Jerry Kiernan’s comments on Off The Ball regarding the fitness – or lack of fitness to be precise – of the country’s GAA players sparked outrage and debate.
On last Saturday’s Panel on Newstalk Sport, Eamon O’Hara – a 19 year veteran of Sligo GAA and a former All Star – told Ger Gilroy that the Olympian’s comments were “uneducated”. Mick O’Keefe, who played football with Dublin and soccer with Shamrock Rovers, then emphasised the different fitness requirements for athletics and football:
"What he is saying about athletes having a higher level of fitness is true," said O'Keefe. "But athletics is different because you have to be 110 per cent fit to compete. But you do not need some of the things a Gaelic footballer, soccer player or hurler needs which is touch, skill and strength. It is all about your body in athletics and swimming, while it's not in other sports so you don’t have to train as much. He is comparing two things that are not the same."
The top GAA players may inhabit an amateur structure but that does not mean their training regimes and commitment cannot be seen as professional in all but name.
"Fittest player he had ever seen"
A pertinent example that has gone down in legend is former Meath captain Graham Geraghty’s two week trial at Arsenal in the early 90s, where Gunners’ manager George Graham, physio Gary Lewin and the players were all impressed by the future All Ireland winner’s level of fitness in light of his amateur status.
Indeed a quote aimed at Geraghty, describing him as the “fittest player he had ever seen” has been attributed to Paul Merson, who was an England international at the time.
Miles away from North London, in south Leitrim there is a stretch of the N4 that bypasses the picturesque village of Dromod on the way to Carrick on Shannon.
This road cuts through the townland of Annaduff. Normally on an autumnal evening there are only headlights and starlight to guide the way – except for one spot.
To the left as you enter Annaduff on many a night, the floodlights illuminate a haze of perspiration above the club house as lads and ladies do the hard yards on the pitch below.
It is also the field where Leitrim and Mohill legend Philip McGuinness tragically suffered a fatal injury in 2010.
McGuinness was supremely fit, energetic, a long-time inter-county star and had also played in the 2001 Connacht International Rules team.
The young star worked on the western fringe of Mayo, but made the five hour round trip back to Mohill for training several times a week. Sacrifice does not begin to describe it and when you take the expense into account, the GAA grant system makes sense.
Yet during his criticism of the proposed two year deal between the Irish Sports Council, GAA and GPA for €900,000 worth of grants, Kiernan was quoted as saying:
“I always notice as well when they’re commenting on things they often talk about the sacrifices they make. You’ll never hear that among athletes, boxers, swimmers or people who do international running.”
Within a 30 mile radius of Annaduff, two 2012 Olympians emerged in Laura Reynolds and Colin Griffin. They have also made huge sacrifices to get where they are and any grants they receive are completely deserved.
Kiernan is well within his rights to seek increased funding for athletics, but there is no sense attacking the merits of people from other sports without really looking at examples of supreme fitness and dedication.
©INPHO/Cathal Noonan
©INPHO/Lorraine O'Sullivan
