Keating irks Tipp GAA chiefs

EX-TIPPERARY boss Babs Keating has received a dressing-down from Tipp GAA chiefs for remarks made by him in his weekly Sunday newspaper column.

Keating rounded on the county board after their defeat to Cork, telling the Sunday Times they were a clique interested only in getting re-elected year after year. He added that former boss Nicky English should have been maintained in an advisory capacity giving his unique relationship with the group of players.

"It was a bad day for Tipperary hurling all-round. I was never at a Tipp championship match in my life where the Tipp crowd was so outnumbered. It must have been three or four to one and once again highlighted the folly of not agreeing to a toss with Cork. Tipp were afraid of going to Páirc Uí Chaoimh but it turned into a home game for Cork anyway," he said.

Babs, who guided Tipperary to two All-Ireland senior hurling titles in 1989 and 1991, added that part of the reason for Tipperary fans staying away was down to the venue and how hard it was to reach Killarney. "But that wasn't a problem in 1987 and it wouldn't have been a problem if Tipp people had faith in the current set-up. To me the absence of Tipp people from Fitzgerald Stadium was a protest. There's been a clique running the county board for years - a group of people who are just making sure that they all get re-elected. None of the committee that picks the manager of the senior hurling team was ever a hurler.

"The county board weren't able to control the mid-Tipperary board at the start of the championship and now Tipp have had their shortest summer for five years. Tipp must realise that they're on a downward slope and the sooner that there's a shake-up in the county board, the better," he said.

Former West board chairman Séamus King brought the article to the attention of the county board at the monthly meeting in Sarsfields clubhouse and wondered if there was any comment in relation to it.

Chairman Donie Shanahan was clearly irked by the comments. "Yeah, the Sunday Times - it's an interesting paper alright," he said, a comment that raised chuckles from delegates.

"Babs was a great player for this county and a great manager, but the less said about these matters the better. I certainly wouldn't like to think that I am part of any clique and I think it is a slur on my many fine predecessors who have served this county with distinction down through the years to say that there were either," the Toomevara man said.

Former chairman Con Hogan said that Babs' comments were more like ones you read in other sports and would not normally be associated with the spirit of the GAA.

"Anyone who has anything to contribute or offer to the GAA in Tipperary has many avenues to do so and should not get into the business of insulting us," he said.

Meanwhile, former Wexford hurler George O'Connor has criticised the county board for playing a round of the senior football championship a fortnight before the county hurlers contest an All-Ireland semi-final.

A number of John Conran's side will be in action on the football front and O'Connor is far from happy.

"The demands are far greater physically in football with the result there is a greater risk of injuries.

"Football is a different game to hurling, the skills are different, physically it's much more demanding on the players.

"It's just not right to ask players to commit themselves to a full round of football fixtures just two weeks before their biggest hurling game of the year so far. The players have been away from the inter-county set-up this week preparing for the club hurling games, while the football schedule for next Saturday will take them away for another week," added O'Connor.

O'Connor pleads for a rethink on the football fixtures. "Should they go ahead it will leave the hurlers with a little over a week to get ready for the All-Ireland semi-final. That's just not on. The inter-county set-up is demanding a professional approach from amateurs. To meet these demands at both club and inter-county level is just not possible.

"Let's respect the position the team are in at the moment. Give them the respect they are due," demands O'Connor.

"I have no problem with this weekends hurling games for it will give the players match practice at a much slower pace than at inter-county level. They will be able to express their skills and play at a competitive level. But football fixtures two weeks before an All-Ireland hurling semi-final is not giving the players the respect they deserve."