Shane Dowling weighs in on Fenway, Wild Geese and Munster Hurling League

Limerick and Na Piarsaigh hurler Shane Dowling has said that there is no wrong answer when it comes to promoting games abroad versus developing hurling in more non-traditional counties.

The 2018 Wild Geese trophy saw Galway beat out Kilkenny 4-3 in a free-taking competition at Spotless Stadium in Sydney while Limerick will take on Wexford in the much maligned Fenway Hurling Classic in Boston this Sunday. GAA Hour host Colm Parkinson wrote in his column this week that Wexford, Limerick, Clare and Cork are all off to Boston to play a bastardised version of 11-a-side hurling while he also feels that the GAA are focused on sending two elite teams to Australia when the game needs promotion in counties like Laois, Westmeath and Carlow. Earlier this week Carlow's Paul Coady questioned where the funding for these trips were coming from, and while Dowling sympathises with him and his cause, he also argues that the game should be promoted abroad. https://twitter.com/Paul_Coady10/status/1061726399608877058

"There's no wrong answer," Dowling said at the launch of the AIB GAA Club championships. "I saw what the Carlow hurler Paul Coady said and you can't argue with what he said for a second. He's 100% right. At the same time we have something fantastic here in Ireland and I do think it should be broadcast to the world. "This is just brilliant what's going on and to have it in Ireland I suppose is what makes it unique but there's plenty of Irish people out abroad and through no fault of their own have to leave with work and whatever so I think that it's fair that they get to see what's going on as well. "But what point is great? Helping the weaker counties have a better standard over here or showing people abroad what we've got so there's no wrong answer. Both points have a valid case."

Dowling also raised the issue of player workload and that he has had very little time off given the success of Limerick and Na Piarsaigh over the last two years. He insisted that it's a good problem to have and a welcomed alternative to sitting around for a few months and added that if the end of the club season is pushed through until the end of January, then players will have to train over the December period when they should be resting, and if they end the season in December that means you have the All Ireland final in the middle of December and you get two weeks off and then you’re straight back in with an intercounty side. The commencement of the Munster Hurling League has not made this process any easier for prospective county players and former Cork dual star Jamie Wall said that a December 14 start date for the league was farcical. https://twitter.com/Jamwall7/status/1062306380294557697 Dowling said that the league can be useful in discovering and bringing along talent like Seamus Flanagan but that ultimately player workload needs to be considered in the scheduling.

"Listen John [Kiely] as manager might have plans there for whatever reason but especially for someone like me and the Na Piarsaigh boys, if we were beaten on Sunday now and asked to play winter league in December after not getting a break for two years...," Dowling added ahead of Na Piarsaigh's Munster Senior Hurling Club Championship final against Ballygunner on Sunday. "I think if there is a stipulation that was brought in that if any lad that played or was on a panel, I don't know, but the main thing here is giving fellas a break. If lads are playing that and they just want to use it as trials, absolutely, but I mean why judge a fella on trials on the 14th of December under lights on frosty evenings, what does a lad gain out of that? "The other side of that too is that Seamus Flanagan, if you asked someone in Limerick would he be starting in the summer, you wouldn't have thought [he would] but he played the winter league and hurled well. "He got his chance in the league and hurled well. He went the whole way so while I don't agree with it all you'd be surprised what you could find out of it. I just think they have to use it wisely is the key thing."

AIB is in their 28th season sponsoring the GAA Club Championship and will celebrate their 6th season sponsoring the Camogie Association. AIB is delighted to continue to support Senior, Junior and Intermediate Championships across football, hurling and camogie.