Ger Gilroy was joined by UCD lecturer and sports journalist Paul Rouse on OTB AM this morning, and the guest-host wasn't shy to drop a few hot-takes on the listeners' ears.
Word of warning, Galway fans may want to avert their eyes from the first bombshell.
Michael Donnellan
On the subject of the much-loved former Galway footballer Michael Donnellan, Rouse questioned why he garned so much praise as a player, noting his lack of consistency.
"Michael Donnellan is one of those players that's celebrated within a county, who's absolutely loved because of his dashing style of play, but I don't understand quite why he's rated as such a player".
Rouse agreed that Donnellan's quality was obvious, but referenced the other amazing players who were part of those Galway sides, and again referenced their ability to perform in every game, not just on big occassions.
"Niall Finnegan was an absolutely superb corner-forward. Ja Fallon and Padraig Joyce were the two best forwards on that team, Derek Savage was a brilliant corner-forward, unplayable on his day".
"He was a great player, and I loved watching him play, but if you were looking for five players that you knew would do it every day, I wouldn't put him on it"
"My question around him is how long did he do it for, how often did he do it, and was he even in the top three forwards in that Galway team?"
Paul Rouse questions why Michael Donnellan was so beloved by fans of @Galway_GAA @TribesmenGAA @Eir #LetsMakePossible pic.twitter.com/EI9ESw6hVY
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) April 17, 2018
The Gaelic Players Association
Rouse praised the work the GPA has done since its establishment in 1999, particularly the education schemes it's created for players, the help it's provided members with in terms of setting up businesses, and the work it's done with providing help in the realms of anti-gambling and mental health, but Rouse questioned why those things are only made available to county players and not their club equivalent.
"What I find extraordinary is why do inter-county players deserve that as against ordinary club players? Is the health of club players not important? Is what they contribute to the organisation not as important?".
"No inter-county player would ever make it without that network of volunteers who've trained them, who've lined the pitches, who do all of these things".
He also disagreed with the funding county players receive, as not only do high level club players put in as much effort as some of the counties in Division Three and Four, they
"What I utterly object to is this spurious divide between club and county. It was revealed brilliantly last year, just after the government gave grants to inter-county players. It's one thing for GAA to decide to give it's money to inter-county players, that the government should make a donation to inter-county players, should pay them cash, from the taxpayer, I've never understood the logic of it".
Championship vs Club Schedule
And the age old debate of club vs county scheduling raised its head again, with Rouse lamenting the notion that April would be left free for club games, as that was never going to be the case in his opinion.
"What does a club weekend mean? The idea that it's a club weekend because there's no county matches played on that weekend doesn't necessarily make it a club weekend, as we've seen".
"There are county teams all over the country who've trained through April. If practicality is the benchmark for how you make your decisions, how would you even envisage that April would be kept as a club month?"
He also criticised the belief people had in the system, as counties were always going to work around the idea of leaving April free for clubs, and claimed that the new fixture schedule was only in place to create more inter-county games once the summer rolled around.
"I think there was a genuine, and general, misconception about what was meant by a club month. It was almost positioned as if the players would leave their counties, cross the great river to play with their clubs, and just train with their clubs and the counties would shut down entirely for April".
"What is the redesign of the championship for? It's be grafted on and presented as a providing more time for clubs, but what it's really about is providing more competitive hurling and football matches during the summer".
