Take us as we are or not at all.
The Galway hurlers are fed up with the terms of their tenancy in Leinster and want things to change, or they’re off.
That is the basic summation of the Liam Mellows motion passed at the county convention on Monday night, which will now be brought to Congress in Croke Park in February.
Effectively Galway are demanding entry to the Leinster Championships for ALL their intercounty hurling teams, from minor to under-21 and junior.
As it stands only the senior and intermediate hurlers are competing in the province, with Leinster counties thus far resisting allowing Galway’s consistently excellent underage teams compete in their provincial competitions.
Galway have amassed as many minor All-Ireland titles (10) as Dublin, Wexford and Offaly combined. Their 10 U21 crowns are bettered only by Kilkenny and Cork. While they currently benefit from competing (or not) in the weak Connacht Championship, Leinster counties already dealing with Kilkenny are not keen on welcoming in another powerhouse.
Unanimous support from the floor for @liammellowsgaa Motion 1; @Galway_GAA @officialgaa @gbfmsports @SportRnaG @NewstalkSport @RTEgaa pic.twitter.com/ROQjCyLpQR
— Marún agus bán (@TribesmenGAA) December 12, 2016
The interesting development from Monday night is not what Galway are asking for but how they aim to go about getting it.
The Liam Mellows motion does not specifically mention Leinster but requests that Galway’s hurlers be allowed to participate fully in a “single provincial system and structure” and that the matter be brought before Congress under rule 3.40.
In other words, Galway are not too bothered whether they play in Munster or Leinster, as long as they are afforded the same rights as the other counties, including home fixtures and full membership for all intercounty teams.
Since joining Leinster in 2009 none of Galway’s 23 provincial matches have been played in a home venue.
To this end, Galway county board are now authorised to approach the Munster council directly but, also, they can circumnavigate the roadblock that is the provincial councils and taking their case directly to Congress.
If all avenues fail, Galway’s hurler may well return west of the Shannon to ‘compete’ in the Connacht hurling championship.
