If east Galway hurling clubs are in revolt can the rest be far behind?

Inside Track with John McIntyre

That didn’t take long. Galway’s plans to revolutionise the club hurling championships has quickly run into strong headwinds in the east of the county. Ten clubs have already delivered an emphatic ‘no way’ verdict on the proposed restructuring of the local senior and intermediate title races.

With Galway GAA officials only attempting to impose a Congress motion restricting the number of senior and intermediate teams to 16, this is not something that has come from within – a scenario which is only fueling the fury of rural clubs in east Galway.

The bottom line is that if the restructuring of Galway club hurling goes ahead, it would mean eight clubs losing their senior status, the ending of Senior B, and eight current intermediate teams dropping to junior ranks, together with the creation of a new Premier Junior championship.

Unsurprisingly, it’s proving a bitter pill for clubs to swallow, and 10 of them in east Galway came together in opposition to the proposed changes. Emotions ran high at that meeting and the blunt message to come from it was: let Galway look after its own affairs.

Different speakers outlined the impact it would have on their clubs and Damien Howe of Meelick/Eyrecourt summed up the mood of many. “East Galway clubs must unite and stand together on this. They are already being impacted by dwindling numbers and this Croke Park rule will now have dire consequences for the region.

“In most instances with rural clubs the GAA pitch is the only outlet for connecting communities and if our future players are relegated to lower grade competition then we will see a landslide in standards, with little prospect of keeping our greatest asset, our players,” he said.

Shane Curley, a referee and Kilnadeema-Leitrim club delegate, echoed those sentiments. “We want to give our young people a reason to come home to east Galway. Can anybody say with confidence that our young players will come home from college at weekends to play for mid-table Intermediate clubs with no prospect of promotion?

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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