The United States is no country for young men, appears to be Wednesday’s message from the Kerry columnists.
In a coincidence of supersized proportions both Mike Quirke and Darragh Ó Sé are writing about trips to America – one welcome, one not so welcome.
Ó Sé’s Irish Times column is a refreshingly honest approach to the issue of money in the GAA, detailing a trip he recently took to New York to shake down the diaspora in aid of the new Kerry centre of excellence.
Laois might like to play Dublin in Portlaoise, but is that reason enough? No. https://t.co/TsUIFROOk5
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) May 17, 2016
Over in the Irish Examiner, Quirke is bemoaning the loss of intercounty players to summer sanctions in the United States – citing the example of Tipperary, who have lost three promising youngsters to the USA.
“They’ve lost three players with serious underage pedigree in Liam Casey, Jason Lonergan, and Kevin Fahey who all pulled the plug after the league. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be eligible for a summer sanction to the States.
“Their involvement with Liam Kearns would significantly strengthen their senior county squad in the Munster championship, but instead they will be competing for the North American one this summer. They know there’s no point investing all that time and effort with such little chance of reward.
“It’s hard to argue with their logic for opting out, but there’s no doubt it devalues the game and the competition as a whole when the best players are not lining out for each of their county teams. And Tipperary are only one of many weaker counties affected by this summer exodus.”
While Quirke is making the point that smaller counties – unable to compete with the big guns in the football championship – cannot stop their young stars from making the trip, Ó Sé is saying the big guns cannot afford not to send their old guard in order to keep up with the Kardashians Dubs (and each other).
“It’s a bit of fun and it’s no hardship to be sent to New York for the weekend. Make no mistake though, it’s running to stand still.
“The rat race at the top of the intercounty game now is ferocious. Everybody knows what everybody else has and what everybody else is doing. You can’t fall behind. You can’t let anybody think you’re falling behind.”
The idea of the Kerry, Donegal and Armagh shoving their aging All-Ireland winners on to Aer Lingus flights to the East Coast while Tipperary, Wexford and Leitrim try to convince their young bucks not to do the same gives you some idea of the inequalities that exist in the game.
They are not new inequalities, they have always been there, but as the planet gets smaller and transatlantic travel gets cheaper a battle that would previously have been played out within county borders has now become intercontinental.
The GAA predict more than 3,000 players will head west for a summer of American football and hurling. The numbers making the same trip on fundraising missions will be smaller but no less significant.
