Camogie Congress Decision makes no sense.
By Noel Dundon (Tipperary Media)
Things can only get better.
Well, one would hope so anyway, especially when it comes to the exploits of the Tipperary senior footballers.
In last weeks column, while previewing the first round of the Munster senior football championship, I expressed the view that Tipperary were in serious danger as they traveled south to Fraher Field, Dungarvan for the quarter final tie. Unfortunately, those warnings proved to be telling and the defeat is one which really hurts.
One would have thought that there would be a big bounce in Tipperary at the beginning of the championship. Granted the league campaign had been less than impressive but championship is different gravy and most people expected there to be a more energy infused Premier side in Fraher Field. But, we didn’t get it and as football loyalists trudged home from Dungarvan with their tails between their legs, they surely wondered how it can have come to this.
The real truth here is that Tipperary have to press the re-set button and begin from the bottom of the hill – that is what Paul Kelly and his management team have been doing, but even they will have been surprised by the steep climb facing them. Tipperary can now be regarded as the weakest team in Munster – no arguments needed. That’s a pretty difficult place to be and we are perhaps at our lowest ebb in medium term memory with little prospect of improving the situation in the short term.
So, what’s to do? Well, for starters we have to suck it up; take it on the chin; congratulate Waterford on what was a very significant victory for them; and get back on the horse. To be fair, the players are working really hard and their training has been quite good. But, they are not bringing their training form to the field of play and that is the big problem.
The only positive to be gleaned from the campaign so far is that so many new players have been blooded. But, those players have to take on responsibility now for lifting Tipperary from the doldrums – they have to do all in their power to restore some pride and faith in the code in the Premier County. And, they have to do it rather quickly. There is surely too much work going on behind the scenes in Tipperary football for this scenario to be our lot.
League Final gave us an insight
A brilliant contest in the Allianz National Hurling League Final at FBD Semple Stadium has given us some insight – as if we needed it – as to what is required to compete with the top teams in the code. Clare and Kilkenny really at it and they served up a hell of a battle, even if the hurling was not exactly top drawer stuff – the conditions certainly contributed to this.
Would Tipperary have had the capability of getting to the pitch and tempo reached by Clare and Kilkenny? We would like to think so but could we have sustained it? Our form so far this season would suggest that we could certainly hit the heights, but maintaining it for seventy minutes, could be a different matter. That’s what the players will be trying to attain these weeks as the count down to the championship begins. With Limerick on the horizon, all focus has to be on that trip to TUS Gaelic Grounds. Win or lose that game, the performance and our form will be scrutinized in great detail to check out our championship prospects and bona fidas.
Camogie Congress skirts the issue
The Camogie Congress’ decision to not adopt Tipperary’s motion on allowing players to wear shorts rather than skorts; or at least allowing them as an alternative, makes no sense at all in this day and age. The vast majority of players wear shorts when training but they are then forced to wear skorts for matches – why?
It seems that delegates at Congress feel that skorts still have a place in the modern day game – maybe they are right, maybe they do. But surely, the right thing would be to allow players to have the choice. The vast majority of players, by the way, think that shorts are the way to go, just as they are in the ladies football code. Skorts are past their sell-by-date and the sooner the camogie powers that be realise this and move towards a new era, the better as far as most players are concerned.
Perhaps the whole integration process between GAA, Camogie and Ladies Football will see a different attitude – a more modern approach to a game. Time will tell.
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