Education sector could play role in Offaly GAA"s future

Firstly, this column would like to apologise in advance. Despite the exhortations from our Taoiseach that we don"t speak negatively about our beloved banks or our economy, your writer is forced to open with reference to the recession. It"s a deeply unpatriotic act and no forced closure of multi-billion financial institutions, should it result, is intended; however it"s too appropriate a comparison to pass up - so humblest apologies. As you may have noticed, there is a little thing called a recession currently happening in Ireland. It"s not particularly pleasant and there is widespread concern regarding whether or not our toothless and clawless Celtic Tiger will ever become ferocious again. Analysts provide various responses, ranging from 'it"s all going to be fine, now go buy a house in Naas from some poor unfortunate developer!' to the other extreme: 'We"re all doomed! Everyone stock up on beans, bottled water and shotguns and save yourselves!' It"s probably fair to say that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. The middle ground that this writer subscribes to, is that there will in time be an upturn and it is our responsibility as a nation to prepare ourselves for when this happens - by anticipating what useful and innovative services we can provide to the world and by educating ourselves, so that no matter what industry turns out to be the engine for future growth, we can be the oil required to make it happen. Ultimately, education is the key that will bring us out of this current predicament. For Offaly football and hurling, two former tigers going through a recession of their own, education is also the key to any future prosperity - a message that those charged with the advancement of Gaelic games in Offaly would do well to heed. In the short term, this column must confess to some disappointment at the actions of Joe Dooley last week. Two days before the Galway match he rang up Ger Cunningham and asked that Michael Verney, Brian Carroll and James Dempsey be released from the UL panel in order to allow them to be available to play with Offaly. While their presence undoubtedly strengthened the Offaly team, it was an odd decision as the nett effect was to restrict the number of Offaly hurlers who were exposed to inter-county hurling on that day. This would not be a huge issue if college teams were full to the brim with young Offaly talent, but sadly this is not the case. In the most recent round of pre-season competition, thirteen colleges took part in the McKenna, Walsh, O"Byrne, McGrath, Waterford Crystal cups and the FBD league. Between these thirteen colleges, they started 195 young footballers or hurlers - of which a mere four were from this county. (Niall Darby - GMIT football, Stephen Lonergan - UL football, and Alan Egan and Dylan Hayden, both UL hurling). This summer Joe Dooley is preparing for a championship battle with Wexford, with both counties" preparations likely to be hampered as a result of spending the spring hurling in division two. With this in mind, it was notable how Colm Bonnar was quite happy to allow several of his hurlers play for UCD last weekend, no doubt conscious of how few opportunities his players will have to play good competitive inter-county hurling between now and the summer. By allowing Dempsey, Verney and Carroll to play with UL, Joe Dooley could have given three other hurlers a chance to play against a strong team, while the students would hardly lost out by testing their skills against Tipperary. Indeed if the three young men had been available to Ger Cunningham, possibly the entire Offaly contingent of UL could now be preparing for a Waterford Crystal Cup final and thus stand to benefit from another competitive outing. Fitzgibbon and Sigerson Cup competition are arguably the closest thing to inter-county championship that is to be found all season - and that includes National League. Without a college within the county"s boundaries, Offaly players are often poorly represented in these championships and it makes little or no sense to impinge on any young player"s college career, any more than it makes sense to reduce the amount of Offaly players who will see inter-county action on a given weekend. In the long term, schools GAA is also a breeding ground where Offaly has underachieved somewhat in recent years, which is all the more reason why the current situation should be looked on as an opportunity for a smaller county to steal a march. Due to the ongoing recession (I won"t mention it any more Brian, I promise!) and the subsequent ban on substitution for teachers who are absent for any reason other than certified sick leave, schools are essentially unable to free up teachers to take teams either for training or to matches within school hours. This will have a severe knock on effect all across the country and has already been widely flagged up by several significant figures, including Colm O"Rourke, principal of St. Patrick"s Classical School in Navan as well as a GAA commentator in the national media. Many schools will feel the effect of this cutback- so it is for those within the county board to decide if Offaly schools are to be left sort this out for themselves, or whether they will step in and provide the county"s youngsters with a competitive advantage. We have a country riddled with increasing unemployment, several inter-county stars unsure of their future and schools crying out for a helping hand to allow them to keep alive their sporting traditions - ingredients that surely could be blended into a positive outcome. When so much money is being wasted on paid managers and consultants, it will be nothing short of negligent if none of our young players are offered the opportunity to take up full-time work as GAA trainers within schools. Neither rugby nor soccer has the wherewithal to match this level of input, meaning that this presents a golden opportunity to solidify the position of Gaelic games as the primary sporting pursuit of the young people of this county. Patriotism is found in many places, but not always in those who talk about it. We have been told that it is unpatriotic to speak of this recession - but how are we to deal with it otherwise? For Offaly GAA, this recession has opened a door. Hiding our head in our hands and hoping that 'market forces' will make us better simply won"t do the trick - here"s hoping that we figure out how to walk through it ourselves.