That warm fuzzy feeling did not last very long.
Barely a week has passed since Tipperary made history with their dismantling of Galway in an All-Ireland football quarter-final but already the true worth of that achievement to the powers-that-be in Tipperary GAA is becoming clear.
That value? Not a lot. Not enough to postpone the quarter-final stages of a district intermediate hurling championship.
Hurling being the operative word there. The small ball code is now and and will forever be king in the Premier County. No number of All-Ireland football semi-finals will change that.
The hurlers’ campaign for a 27th Liam McCarthy continues in Croke Park on Sunday when they take on Leinster runners-up Galway in a replay of last year’s All-Ireland semi-final, but the run-up has been soured somewhat by a row surrounding the West IHC.
"You cannot quantify what celebrating a win like that does" – every GAA manager should learn from Liam Kearnshttps://t.co/ZviIqo2ao3 #GAA
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) August 2, 2016
Jackie Cahill of the42.ie is reporting that Rockwell Rovers, Golden-Kilfeacle, Arravale Rovers and Lattin-Cullen Gaels have been expelled from the competition and fined after refusing to fulfil their quarter-final fixtures.
The county board have taken a dim view of Liam Kearns’ football team’s collective decision to not participate in last weekend’s hurling club fixtures to allow themselves the opportunity to prepare as well as possible for their meeting with Mayo on August 21st.
What’s more, the semi-finals have already been fixed for August 20th – a day ahead of the Mayo match.
Granted, their clubs’ subsequent decision not to fulfill the fixtures without their intercounty players did fall outside the 13-day rule that Kearns’ could invoke ahead of an intercounty fixture but there are mitigating factors.
Like a first All-Ireland semi-final since 1931, against a side who have reached the last four for a sixth time running.
That is not the view the county board took however, deciding instead to punish the clubs of heroes like Josh Keane and Mark Hanley.
Keep in mind this is a county who replayed their 2014 county football on St Stephen’s Day due, in part, to the knock-on effects of the All-Ireland hurling final going to a replay.
Club players may be driven mad with frustration by the 13-day rule and the postponement of fixtures, but if it is good for the hurling goose it should be good for the football gander.
It also throws into sharp relief the public stance of the Tipperary county board towards their footballers, their official Twitter account posting a link on Monday to a column championing the cause of underdogs like Dundalk FC and the Tipperary footballers.
“Tipp’s problem, like Dundalk’s, is that they are overshadowed. In the case of the latter, it’s English football which monopolises the glamour and lures away the fans,” writes Eamonn Sweeney in the Sunday Independent.
“In the case of the former, it’s Tipperary hurling which too many people see as the only game in town. Keeping football going in a hurling county can pose the same kind of problem as keeping the League of Ireland alive in the world of Sky Super Sunday.”
'Tipp's footballer's problem, like Dundalk's, is that they are overshadowed' https://t.co/vIak0DsOgb
— Tipperary GAA (@TipperaryGAA) August 8, 2016
Kilkenny hurling (no fans of the big ball themselves) will play no more rounds of the club championship between Saturday’s hurling semi-final replay with Waterford should they qualify for the All-Ireland final on September 4th. Most successful counties protect their intercounty players at this time of the year as they prepare for the biggest game of the year.
Should the Tipperary footballers not be similarly protected ahead of the biggest game of the century?
Perhaps it is time for the Tipperary county board to practice what they preach.
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