without the crowds, the Limerick manager replied: “Of course it’s worth it, it’s absolutely worth it.”
Our nonplussed colleague was also referring to the standard of the fare. Sure, the considerable amount of scores in Croke Park and Semple Stadium suggested defenders were also complying with the two-metre social distancing. But the quality will improve as you hope this real match-day experience will be shared by more than just us.
For now, Championship hurling actually being played will do. It will more than do.
