I honestly think that in 50% of counties the tradition, base and interest simply isn’t there and never will be. Throwing money and resources into these areas would be futile, I’m afraid.
The starting point should be strengthening the game in the counties where the 3 factors above are already in place. Offaly, Laois, Carlow, Kerry, Antrim, Down, Derry, Meath & Westmeath should be targeted first in an effort to develop and have them more competitive. You could make a special case in one or two places that are showing green shoots (Kildare, the most obvious example)
Strengthening the base rather than widening it should be the first step.
Cork were the biggest drivers in getting the likes of the Lory Meagher and Christy Ring cups moved from being the curtain raisers to the all ireland semi finals as they felt it denied minors from traditional counties an opportunity to play in Croke Park
Pumping money into overseas development is throwing the baby out with the bathwater from a games development standpoint. Surely better spent widening it here first
I think Antrim and Kildare are two counties with the most untapped potential, but you are talking 15 to 20 years hard graft to get to the point of being competitive at Liam McCarthy level. It is a big gap to bridge
It is, of course, a huge gap to bridge and it may never be bridged but I think it’s the most reasonable starting point.
For example a million euros given to develop hurling in Kildare or Antrim would be better spent than giving two million to Longford or Leitrim to do likewise, in all fairness.
Whats in it to go bust your hole at county for Mayo though? They don’t put in any less effort than a top county in terms of nights trained and trying to do the right things. A day out in HQ and if you win a year of getting bate from pillar to post at the next level. It must be very disheartening
Murphy was poor in the semi final. His puckouts are so so… He does pull off some outrageous saves. I guess it depends on what your definition of a goal keeper is.
Whatever about that - you are never going to make any meaningful stride if you only have 120 adult hurlers in your county. Kilmacud Crokes would have more adult hurlers than a county of close to 150k.
Even if Mayo could double that to 12 teams over a decade they would make plenty of strides from their level they are at.
They do but they are sandwiched in between Kilkenny, Wexford and Waterford and would have areas which are hurling strongholds. I don’t know how much more there is to be got out of there as there is a total population of not much more than 50k which would limit their ceiling whatever structures and funding you would give them
I don’t think hurling will catch on outside it’s current catchment area. There’s only 7/8 hurling counties in the country, the five ones from Munster, Kilkenny, Galway and Wexford.
You could probably debate Galway, Cork and Wexford too as the hurling/football divide seems to go up and down a lot but hurling seems to get more of a public following in those counties.
The problem for Antrim is hurling is outside Belfast and there’s a very sparse Catholic population outside Belfast in Antrim. Association football, gaelic football and boxing are probably all more popular than hurling in Belfast.