Hickey: Hurling cynics get less reward

It’s already five days since Seán Cavanagh dragged Conor McManus to the turf in Croke Park, but the tackle — helped by Joe Brolly’s TV rant — refuses to depart the stage as hurling prepares to reclaim top billing this coming weekend.

So it was that Limerick’s Seamus Hickey found himself discussing the big ball controversy in Dublin yesterday and, specifically, whether such levels of blatant cynicism were peculiar to football or whether hurling has been similarly infected.

“Compare the situation in hurling,” said Hickey at the launch of Liberty Insurance’s new GAA Club offer. “That foul is a very scoreable free. You bring up Nicky Quaid or one of your heavies, Shane Dowling, and that’s a very scoreable free, no matter how many lads you put in the goals.

“Unless you’re Michael Meehan [in football], you’re not hitting the back of the net with a 14-yard free. Fair enough we’re under the GAA but they’re different codes in a lot of ways.

“I’ve seen the game of football change over the last few years. I’m not playing at a high level of anything, but I’ve seen it at Sigerson level. I see a change to a much more defensive game. It’s part and parcel of the game at the moment.

“I just accept it. I’m not going to change my club’s philosophy on the game, I’m not going to change the county’s or the country’s philosophy on Gaelic games. I just go along with it. But, yeah, cynicism has to be tackled in football.

“How you do it I don’t know.”

So, it may well be an issue unique to football — at least in terms of its severity — but Brolly’s reaction to the Cavanagh/McManus incident on RTÉ on Saturday night has sparked a debate relevant to all inter-county players regardless of their code.

More than one observer, whether player or pundit, has remarked that Brolly’s message was worthwhile but that the manner of its delivery deflected the issue away from the practise to the person.

“There’s no room for it,” said Hickey. “I don’t see any room for one player being singled out and given out this negative attention that he gets, regardless of the player and, in this scenario, to be directed at a player the character of Seán Cavanagh.

“He’s a tremendous role model. Without getting into one particular incident, it’s been highlighted and it’s in the spotlight because of one person’s comments. A number of other incidents in the game which could have been talked up were ignored because of this. It comes down to, like, what he did.

“And that’s a clash between your head and your heart. Your head says the rules are the rules but your heart is your passion, that’s what drives you. To tell a fella to put a lid on his passion, it’s tough. I don’t agree with the singling out of a player, in any circumstances, the way Cavanagh has been.”

Meanwhile, Hickey was also in a position to provide an update on Kevin Downes (broken toe) and Hickey’s Murroe-Boher clubmate Sean Tobin (metatarsal/ligaments), Limerick’s two chief injury concerns leading into their All-Ireland semi-final against Clare on Sunday week.

“Yeah, the feedback is positive. We were disappointed to miss Seanie with the club on Friday night [against Bruree in the county championship] but the feedback is good. The club game came too quick for him. His recovery was kind of a four-week thing, the club game came within three so it was a pity.”

And Downes?

“Again, prognosis good, doing everything they are told. They are coming out of their protective boots this week and then they have a week then to prove themselves for a place on the team.”

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