Corkery: amateur status hurting GAA

CORK forward Colin Corkery believes the GAA’s determination to maintain it’s traditional amateur ethos is causing an underage player drain to other codes that will inevitably have serious repercussions.

The demands on inter-county players have multiplied enormously in the last decade. Ger Loughnane’s Clare regime back in the mid-90s was credited with bringing the level of preparation for hurling teams to previously unheard of heights; footballing sides, particularly in Ulster, took it a stage further again.

“In fairness to the northern teams, three, four, five years ago, they started bringing a more professional approach to the whole thing and they’re reaping the rewards now,” Corkery said.

“What they’re doing is just totally and utterly professional. You’ll hear of some guys going part-time in their jobs to play inter-county football. That’s the stage it’s getting to now.

“Unless the rest of the counties down south are prepared to match that, unfortunately you’ll hear the same old story for another few years.

“There’s so much money involved now with counties and the sponsorships that they can demand, that it’s going to come to a situation where semi-professionalism or professionalism will have to come into the game. It’s got to that stage the last two years.

“If the GAA miss out now, which they have I think already with a lot of the kids playing rugby now, they might find it takes ten, 15 or even 20 years to get it back.”

The demands on players show no signs of abating. If anything, they are likely to keep on increasing until a breaking point is reached.

“I hope the thinking is that [a breaking point] is close. Physically, there’s no way now that an inter-county player is going to be able to sit down and perform in a job and perform on a pitch and in training.

“Business is more cut-throat these days and the days of the handy rep job are well gone. Your boss now is looking for figures and targets. Unfortunately, the guy playing corner forward or whatever for the county team is suffering both ways.”

The northern resurgence is obvious. This weekend, three of the four teams in action in the All-Ireland quarter-finals will be from Ulster. A fourth, Derry, will take the field a week later.

Last year the province provided three of the semi-finalists, two of them going on to contest the final. Much of that, fairly or unfairly, has been put down to the ‘blanket defence’ tactic perfected by the likes of Tyrone and Armagh. Corkery, though, doesn’t think they are the impregnable fortresses they’re cracked up to be.

“There’s too much being made about it. They have an extra man, maybe an extra two men, back the whole time and I think the opposition free men should push up and crowd the forward line. I just think they’ve perfected a system of play but what happens when that system breaks down? Have they a Plan B?

“I think people have done that already without winning the game. They haven’t followed through well enough to win the game because Armagh are a good football side and Tyrone are a good football side. They have good, experienced players.”

Mayo are the next county from ‘down south’ to attempt to solve this particular puzzle when they meet the All-Ireland champions on Saturday and Corkery is confident the Connacht title holders can prove his point at Croke Park.

“I fancy Mayo big time because the players that they have are young and quick. Whether they’re experienced enough or not, I think there’s something about this Mayo team. If they don’t freeze in Croke Park, they’ll be close and I’m sure John Maughan is the man to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

It’s not the only bold prediction the Nemo Rangers forward made for the last eight either. Kerry or Dublin?

“I fancy Dublin. I don’t want to put the kibosh on them or anything but I think Kerry look tired after their league campaign. We weren’t at the races against them in Killarney. For some reason I felt we were just a bit dead this year. Dublin in Croke Park though?

“On paper, Kerry are a better team but there could be something about Dublin this year. It will be close. It all depends on the fitness of Moynihan and O’Sullivan at this stage. If they play at even 75% fitness, that’s a question mark straight away.”