The hurling debate: Everyone needs to meet Willie Maher along the road to growing the game

By Michael McMullan

WILLIE Maher has one hell of a job on his hands. The GAA’s new Head of Hurling could divide himself in 100 different pieces and still be meeting himself coming backwards.

It’s the national game, yet very few counties are playing it at the top end.

There are plenty of clubs hurling away but there is so much potential for growth.

In terms of games in front of throngs of people, hurling is almost a minority sport. Sad, but true.

Getting to those who are missing out is Maher’s greatest challenge.

Last Saturday drove that home.

We had a Munster final that really sold the hurling. The purist will point to mistakes.

To the fan, we just want entertainment. A spectacle. We got that in spades.

The greatest team of recent times against a team they hammered out the same Ennis Road gate 20 days earlier.

This was different. Cork showed up. While the Rebels were wasteful, Darragh Fitzgibbon still had the cajónes to drill over a late 65 to force penalties.

Shane Kinsgston and Conor Lehane provided the extra-time ingredients that should’ve had Cork out the gap.

Cian Lynch’s hand was like a magnet in the first half. Kieran Joyce then began to take control.

The place was packed. And if we didn’t know it, RTÉ’s drone footage, high above a wedged arena, was a sight to behold.

Should it have gone to a replay? That depends who you are. If you are the occasional county fan, sure there are loadsa weekends with nothing on.

To the realist, the GAA doesn’t have any room. There is always another game and clubs deserve the respect of having their dedicated time too.

Without clubs, we don’t have what Cork and Limerick rolled out.

Down manager Ronan Sheehan, was there. He never forgets his Cork roots. Yet, he was up the road for Newry Shamrocks’ underage nursery the following morning.

There is always another game.

I was lucky enough to have a ticket for the 2014 Munster final, Cork’s win over Waterford. The last game in the old Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Magic. Total magic.

If the picture is so perfect, why has Willie Maher got a such a job on his hands?

Well, Munster is the jewel.

Darragh Fitzgibbon celebrates scoring Cork’s last gasp point in extra-time

If there was any doubt, we had Sunday to tell us again.

A Leinster final in a soulless Croke Park. The seagulls circling inside HQ said it all. A seagull would have been cut in two in Limerick the previous night.

The decision to hand out 20,000 free tickets to u-14s helped take the Leinster decider attendance to just under half full.

Imagine Kilkenny and Galway somewhere like Tullamore or Portlaoise. It would’ve been on a different planet.

Croke Park has outgrown a shrinking appetite for GAA. Outside of concerts, the All-Ireland football and hurling finals are the only day the house full sign comes out. Maybe the odd novel football semi-final.

That’s off the beaten track a bit. But important nonetheless. Bums on seats tell us where it is at. So does empty plastic and vacant concrete.

If we’re ruthless, there are eight teams. Munster’s big five. Kilkenny are in there too. They’d win their fair share of Munster titles. We have Galway and Dublin.

Offaly are showing signs of progress but we’ll reserve judgement on their golden generation. We hope they can progress. Hurling needs them, among others.

That’s why the football championship has appeal now. Dublin and Kerry are not the Daddies they once were.

You’ve Mayo getting chinned by Cavan. Derry not having won a game, were eight points up on Galway. Meath beating Dublin. Louth capturing everyone’s imagination.

We need a hurling world where Kildare can give a Kilkenny the shock of their lives. Carlow heading to Páirc Uí Chaoimh believing they can get a result.

Some might call it a pipedream. To others, it’s called growing the game.

We have problems like inconsistent refereeing. When is a throw ball actually a throw ball? How many steps is classed as ‘toooo looooonnnnngggg’.

It’s the world’s most skilful game. Players need hurls in their hands as early as possible. That’s where the new starter packs come in.

A long-term plan of giving any kid in Ireland the chance to play hurling from a young age as any other sport of pastime. That’s the baseline.

The most difficult thing is having someone in every nook and cranny to drive it with the passion that it needs.

As a Derry man, I think of Tom Magill. The late Thomas Cassidy and Liam Hinphey. Men who led. It’s no coincidence Kevin Lynch’s, Lavey and Sleacht Néill have hoovered up the most championships.

Derry’s problem is that Sleacht Néill have structures in place that will keep them at the top for as long as they want to be. The men who followed Thomas Cassidy have multiplied the efforts.

The middle ground needs cultivated too. The counties hoping to peek into the big time.

The fact the Christy Ring, Lory Meagher and Nickey Rackard Cups were presented at the recent Saturday triple header and the GAA President was otherwise engaged is a concern about the competitions’ level of importance.

Cavan hurled all year only for New York to be parachuted in at the semi-final stage. It might be hard to accommodate them in a group format, but that’s not the fault of the other teams in the Lory Meagher Cup.

Derry being in a fourth Christy Ring Cup final in five years and being assigned a referee taking charge of his first ever final. A small detail, yet massive.

Some of the decisions were questionable. Sean Cassidy and Paddy Kelly did very little wrong getting body contact in that was deemed a free. Cork and Limerick tore into each other like a day’s work. Good honest tough hurling.

It was like it was a different sport. There is a need to look hurling the same at the top, middle and bottom.

Counties are investing time, sweat, money and mental torture regardless of grade. They all deserve the same level of officiating.

Ronan Sheehan and Matt Conlan embrace after Down’s league win over Kildare

Counties – and clubs for that matter – must help themselves. Money isn’t always the answer. That’s why one Willie Maher isn’t enough.

If the GAA are serious about hurling, they need to fully dig into what it actually needs.

More time to grow.

Johnny McIntosh, in last week’s Gaelic Life column, suggested putting a Director of Hurling in Ulster’s universities and filter it down to the counties.

They could do worse than tap into the Down story. A pocket of clubs, most out on the Ards. Yet, they’ve squeezed every drop out of themselves.

The group has stuck together. Ronan Sheehan took in whatever outside help they needed and kept on trucking all the way to Division One.

The Kildare team they played in the league final have since added the Joe McDonagh Cup.

While growing clubs from scratch is important too, helping other counties to do what Down and Kildare have done has to be high up the chain.

Or look into Offaly. Not exactly a massive county but they put on free buses to get kids to watch their underage teams winning. The best advertising drive possible.

That’s why Antrim dropping out of the Leinster Championship is a blow. Back in the day, they were the leading Ulster county.

At club level, they’ve produced many top teams who have mixed with the best.

Michael McShane coming in as u-20 manager is a sign on ambition but their underage teams have not pushed on since the group of minors – under Terence McNaughton and Dominic McKinley – had them at the cutting edge in the mid-noughties.

‘Sambo’ and ‘Woody’ took them everywhere in search of games. And that brings us back to what’s always circled the hurling debate. It comes down to geography and access to quality challenge games.

Carlow can play in the Kilkenny leagues. We’ve had Derry teams playing in the Antrim leagues at underage. It’s no coincidence this has helped growth.

Perhaps this is the starting point. If there is money, then centralised hurling centres is the way to go. Subsidised travel and grub before a spin back for home. Games against teams that will challenge a team wanting to grow.

This column hasn’t got all the answers but the gulf needs narrowed. Watching the Munster final was as inspiring as seeing Derry come up short against London was devastating.

I can still see the pain in their eyes as they trudged down the Hogan Stand tunnel.

It’s the same national game. But it’s not in the health it needs to be in. Or deserves to be.

I’ve never met Willie Maher. He is part of hurling’s big plan. Just a part. Clubs, counties, Gaels…they have to meet him in the middle.