God bless you guys.
God help us on Sunday
God helps those who help themselves.
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The resurrection of Galway football starts this Sunday, are you a believer?
You lot stopped Kildare fluking an All Ireland. Nothing you could do before or after that could stop me loving you. Its also the home of Scan, and Donnellan. I love you guys.
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A strong show of support here from the forums resident expert on all things football
I hope you gave Scan the correct pronunciation.
Oh god yea.
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The question is who can stand up to and beat the Dubs. I would say Tyrone could if they got tactics right, unlikely under Harte. Mayo might have one last go in them. Kerry a few years away. Hopefully we will give them a rattle Sunday.
Apart from apparently abandoning intercounty football does anyone know whatever became of Schan ?.
A terrific minor in fairness - up there with Beano in his pomp.
A bit like George Best, flamed our before his time.
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Bank Manager in the city , married with a flock of kids. Still heavily involved with Milltown.
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Galway’s (potential) best forward since Tobin.
A lethal finisher.
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Untouchable. A magician
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Everyone knows burning out at minor is far more memorable than going on kicking with the county seniors for 20 years. Hon Scan
That’s a melancholy read. Playing u21 championship at 14 is remarkable. Would it be allowed now?
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No.
You have to be at least in your first year minor to play, even at club level.
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Galway are great value +5 at 10/11. Dublin are not going great and with Galway’s blanket defence it will be low scoring.
Galway will need to stay disciplined though, unlike they did in Salthill, as a red on Sunday would mean a player missing the Mayo match. Dublin have Wicklow or Offaly in Championship so I’d say Philly etc will take his chances
Reborn Galway face Dublin on skewed financial playing field
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Friday, March 30, 2018
After a decade of suffering, Galway football supporters are beginning to believe again.
Galway manager, Kevin Walsh.
Reaching a first national football final since 2006 is seen locally as a spectacular achievement by manager Kevin Walsh. While Mayo on May 13 remains the focus, Galway will go to Croke Park Sunday looking to secure their first Division 1 league title since 1981.
In 2006, when we met Kerry at the Gaelic Grounds in our last Division 1 league final, we were overcome by a Darran O’Sullivan and Colm Cooper-inspired Kerry. But back then, Galway supporters still believed they were entitled to a seat at the top table.
The county still had many of the greats of the 1998 and 2001 All-Ireland wins such as Padraic Joyce, Michael Donnellan, and Declan Meehan, inspiring young players like myself who grew up watching these heroes at Croke Park.
But in 2018, we are in a new world. For Galway, a national final is new territory.
On the field of play, any sport is about the battle of equals playing by the same rules. As a player, the best feeling was winning a game knowing you had overcome a great opponent like Dublin, as we did in 2002 in an All-Ireland U21 final. But it’s hard to ignore the off-field advantages conferred on Dublin over the last decade.
In the period 2007-2017, Dublin received €16.6m in direct coaching assistance, €15.4m more than Cork, the next highest county, and €15.8m more than Galway (€784,077).
Connacht in its entirety collectively received €3.1m.
Most clubs across Dublin receive subsidies of around €15,000 to €20,000 towards the employment of club coaches, which in turn help clubs drive large membership incomes.
Should every county not get the same funding on a pro-rata basis?
Galway have seen firsthand the benefits a full-time coach brings to a club. Liam Mellows hurling club hired a full-time coach a few years back. This year they won their first county senior hurling title in 47 years. Mellows funded the coach themselves; they got little or no funding support from Croke Park. They are now the model that every club in Galway in hurling and football aspires to.
The Dublin coaching system is conducted in a professional and businesslike manner and they must be admired for this. They’ve always enjoyed population advantages but were never as dominant in football as they are today. Other counties must heed their coaching template. But if we did, would we get the financial support from Croke Park?
The Thomas Davis club in Dublin closed a land deal for a reported €4m in late 2017 and former All-Ireland champions, Ballyboden St Enda’s, have secured a similar deal in the past. These clubs must be commended for their financial savvy. But even clubs with bulging bank balances are still getting financial coaching support. Do they need it? Could this funding be better distributed?
Croke Park says they are taking action. In 2017, Dublin GAA received funding of €1,298,630, an 11% reduction on the previous year. At that rate, Dublin will be on an equal footing with other counties by 2023! This rate of change is far too slow.
For Galway, there are other, unique issues. From 2009 to 2017, the participation of the Galway hurlers in the Leinster Championship generated €3.47m in gate receipts.
The Leinster Council returned a paltry €130,000 to the Galway County Board.
Essentially, every team in Leinster has benefited financially from Galway’s participation, except Galway.
Galway fans have paid to see Galway hurlers playing in Croke Park, with most of our money going towards the capital and coaching development of every team in the competition, bar ourselves.
Thankfully, with the advent of the new round-robin Leinster Championship, Galway will now receive their fair financial share.
Separately, however, Galway GAA CEO John Hynes must manage the clubs of Galway in the financing of repayments to Croke Park on the €2.8m loan for the failed training centre development outside Athenry. Surely there could be leeway, a write-down on the capital owed to reflect the lost contributions to the county between 2009 to 2016?
Galway does not have access to even one floodlit 4G pitch or all-weather GAA pitch to host games or train.
In the bad weather last year, the Galway senior footballers spent weeks driving to Ballyhaunis in Mayo to train on the only full-sized football pitch in Connacht.
In Dublin, there are more than 20 such pitches — before we begin to discuss the recent Sports Capital allocations by the Department of Sport. Population imbalance alone does not explain this equality.
Dublin GAA is in a good place and the GAA needs the capital to be strong. But fairness is important too. Maybe a discussion through the forum of the Dail Committee for Sport would be the best way to resolve the equality issue.
*The author is a former Galway footballer and current director and owner of Money Maximising Advisors Ltd.
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