So unfair what the Wicklow hurlers went through last night

Niall McIntyre

Just when you think we’re getting places.

You hear the horror stories of the club footballers in Waterford still not having their under-21 or senior championships for 2017 yet complete. You hear about Mayo and Roscommon being forced into playing a meaningless dead rubber in the Connacht FBD League midway through their National League campaign. You hear about the footballers in Tipperary playing their divisional final months after the county final was played.

Not one bit fair https://t.co/xpilezt0GM

— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) January 15, 2018

Then you hear about the Wicklow hurlers. The Wicklow hurlers were knocked out of the Walsh Cup recently so their focus is now firmly on their National League campaign.

They organised a challenge match with Meath in the Royal County’s centre of excellence on Tuesday night to help fine-tune their preparations.

Wicklow hurler Enda Donohoe filled us in on the sorry scenes that transpired.

At 4.00 on Tuesday, the Wicklow men were sure the game would be called off. They’d heard the forecast for snow all over the country. They’d seen the dull skies, they were warned about the treacherous road conditions.

But when they contacted Meath around 4.30 on Tuesday, they were told, to their surprise, that the game would go ahead. The pitch was playable, according to Meath representatives.

No ordinary weather but an ordinary GAA night as Meath’s hurlers brave the elements in Dungany #gaa pic.twitter.com/Kko5fa9UA9

— Michael Verney (@mlverney) January 16, 2018

“We saw the forecasts of snow and thought it would have been called off. We rang before we left for Meath to see if the match was still going ahead and they said it was. We left at 4.50 to get there on time,” said Donohoe.

“One of the lads is in college in DCU and he was doing his exams this week. He ruined his alloy on the way to the game, because of the slippy roads, and this will be very expensive to replace. Other lads would have had to leave work early, we were supposed to be there at 7:15 and the centre of excellence would definitely be a long trek for a good few of our lads.”

The car journey to Meath took ninety minutes. Ninety minutes of tricky driving because of the slippy roads.

“We didn’t arrive until 7:40 because of the bad weather. We could see it getting worse and worse. But we eventually got to the centre of excellence with a few skids and slips on the road along the way,” he said.

This was the view from their cars.

The Wicklow team were togged out, ready to brave the elements.

“Then, when we got there, we found out the game was called off just minutes before hand. The pitches were covered in snow and it looked like a lot of snow had fallen throughout the day. So it could’ve easily been called off earlier, we weren’t home until 11.15,” he said.

Seven/eight hours out of their days, and for what?

And then, ten minutes later, the Meath hurlers were out training on the pitch.

“They were wasting their time training on it,” said Donohoe.