Those press nights are a complete waste of time.
Hyping up the opposition, âlook, if we perform on the day hopefully we wonât be far awayâ, some more hyping up of the opposition and injury updates that you canât take at face value.
No wonder players generally donât give journalists the steam off their piss.
Thatâs the point.
That stuff should make up part of the constant hum that keeps a sport in the public eye.
âConnacht have announced that Finlay Bealham has signed a new contract that will keep him at the province until 2025âŠâ
âLeinster welcome back Adam Byrne, Noel Reid and Max Deegan for tonightâs URC clash against Zebre at the RDSâŠâ
Any county board PRO worth his salt can rustle up a mickey mouse media night in 24 hours.
They didnt want to.
But there needs to be more Open Nights to allow supporters especially young people in to watch training/meet the players.
There is a total disconnect there compared to 10 years ago even.
Those media nights are harmless enough but itâs no harm really to have a few quotes about injuries etc in the run up to a game.
Intercounty managers need their wings clipped. They are the start and end of the problem.
In the halcyon days you could be in Killarney on holidays and randomly walk straight into a 15 v 15 game at Fitzgerald Stadium with the OâSeâs, Galvin, Star, Cooper and OâSullivan in their pomp.
Donegal ruined it.
Define hype or buzz though. How would you see hype or buzz around a gaa match in the past manifesting itself outside of the counties themselves?
The quality of and the combinations the pundits isnt helping.
2 of Loughnane, Cyril and Dalo should always be on to bring through (and water down the overly statistical and system based inclinations of Derek and Donal Og).
People want to hear about the great players.
I dont mind Donal Og. I actually think he is bery good but his strengths arenât being showcased.
Itâs fairly easy to decipher when thereâs a genuine buzz about a match. The amount of discussion, the tone of the discussion, the expectation you feel yourself about a particular match not involving your county is likely to be replicated in individuals across the country.
The proof of the pudding almost always comes in the size of the crowd that turns up.
Galway v Armagh unmistakeably had a buzz about it beforehand.
So too Limerick v Clare and Derry v Donegal.
Kerry v Mayo less so because most people thought Mayo were a spent force in a way which was not the case in 2014 and 2017.
Armagh and Derry have been box office this year because they are proper football counties rising suddenly out of the doldrums. Galway are now beginning to pick up a similar buzz.
Limerick v Clare had a buzz about it beforehand for several reasons - i) it was a local rivalry which hadnât happened in a Munster final for 27 years, ii) it came off the back of a fiercely contested round robin match and there was a real expectation that Clare could challenge Limerick, iii) it was in Thurles.
In hurling Galway and Kilkenny are now box office poison. Galway are perceived as being stale and on a downward trajectory. The footballers have now assumed top dog status in the county. Kilkenny are perceived in the same way Stephen Hendry was seven or eight years after he stopped winning world titles, except less likeable and more boring.
Some pairings just donât set the pulses racing. Kilkenny v Clare is one of those. Kilkenny v Clare matches have historically not been good matches.
Limerick v Galway is another, especially now. There is a perception that these semi-finals will be played out in front a half empty Croke Park, so itâs likely to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Imagine GAA press nights were like boxing press nights
Cody walking in with no top on and making a bicep pose
Weâre going to smoke these useless Clare cunts. They wouldnât hurl soup to ducks.
Cody and Shefflin already did the stare down to be fair
Seemed to be very big crowds at the divisional finals over the weekend in Tipp. 2,700 at the south senior final apparently. Great to see
Football Paul and Robert Byrne had a great divisional victory with Portroe by the looks of it.
Strong stuff from the great Cork journalist and raconteur John Arnold on Liveline today on this very topic. Well worth a listen back.
Hard to argue with anything he said.
Why?
Is he an orange man?
Some really well made points from TJ Reidâs father in law Sean De Brun too.
Anyone going by âDe BrĂșnâ must be a Norman
What?