Taylor omitted from Sligo panel
The panel met last week in the Park Hotel in Sligo for the first time, and Taylor was not present, leading many to believe he had been dropped.
Kearns confirmed this, saying he believed the injuries Taylor has received over the past two years have badly stalled his development as a player.
“He’s been a great servant for Sligo," said Kearns, the recently installed successor to Peter Ford, “but his bad luck with injuries over the past couple of years have meant that he is no longer the Paul Taylor he used to be.”
Sligo’s preparations for the forthcoming season are in preliminary stages, and the manager has made it clear he is not closing the door on anyone yet. “This is only a training panel," he said.
But, with approximately 40 players selected, Taylor’s chances of a Sligo berth next season are quite low. When the rumour was last week put to Taylor, he offered no comment, except that he had not heard from the County management either way. He has since been uncontactable.
Taylor made his debut for Sligo in the 1994 Connacht Championship and was nominated for an Allstar three years later. He represented Connacht in the Railway Cup on a number of occasions.
He had a prolific scoring record and was regarded as a major part of the county team right up to last year.
Meanwhile, talk of Kilkenny’s recent dominance in hurling being bad for the game was dismissed as ‘balderdash’ by GAA President Sean Kelly when he presided at the medals presentation in Langton’s Hotel over the weekend.
Members of the Kilkenny senior, U21 and minor teams which won this year’s All-Ireland championships were honoured, along with the Intermediate side, which lost in their final to Cork.
Mr. Kelly said the higher standards were set ‘the better it was’ for the game. “I have no doubt it encourages other counties to try and reach that standard, just as happened after Kerry and Dublin dominated football in the seventies.”
Congratulating the senior team in particular on achieving the ‘double-double’ (League and All-Ireland titles in 2002 and 2003), Mr. Kelly said success generally could be attributed to the organisation of the game at grassroots level.
County Board Chairman Ned Quinn paid a special tribute to senior manager Brian Cody, saying that everything he had achieved as a player he had emulated as a manger.
“Five years in charge, five Leinster titles, three All-Irelands and two Leagues, shows what an outstanding contribution he has made to Kilkenny hurling,” he commented.
Complimenting D.J. Carey on his captaincy of the team, Mr Quinn described him as ‘probably the greatest hurler that has ever played the game.’
Mr. Quinn said that a time of escalating costs, the Board was all the grateful for the support of their main sponsor Glanbia, who had agreed to extend their ten-year involvement for a further two years.
And, in relation to the senior team’s upcoming holiday to Australia, he pointed out that Croke Park had contributed €80,000 towards the holiday fund. Additionally, one of the two Toyota cars they had been presented with for winning the League and championship had recently been raffled for €60,000.
“What I would say to the President is, ‘look after the players and everything else will fall into place!’”
Mr. Quinn said the Board also took pride in the fact that they had modernised Nowlan Park and that events in the stadium in the past year had earned €6m for the local economy. That was something the GAA did not always get credit for, he added.
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