Sheedy rallies GAA to ‘beef up’ games in face of rugby threat

TIPPERARY hurling boss Liam Sheedy yesterday warned GAA chiefs of the need ‘to beef up our game’ as Croke Park prepares to host the Heineken Cup semi-final between Munster and Leinster.

Sheedy, speaking yesterday at an Allianz NHL final press conference, made an impassioned plea for Association headquarters to host the league football and hurling deciders on the same day.

The Premier manager is convinced it will halt dwindling attendances and also improve the profile of gaelic games in the face of rugby’s growing popularity in this Grand Slam winning year.

He insisted: “National finals should be in Croke Park and I’d be very strong in my opinion. Croke Park is our stadium. It’s the GAA. It’s where our national finals should be played.”

Patrons have been slow to come through the gates, wherever the games are played, and Sheehy believes the GAA powerbrokers need to develop new marketing and promotional strategies as a matter of urgency.

“I don’t think the issue is about having 20,000 in there — the issue for the GAA is how are we going to get 50 or 60,000 in there,” he said ahead of Sunday’s Division One clash with Kilkenny at Semple Stadium.

“We need to really beef up our game. Munster and Leinster in rugby is great and sport in general is on the up. We need to make sure that the GAA does not start dropping its standards.

“The challenge is how can we get our top teams into the stadium and get the stands packed. And if that means we play our football and hurling together for League finals — or whatever we do — (we should) have a bumper day!”

Sheedy and Brian Cody, in Dublin yesterday with respective Wexford and Offaly bosses Colm Bonnar and Joe Dooley (Division Two finalists), also differed on the fundamental issue of Kilkenny’s pre-eminence.

With Cody expressing the view that ‘only the puck of a ball separates the two counties’ — and that on a given day either team is capable of beating the other — Sheedy remains adamant that the challenge for all the other teams is to match their high standards. Said Sheehy: “I have huge respect for Kilkenny and the way they are playing but the challenge for us all is to get up there.”

However Cody laughed off suggestions that his team are operating in a different stratosphere.

“Waterford beat us in the League, we scraped a win over Limerick, Dublin were definitely as good as us and we had a freak day against Tipperary in the first half and in the second half we were outscored by them. Galway was a different situation with their lack of preparation and a new team management and the fact that they were short a lot of regulars.

“So, the bar hasn’t moved! I’m forever saying it and it’s true. I was forever talking about Dublin over the last couple of years and all of a sudden they are supposed to be a good team. The same with the Leinster championship, it was supposed to be a poor championship. Now, it’s supposed to be a decent championship.

“When we go out and when we’re really competitive we are in with a chance of winning matches. If we’re the slightest bit off, if we are the slightest bit down, we are very, very beatable.

“So, you don’t have to jump too high to get over this bar.”

Meanwhile, Colm Bonnar (in charge of Wexford for the first time) and Joe Dooley both indicated that they would prefer not to be meeting close to their Leinster championship clash in a month’s time.

And, not unexpectedly, they each agreed that the real prize for winning the Division Two final on Sunday (it’s the curtain-raiser to the Tipp/Kilkenny game) will be a place in the premier grouping.

“You need to be up there to get competitive matches running through the Spring,’ said Dooley.

“This year we had a couple of competitive games in Division Two and we kind of made up for the balance with good challenge games. But, ideally for progress you need to be in Division One.”

Bonnar pointed out that in games against other opposition, the winning margin was in the region of 20 points.

“That does no good for Wexford and no good for the teams we were playing. Supporters don’t want to see that on either side. Really there were a few mismatches. An environment like that does not really challenge players. You are always trying to get them out of their comfort zone, but it’s very hard when they are winning by 15/20 points. So, what’s at stake — possibly even more so than the championship — is that both of us need to get to Division Two to develop young teams. And you can only do that by playing against the best!”