It’s always the clubs who fall on the short straw and Monasterevan have had enough of it at this stage.
While the air-time will always go to inter-county players’ mistreatment, it’s the club players who are the worse off at the end of the day.
These are the lads who train from January all the way to December without a clue when they’re going to play a championship game. They don’t book holidays out of loyalty and then because of the county team’s progress they don’t kick or puck a ball in the summer months when the sun is shining.
There are plenty of days in the year to get their games in but then the county boards always seem to somehow mess it up. The Kildare county board have messed up big time this weekend.
Saturday is a proud day for Monasterevan GFC. The town club have three members on the Lilywhites under-20 panel heading to the Gaelic Grounds for their All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry.
Padraig Nash with a sublime solo run & score for @KildareGAA pic.twitter.com/S6aCy4GSV2
— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 6, 2018
The bunting is out in the North county Kildare club, the whole town will be out to support their three young heroes putting the club back on the map.
And then the Kildare county board go and fix a senior league fixture clashing with the All-Ireland last four clash. Just think about that for a second. The club is where it all started for Nash, O’Toole and Earley. Their club teammates are the lads who know them best and who care about their progress the most and if the Kildare county board had their way, these lads wouldn’t be there to see them at all.
And all of this without any dying urgency to play these League games.
Monastervan have stood up for what is right and they have told their county board that they will be in the Gaelic Grounds supporting their men and to hell with the county league fixture.
It isn’t right that they were compelled to take this action, but that’s the way it is now.
Monasterevan Gfc Club Statement. pic.twitter.com/ghlc58NP7C
— Mainistir EimhÃn CLG (@MonasterevanGAA) July 10, 2018
But Monasterevan aren’t the only club suffering. A County SFL clash between Moorefield and Sarsfields throws in around the same time as the minor’s replay with Wicklow.
Meanwhile, the preliminary rounds of the hurling championship are being ran off this week, that despite a number of under-21 hurlers having an All-Ireland quarter final on Saturday.
And it all just seems like one step forward, two steps back for the Kildare county board. Everything is rosy in their garden at the minute. On top of the under-20s’ successes, their minor footballers have coasted through Leinster while the seniors are flying high in the Super 8s. The Juniors won Leinster and the hurlers won the Christy Ring.
The Newbridge or Nowhere saga was a victory for them in some ways and they for once, seemed to have the county on their side. But then they go off and do something like this.
Where is the common sense in it all?
