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‘GAA should pull the plug on intercounty season’

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5 years ago

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Killarney Advertiser columnist Eamonn Fitzgerald says the GAA should postpone the intercounty football and hurling championships due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis

 

Call them off now. Better late than never.

I feel that the GAA at national level should call off all intercounty football and hurling games, foregoing the 2020 championships, and let the Sam Maguire and the McCarthy cups rest this year.

The fall-out from COVID-19 is far too serious, with the number of cases and, more sadly, deaths increasing daily. Last Saturday there were 1,000 cases reported. No country worldwide and, indeed, no person is immune to this deadly virus.

We have never seen anything like it before. I spoke to my oldest cousin in the Bronx as early as St Patrick’s Day and she said she never endured anything like this abnormality, even though she is 101 years old (and thankfully in great health) and went through several emergencies such as World War I and 9/11.

DILEMMA

I appreciate the dilemma for organisations such as the GAA, wishing that their games and competitions should go ahead, a godsend for active players, management teams and supporters. It is good for the mental health of all, irrespective of age.

On the initial re-opening, I was all in favour of going ahead with the club scene from juvenile right through to adult players, but to let 2020 be devoted exclusively for the club and colleges games and competitions. That would have provided an easily prepared road map for these competitions right up to December.

It would also facilitate the running of club competitions right up to the All-Ireland club stage. Colleges’ games could have been played up to All-Ireland final stage. Furthermore, local football games administrators would have far more weekends available to stage competitions. The East Kerry Board would relish that prospect, instead of trying to run off its many competitions too quickly. As it is the O’Donoghue Cup, its premier competition, will not be concluding until 2021.

We surely have learned one thing from COVID-19: the GAA should have separate seasons for club and intercounty. What a joy it was to see county players welcomed back home to train and play with the colleagues who grew up with them from under six. The elite players will eventually return to their clubs when they finish their intercounty careers – now they will be back where they should be.

PULL THE PLUG

I say that the GAA should pull the plug on the remaining two games of the NFL and the entire 2020 championships. Postpone them. I’m sure the Dubs would settle for a postponement, but not a cancellation. A record breaking six-in-a-row is too inviting.

Presently, the Fermanagh football team are in limbo, isolating after eight of their players tested positive for the virus. Do they forfeit the vital away match to Clare this weekend and their Ulster Championship fixture in a few weeks’ time? God forbid, what if players from glamorous teams such as Kerry and Dublin in football and Kilkenny in hurling are hit by the virus? Will the GAA then be forced to close down?

Postpone the 2020 intercounty competitions. Yes, be that clinical. Lives are at risk and there are many examples of precedents for this action. Let’s look at the early years of the All-Ireland senior football series for instance.

In the first year of the All-Ireland SFC, in 1887, Limerick beat Louth 1-4 to 0-3 in the All-Ireland final. No problem. In 1888, the championship went unfinished. The GAA committee travelled to the USA to promote the games abroad and raise money.

In 1903, Kerry won their first All-Ireland title and they played matches over three years to get there. After numerous delays and rematches, the third ‘home’ final against Kildare was eventually played in October 1905, and the overall championship was sealed when they defeated London in November.

The 1904 and 1905 finals were played in 1906, the 1906 final was played in 1907 and the 1907 final was played in 1908.

In 1910, Kerry refused to travel to Dublin for the final against Louth because the Great Western Railway (pre-dating CIE and Irish Rail) would not sell tickets to their supporters at reduced rates.

And the 1916 championship experienced several delays stemming from players’ involvement in revolutionary activities.

TOMORROW

Look at the dangers of Kerry travelling all the ways up to Monaghan today (Friday) individually by car, certainly not in close proximity by bus and the resultant cost incurring with travel expenses and hotels/meals. The virus is rampant in the six counties and Monaghan is very close to the border. So too is Donegal, a hot spot for COVID-19, and they are due to travel down to play Kerry in Tralee next week.

One week later, Kerry are away to Cork in the Munster Championship semi-final.

The All-Ireland final is fixed for December 20. If Kerry get there, how many supporters would be willing to travel in bad weather, shortened days and when everything suggests that the pandemic will still be with us as we prepare for year’s end?

The most likely scenario is that the final would be staged behind closed doors. The risks of carrying infection are too high a price to pay for staging these games. The U20 footballers’, whose All-Ireland semi-final v Galway is also tomorrow, and the hurler’s, who must play Antrim in their league final, face the same dilemma.

It is estimated that it would cost the GAA €18 million to stage their championships and the government has already pledged a nice sum to the GAA to run them off. Why incur that expense to later be asking a beleaguered government for a sizeable bailout?

We saw enough of that with the bailout of the FAI, emanating from the John Delaney rip-off and other unacceptable and unsustainable accounting practices by the association’s council.

I don’t agree with the government allowing games for elite players to continue. The recent Irish international soccer matches should not have gone ahead and the Irish team should not have been allowed to travel to another country, running the real risk of importing the virus. The damage was done on the outward airline journey to Bratislava. Players Connolly and Idah did not sit in their designated seats, and were less than two metres away from an FAI official who subsequently tested positive. Irish manager Stephen Kenny had to pull both players from his intended first 11.

The GAA caters for the biggest cohort of sports players and supporters in Ireland. Its members did a wonderful job in the first lockdown (as did other sporting and community organisations), serving communities so well. They can show the way in this second wave by pulling the plug on all games for the rest of 2020.

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Lakers aiming to secure first win at home to Malahide

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3 hours ago

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17 October 2025

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The Utility Trust St Paul’s Lakers will be hoping for a turn of fortunes this weekend after suffering a defeat in Week 2 of the 2025/26 National League season.

The club’s men’s team came up short in Jordanstown against the University of Ulster (91-70) having trailed by just four points heading into the final quarter. There were some positives – mainly the form of Steve Kelly, Sam Grant and Mark Sheehan – but head coach Luke O’Hea will be eager to pick up his first win of the Division 1 campaign at home to Malahide on Saturday. Tip-off at Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre is at 7.30pm.

Malahide have also lost both of their opening two matches, to Drogheda and Portlaoise.

Meanwhile, James Fleming’s women’s team maintained their 100% Super League record by beating the Panthers in Portlaoise on a scoreline of 62-72. The Killarney girls raced into an early lead but they had to weather a storm in the second half as the Panthers rallied admirably.

Maisie Burnham led the St Paul’s charge early doors with Lovisa Hevinder, Lorraine Scanlon and Leah McMahon making important contributions as the game wore on, but it was Tara Cousins who really made her mark in the fourth quarter, racking up 16 crucial points. Each one was significant as Paul’s tried to keep the Panthers at bay – in fact, the American guard registered her team’s final 10 points of the game to help secure a hard-fought 10-point victory.

“It was a good win on the road,” Hevinder told club PRO Enda Walshe. “Portlaoise is always a tough place to play and a difficult team to play against. I think we did a great job defensively, and at times we had really good flow on offence.”

Like their male counterparts, the St Paul’s women have a home game at Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre tomorrow. They host Munster rivals Fr Mathews with the tie tipping off at 4pm. Mathews are seeking their first win of the season.

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Killarney Athletic stalwart Donie does it for the love of the game

Published

10 hours ago

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17 October 2025

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Ahead of Killarney Athletic’s 60th anniversary, Adam Moynihan spoke to club stalwart and current chairman Donie Murphy about his passion for soccer (and the Blues)

Donie, Athletic have a big milestone coming up. Sixty years in existence. How and when did you first come to be involved with the club?

I joined the club in the 1974/75 season as an 18-year-old, so I have 50 years done. People think I didn’t play with anyone else but I joined from Woodlawn Rovers, which was a team made up of a group of friends who used to play down in Billy Doyle’s place at the back of Woodlawn. When that team disbanded, 90% of the boys joined Killarney Athletic. The rest is history, as they say. I didn’t move anywhere else after that.

What sort of footballer were you?

I would consider myself a whole-hearted player. I had a bit of pace. Not an awful lot of skill, but good in the air. I was committed and I expected much the same from everybody else. I played centre back all my career except for one game when I was coming back from injury and I was thrown up centre forward for the B team.

And? How did it go?

One game, one goal [laughs]. I had a 100% record.

Who were some of Athletic’s best players that you lined out with?

You had the likes of Brian McCarthy Senior, Denny Hayes, Pat Moynihan, Connie Doc, Pat Shea… You could throw Mikey Sullivan in there as well. He was a whole-hearted player.

What was the highlight of your playing career?

Well, we were runners-up and beaten finalists in a lot of things, but the one thing we did win was the Munster Junior Cup Kerry Area. It was a big thing at the time. We beat Tralee United 1-0. On the other end of the scale we had a relegation battle over in Castleisland. We had to win and we did, 1-0. We were mean enough in defence. Other than that, I played with the Kerry District League in the Oscar Traynor Cup for a couple of seasons, which was nice as well.

When did you hang up the boots?
I stopped playing with Athletic in 1990. But, of course, there was the Killarney Athletic 7-a-side then as well and I played in the over 35s for a few years after that.

You must have fond memories of the 7-a-side, going all the way back to the start in 1976?

The memories are great. Well, for the first tournament in 1976, Brian McCarthy refereed all the games and I was his sidekick. So I didn’t play, I was running the show while he was reffing. But I played with Killarney Hardware for many years alongside Connie Doc, Pat Shea, Seánie Shea… And DD Mulcahy and Dan Leary from Rathmore.

It would have been staged in the Áras Phádraig at the time. What was that like, for those who weren’t around back then?

Ah, it was unbelievable. We had 74 teams one year with every game being played on the one pitch. So it went on for nearly three months of the summer, because it had to. Everyone who was there saw every game. It is handier in Woodlawn, it takes half the time, but up in the Áras, you could see everything. You couldn’t replicate that atmosphere anywhere else. It was like a cauldron.

When did you first coach an underage team? Do you know how many teams you have trained down through the years?

I couldn’t tell you how many but I’ve been involved with a team every year since I started. I took a Community Games team in 1976 and I did that for a few years. And after that it was Killarney Athletic underage teams. I’m not training a team now but I am involved with the U5s and U6s. Now that is tough going [laughs].

So you’re coming up on 50 years of coaching underage teams? That’s a lot of players…

It’s a lot of players, and it’s a lot of names and faces to remember. Christmas in Killarney is a disaster. There are so many fellas away and they come back for Christmas and they’re saying, “Hey, Donie, how’re things?” I probably didn’t change a lot in the last 30 years, but they did!

What’s your coaching philosophy?

My philosophy is that communication is very important. Everybody should have a voice. I don’t like talking down to anybody. Once I can communicate my ideas to the kids and they buy into it, that’s the big thing. It’s fine going down training and doing the drills but sometimes they just need to be spoken to.

What is it about working with kids that you enjoy?

First of all, it’s the love of the game. But I do prefer to take – I won’t say underdogs – but maybe a B team, and see can I get them better than what they were. Rather than taking a team of stars who are going to be pretty good anyway, I like to bring on the next category of players. That’s what I measure myself against. Within a season, are we better against an opponent in the reverse fixture than we were the first time we played them? I like to see players that are maybe ‘middle of the road’ improving.

Do you find the kids easy or difficult to manage? Do many of them have long-term aspirations of playing professional football?

In general I’ve always found the kids to be great. Boys and girls. I think the girls listen a bit more than the boys [laughs]. Diarmuid O’Carroll and Brendan Moloney have shown that it is possible to go pro. And now Luke Doolan is with Kerry FC. He’s a man who might make it, and he came all the way up along through the ranks. So it is possible.

Do you watch a lot of soccer in your free time?

I do. My wife (Marie) will probably tell me I watch too much soccer. I’m an avid Spurs fan. But I do like to watch other sports as well to switch off.

How would you describe Killarney Athletic’s rivalry with Killarney Celtic?

In the early days it used to be a kind of friendly rivalry. But I think it’s more than friendship now! I would say it’s fierce. We both have so many teams, we’re playing each other at some age grade nearly every single weekend. You always want to win those games. But even going back to my playing days, if you never won another game, the Celtic game was the one you wanted to win. You have to win the derby game for bragging rights. Unfortunately they’ve have had a little bit more bragging rights than us lately but, you know yourself, the wheel might turn, hopefully.

How different is the soccer scene in Kerry today compared to when you first became involved?

There’s no comparison, really. It’s the pitches and the facilities that are the big thing. When I started playing, it was below in the Half Moon field (near Killarney House). It was a case of: jump the wall, put up the goals, line the pitch, play the game, take down the goals… Everything had to be put away. No dressing rooms or anything like that. But now with the facilities we have at the moment, if you haven’t everything in order for them, they’re not happy [laughs].

But the facilities and the all-weather training pitch help the club grow. We have a lot more teams now, going all down the ages, and obviously there’s a lot more coaching going on as well. The kids get into a system of playing, which is good.

Looking back over all your time at the club, what are your fondest Killarney Athletic memories?

For me it’s the people and the players you meet, and the friends you make. My involvement with Athletic has given me lifelong friends. That’s the best thing about it.

You must be looking forward to the club’s 60th celebration dinner?

I am. It’s a big night for the club and it’s a great opportunity to catch up with people you might not have met for a while. There will definitely be a bit of nostalgia. It’s also a great way for people to support the club. We’re developing a new pitch on a piece of land adjacent to our current pitch, so a percentage of ticket sales is going towards that project. Our 50th was a big celebration and a lot of things have happened since then. We have doubled in size membership-wise and girls now make up around 33% of the club. We’re hoping to go from strength to strength.

And, sadly, some of our club members have passed away since the last anniversary so they’ll be remembered on the night as well.

What are your hopes for the future of Killarney Athletic?

There are a lot of great people volunteering in the club so I don’t have any worries about the future. They will take the club onto the next level. Of course I hope we continue to win trophies, but most of all I hope the people involved, be they players or coaches or officers, will enjoy the experience. Everything else will follow after that.

The Killarney Athletic 60th Celebration Dinner takes place in the Gleneagle Hotel Ballroom on Friday, November 14 at 6.30pm. Tickets available via Audrey (087 4585697), Lisa (087 9365322) and Rose (087 6765064).

They can also be purchased from Colette at the Dromhall Hotel, Brian James, O’Neills and the Blackthorn.

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