Friday GAA Dispatch #3: Shadows, Shapes and Legacies
This week provided a good reminder about why we are so invested in our national sports, and why we must not forget the ties that bind us.
It began with tears, of joy and devastation. There was sing-songs in one dressing room, and deathly silence in the other. Anyone who spent time in Croke Park last Sunday, was met with a wave of emotion.
And it’ll end that way too, as Glen and St. Brigid’s, O’Loughlin Gaels and St. Thomas’ all go to war this coming Sunday.
Ciaran Brady and his Arva teammates became the first Cavan side in 72 years to win an All-Ireland in Croke Park, inscribing their small parish into the history books. I’m not sure they’ll ever stop celebrating, and rightly so.
Hours later, Cullyhanna captain Pearse Casey, raised the Intermediate All-Ireland to the skies, his teammates beneath him, and his father, Stephen, writhing in elation, behind him. Niamh Boyle, Digital Content Manager with the GAA captured a beautiful moment, and played it back to Casey, seconds later, as he descended the steps of the Hogan Stand. The video is a work of art - and perfectly illustrates what our games are about: People.
14 January 2024; St Patrick's Cullyhanna captain Pearse Casey lifts the cup after the All-Ireland Intermediate Club Championship final. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
People: those that made us what we are, and shaped how we do, what we do.
It was a day of ordinary people, achieving extraordinary things - a shared euphoria - it’s powerful stuff; and if that’s the dream that’s being sold, I’ve long been a loyal subscriber.
Selling it though, that’s a tricky business, and one that needs to be dealt with delicately.
That’s why the middle of this week got so interesting, and set us up for a few things that I’d like to get into this week on the GAA Dispatch.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
On Monday, TG4 launched the 22nd season of a true Irish dynasty. Laochra Gael. For the next two months, on Thursday nights, we’ll be treated to eight wonderfully produced stories. Our version of ESPN’s 30 for 30, which quite often - digs a little deeper. This season’s crew are a remarkable bunch, and whilst I don’t know the secret formula behind the selection committee's criteria, the terms and conditions are clear - to have an episode of Laochra Gael dedicated to your life, you’ve got to open up.
We learn about the things that shaped, and battered, and challenged each and every one of these sportspeople, before and after, they went on to achieve extraordinary things.
Tony Scullion spoke brilliantly about the importance of believing in yourself, and told me why he won’t forget 1993. Walking Sam Maguire up his lane at home, and placing it on his fathers knee - who, because of poor health, had never seen him play. Powerful stuff, especially when you know what Scullion came through, and what he went on to achieve in the game.
The power of his story cannot be measured by an All-Ireland medal, or All-Stars.
Tony Scullion, speaking to me for Off The Ball at the Laochra Gael launch - 15/01/24.
Kevin Hughes has won Sam twice with Tyrone, but he’s had to navigate more difficult days than anyone is due. He’s spoken brilliantly about it all, and his episode will dive deep into what he’s gone through, and how he’s come through it.
Lindsay Peat, the ultimate sportsperson - what fueled the fire that she played with, and the anger she often exhibited on the field of play. Without it, does she achieve what she did?
Power. Scullion. Peat. Griffin. Kerins. Critchley. Gaynor. Hughes.
Forget the honours, and the records, they all have messages to share, and each one of them have left their mark off the field.
What’s in a name? Tune into TG4 on Thursday nights, and you’ll learn all about them.
Or - you could do what Cork GAA did, and decide to disperse with one of the most iconic in the sport, as they considered selling the naming rights to the Pairc.
THE SHADOWS OF LEGACY
Let’s get a few things straight. Cork GAA will sell their stadium naming rights. They have to, and they’ve been actively working on it for years. The €30m debt that’s around their neck is not a laughing matter, and regardless of how we got here, it’s their job now to find ways to pay for it.
It would be a good idea for all parties involved to learn a thing or two from this debacle, and for other counties who are planning to dip their toes into these icy waters to take note. 16 counties have already walked this path. You’d imagine that eventually, the rest will follow. Nobody has yet dropped the name though.
Commercialising the GAA is a tricky game - and those with the power to do so, would be wise not to take for granted the foundations from which their platform was built.
I hope to dig into this some more for Off The Ball over the coming weeks.
Brands have always been desperate to harness the power of the games, and the connection people feel to them in this country - but power and connection, are easily diluted if taken for granted.
SuperValu and Cork GAA working together makes a lot of sense, for plenty of reasons - but it’s fair to say that the name SuperValu Pairc sticks in the craw, especially once you’re aware of O Chaoimh’s legacy, and influence.
It’s also fair to say that many who amplified the outcry on social media, had no real clue of the significance of Padraig O Chaoimh, before the Irish Examiner broke the story on Monday night.
Where can a happy medium be found? Could you get ahead of the blowback, and spark an engagement in our history that was clearly lacking beforehand.
Late last year, I had the pleasure of speaking to former Dublin Hurling manager Humphrey Kelleher about his own legacy, A Place To Play - The People and Stories behind 101 GAA Grounds, which was a decade long odyssey, where he travelled the country to produce a beautiful book.
It’s as much a book about the social history of this country, and the ordinary people who did extraordinary things to make sure our games survived and thrived, as it is about the grass that we play on. At the end of our chat, he urged people to document their own club grounds, and the legacies and stories that go with it. If they don’t protect their own history, who will?
Humphrey Kelleher, December ‘23, full interview available in the OTB GAA podcast feed
Is there something in what Humphrey has done, for the rest of us to look at and learn from? Could a portion of the investment into GAA stadium rights be set aside, to honour a legacy another way, or bring it to life in a more meaningful manner?
When money is on the table (and not under it) the value of it is scrutinised a lot more. Perhaps if SuperValu and Cork get back to the drawing board on this one, a solution can be found that keeps everyone happy.
Cork are in good hands with their CEO Kevin O’Donovan, and I spoke to him about the debt in December, where he made a very good point, ‘the best way of making this stadium a success is All-Ireland’s, and the best way to pay back the debt is winning All-Ireland’s’.
However, it’s 19 years since Cork last lifted Liam McCarthy, and 13 since they had their hands on Sam.
John Fogarty this week detailed that a decade ago, Cork GAA had estimated that their stadium naming rights would fetch €500,000 per-annum. Double what was on the table during the week.
At the time that report was drafted, Cork had won 18 All-Ireland titles across all four codes over the previous ten years. In the eight seasons since, they’ve added four - three in camogie and one in Ladies Football. The pressure is on in Rebel Country.
THE ROCK REDEMPTION
How apt was it, that Dean Rock retired, on a week where history, lineage and legacy was to the fore. This is a man who has it all, when it comes to scripting the perfect sports story.
He’s got the medals; eight Celtic Crosses, to be precise - and few will ever win more.
But it’s the path he took to get there that makes his story so endearing.
It’s the fact that in the shadow of his fathers heroics, with his destiny laid out before him, he went and achieved so much more than anyone could have dreamt.
This image, of Barney and Dean’s eerily similar strikes, from a Conor McKeon piece in the Evening Herald back in 2017 has been ingrained in my brain ever since - a sliver of magic.
Evening Herald, March 22nd, 2017 - source: @ConorMcKn on twitter.
It’s how Rock’s prodigious talent got knocked down so hard, so many times, that once he got his chance, his ravenous hunger to improve, and refusal to take his beating, had shaped him into a winning machine.
His story epitomises the rise of the Dublin Footballers - and I look forward to chatting to Paddy Andrews about it next Monday on the return of The Football Pod.
Whether it was bouncing back from those crushing injuries, or earning his place after multiple phone calls where he’d get dropped from the panel. It makes little sense that Dean Rock could sit on the bench in 2009, wait another six years to start his first league game, yet retire as the top-scorer in the sport, with eight All-Ireland medals rattling in his pockets.
Dean Rock’s story is Roy of the Rovers meets Rocky Balboa, it’s so much more than the medals and the records. It’s ripe for a Laochra Gael.
I really enjoyed piecing together 5 iconic moments from his career for Wednesday’s Off The Ball Breakfast. This is what I went for.
As you can tell, it was a busy week on the GAA front, on Thursday I was in the Dr. Mickey Loftus' room in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, as Mayo held a press day ahead of the return of the National Football League. You’d almost forget they won it last year. Their first game back is against Galway, in Salthill. Saucy. I’ll be covering that one for Off The Ball. Those two rarely fail to deliver on the entertainment front.
It was great to chat to both Kevin McStay, and his team captain Paddy Durcan at it, there’s a thirty minute podcast available for Off The Ball members now, and we got stuck into plenty.
The chat with Paddy ended on quite a personal note, where he discussed the reasons behind the fundraising efforts that the Durcan family go to every year, in aid of Lower Lakelands Respite Home - Western Care. He speaks powerfully about his eldest brother, and the care that he receives.
It’s obvious to see why he is the perfect fit to lead his county side again this season. Quite often though, we don’t know what it is that has shaped our sportspeople, or what they deal with off the field. I look forward to learning a little bit more, as the season goes on.
As we all know, it’s the biggest weekend of the year in the club calendar, as the 2023-24 campaign comes to a close on Sunday night, but this weekend is also an important one for two clubs close to my heart.
On Saturday night, January 20th, Meath Hill are hosting a superb fundraiser, with a gaggle of brilliant guests in the beautiful Cabra Castle Hotel. If you’re anyway local - and local means - Armagh, Cavan, Louth, Monaghan and Meath folk. It’d be well worth the spin over for a guaranteed night of entertainment. Paddy Barnes, Conor Mortimer, Paul Finlay, Sammy Lee, Orlaith Duff, Tommy Freeman and Stevie McDonnell will all be getting stuck into A Question of Sport and there’s a clatter of class prizes too.
Back in Cratloe, the GAA and Camogie clubs are having a social/dinner dance the same night, to ‘celebrate a momentous and successful year for both clubs’. - the craic will be mighty, and we’ll make sure to appreciate what we’ve achieved this year. You have to.
Thank you for reading, hopefully you’ll share and subscribe if you’re enjoying them, and we’ll see you here again. Have a great weekend, enjoy the GAA and don’t forget that The Football Pod returns for Season 4 on Monday, January 22nd.