Tipp stars join the Semple fun

ON Sunday in Croke Park Padraic Maher and Seamus Callanan will be central figures in the Tipperary team facing Dublin in the All-Ireland SHC semi-final, battling to face Kilkenny on the first Sunday in September.

Yesterday in Semple Stadium they were central figures again, but this time on a very different GAA occasion.

In one of many creative initiatives by the Coaching & Games Development arm of the Munster Council, Pat O’Shea (football) and Joey Carton (hurling), in consultation with Council vice-chairman Robert Frost, have come up with the ‘Munster Activity Days’ plan. It consists of four separate two-day events in four of the most storied venues in GAA history – Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork, Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney, the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick, and on Monday and Tuesday of this week the most renowned of them all, Semple Stadium in Thurles.

O’Shea explained: “The idea is to give the kids of the province theopportunity to play in our best stadia. We felt that here in Munster we’re fortunate to have a number of very historic venues and we probably don’t give kids enough of an opportunity to use them this initiative is our solution to that. It’s confined to club U12players, football in Killarney and Páirc Uí Chaoimh — which we’ve already done — then hurling in the Gaelic Grounds last week and in Semple this week. In total, and including our two days in Croke Park later this year, we’ll be catering for 5,000 players. It’s new, it’s novel, and it’s only a taster – the reaction has been great so far.”

“It’s costing a few bob,” Robert Frost admitted. “And these are hard times for everyone financially, but you have to spend money now, that’s the way it is, and we feel this is a good investment. The kids love it, you can see that yourself. The timing this week is perfect. Tipperary are in the All-Ireland semi-final this weekend, and we have Padraic Maher and Seamus Callanan with us for the two days acting as guides. In Killarney we had Marc Ó Sé, in Cork it was Donncha O’Connor and in Limerick it was Gavin O’Mahony. It’s great for the kids to meet their heroes in this kind of setting. Every club gets an hour on the pitch, then they’re taken on a guided tour of the stadium by the players – over to the Dome, to the VIP section, the dressing-rooms and stuff like that. It takes a lot of organising – we’d have about 20 people involved, and the Tipperary coaches under Joe Reddington, organise the games in Thurles.”

And so it was that in this, the most pressurised of weeks so far this season, Padraic Maher and Seamus Callanan were able to take a break from the slog and relax into a very informal setting. Like twin Pied Pipers they were as they led group after group on the various tours, as natural and at home with the kids as they will be in Croke Park this Sunday, bits of banter exchanged with lads from every county in Munster. For the kids it’s an unforgettable experience, one that will surely leave an indelible mark.

“They really look forward to it and they really enjoy it,” said former Kilkenny star Christy Heffernan, there with his son David, goalkeeper on the Passage East team from Waterford. “You have to get kids involved in sport. It is very important in their development, and the people here know what they’re doing.

“They’re very well organised, and what I like about the setup is that the kids get to play on the pitch here for a good hour. And that’s what kids want, games. They don’t want to train, they want games, games, games.

And they develop their skills that way.” And indeed, what better way?