McGonagle disagrees with Kiernan’s broadside

Ireland Olympic team manager Patsy McGonagle has rejected the assertions made against Gaelic games and the GAA by Jerry Kiernan.

McConagle, who has worked with the Donegal senior football team on two occasions as well as several clubs, said it was difficult for him to “share the same mindset” as former Olympian distance runner Kiernan towards the GAA.

Earlier this week, Kerry-born Kiernan launched another broadside against the Association, claiming the skill and fitness levels involved in Gaelic games were low and the organisation should not get any money from taxpayers.

He was speaking in reference to the Government’s €600,000 grant to the redevelopment of the London GAA grounds in Ruislip.

However, McGonagle said he completely backs that decision and furthermore, disagrees with Kiernan’s claim there is no standard applied to Gaelic games.

“As somebody who was involved in inter-county teams for five years and with teams that reached a league final and an All-Ireland semi-final, I couldn’t disagree more. I was closely involved with those teams and I admired the effort and the attitude of the guys with whom I worked and the skill level of many of them.

“I admired them to the point that had they not been Gaelic footballers I’m certain many of them would have been fine athletes,” he said before adding, “There are many skills involved in Gaelic football.”

McGonagle questioned the comparison drawn between Gaelic games and international athletics although he said he has applied a lot of what he has learned in GAA — “toughness, fortitude” — to his athletics coaching and mentoring.

“It’s like talking chalk and cheese. Gaelic football has changed dramatically in terms of the attitude, lifestyle and commitment. The game has embraced many aspects of other sports and that, most definitely, was led by what happened in Ulster. It’s got itself to a serious level at inter-county and indeed club level.

“Elite athletes, they’re at a different level again. Robert Heffernan is currently in camp in South Africa preparing for the World Championships and he’s put his life on hold. Every minute, every day is geared towards those championships. It’s just on a different level because that’s what the sport requires.

“The GAA has responded to the advances in sport, particularly in the last 10 to 12 years. When I came back to work with Brian McEniff in the early 2000s the training was completely different. so much so that to be credible I had to learn again.”

Having studied and worked in London, McGonagle has wholly endorsed the Government’s Ruislip grant.

“I know how important it is for London GAA. London has been good to Irish people and the GAA there brought so many Irish people together. We in Donegal would be particularly aware of that as Tír Chonaill Gaels are one of the leading clubs there. I would be very much in favour of that type of support.”

Meanwhile, GAA president Liam O’Neill opted not to engage in a war of words with Kiernan.

“We’d feel it’s a pity that sportsmen, at a time when sport is one of the only constants in Irish life, one of the things that hasn’t suffered during the downturn, that has given a huge uplift to the country, would look to denigrate any other sports people.”