Ongoing skorts saga is absolutely ridiculous – but camogie is facing bigger issue that integration with GAA won't help

THE camogie skorts saga is totally nonsensical and I can't believe the story that's been made out of it this week.
Why this wasn't changed years ago baffles me and anyone with any bit of common sense will just let the players wear shorts.
Advertisement
2
Steering Committee Chairperson Mary McAleese speaking during the update on the integration process involving the Camogie Association, the GAA and LGFA
Credit: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
2
Babs Keating warned about an issue that could put integration under threat
Credit: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
It has taken player
protests
to make it happen and a special congress has
But at least the powers that be have listened. Hopefully delegates will vote accordingly and we can all move on from this absolutely ridiculous scenario.
On a wider note, Mary McAleese is a friend of mine but she should quit while she's ahead.
Advertisement
Read More on Camogie
The former President of
Ireland
is heading up the steering group on integration between the
But the ladies
football
and camogie organisations should absolutely stay on their own.
The skill level in camogie now is not at the level it was 25 years ago in my
opinion
, even though the rule changes around physical contact have improved games as a spectacle.
That Tipperary team that won five All-Irelands in six years between 1999 and 2004, or the Cork team that won so many before — they just seemed to hurl at a higher standard.
Advertisement
Most read in GAA Hurling
The skorts issue will be sorted now but that's a far bigger concern in my book.
Tipp haven't come near the heights of 20 years ago and the same can be said for
Wexford
, who made it three in a row in 2012 but have not prevailed since.
Dublin and Kilkenny camogie players wear shorts in protest against skorts
You can make the same point on ladies football too.
That excellent Cork team that won 11 All-Irelands from a possible 12 up until 2016 were exceptional and were all household names.
Advertisement
Dublin
followed that up with five All-Irelands under Mick Bohan but standards seem to have slipped a bit more recently.
My granddaughter
Lauren
Murtagh plays for
Kildare
.
But only five teams play in the senior Leinster
Championship
with four in Munster, three in Connacht and two in Ulster.
There's just a lot of catching-up to do and I'm not sure if joining forces with the GAA will help that in the long run.
Advertisement

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Extra.ie​

an hour ago

• Extra.ie​

Donal Óg questions hurling rule after controversial Dublin-Limerick incident

Donal Óg Cusack has questioned a controversial decision made during the Limerick and Dublin All Ireland quarter-final as he stated an offence from Dublin 'should have been a black card.' The Treaty City were the heavy favourites entering the game on Saturday evening at Croke Park, with many thinking a red card for Dublin captain Chris Crummey within the first 15 minutes was the game done and dusted. However, Limerick were unable to use the extra player to their advantage with two second-half goals within seconds of each other resulting in the Dubs pulling off a shock win. Donal Óg Cusack has questioned a controversial decision made during the Limerick and Dublin All Ireland quarter-final as he stated an offence from Dublin 'should have been a black card.' Pic: RTÉ Sport/ X Former Cork hurler Donal Óg was on commentating duties with RTÉ and, although he admitted the Dubs deserved their win, he was aggrieved by one decision that went in the capital's favour. The final minutes of the game saw Limerick centre-forward Cathal O'Neill breaking Dublin's line of defence only to be taken down. While the offence appeared to be a blatant black card offence, which would have seen a Dublin player sent off for ten minutes and a penalty to Limerick, a free was instead awarded. Limerick were unable to use the extra player to their advantage with two second-half goals within seconds of each other resulting in the Dubs pulling off a shock win against Limerick. Pic: INPHO/James Crombie 'What's the black card about?' Donal Óg questioned following the game, 'Why was it brought in? 'We talked a lot about the tackles before the game, there was no question here. Cathal O'Neill just loses his man. Dublin get drawn in. One of the mistakes that Burke made during the day, he wasn't conscious of what was behind him, Lynch doing what Lynch does so well and picks him. 'Then Dublin are scrambling to make the cover. No question, it should have been a black card.' 'It's the second time we have said it, why was the rule brought in at all then? Donal Óg reiterated his confusion as to why the rule was brought in if it isn't being used. Pic: RTÉ Sport/ X After 70 minutes of play, along with injury time, Dublin advanced into the semi-finals with a victory of 2-24 to 0-28. The boys in blue will now face Cork on Saturday, July 5 with the other semi-final between Kilkenny and Tipperary on Sunday, July 6. Both semi-finals will take place at Croke Park with teams vying for a spot in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Final scheduled for Sunday, July 20.

RTÉ News​

an hour ago

• RTÉ News​

'The Jacks are back': how the Dubs put their stamp on Gaelic football

Analysis: The swell in support for Kevin Heffernan's high flying Dubs in the 1970s signalled something significant and new for the GAA By 'The Jacks are back'. The legendary broadcaster Michael O'Hehir proclaimed as much in his All-Ireland final television match commentary, by which time The Memories, a popular act on the Irish showband circuit, had already rhapsodized about it on a 7-inch single released by Rex Records. The Likes of Heffo's Army by The Memories from 1974 It was 1974 and the 'the Jacks' in question were the Dublin Gaelic footballers – 'the Dubs' - who had emerged from relative obscurity to win that September's senior football title. 'From poverty to plenty in twelve short months', as one sports journalist put it. In the telling of Gaelic football's story, this would come to mark a defining moment in the sport's modernisation - and not just for the higher standards for strength and fitness that appeared to have been set. Rather, it marked the moment where Gaelic games, so long associated with the recreational rhythms of rural Ireland, acquired a distinctly urban accent and its spectator appeal began to extend to a cohort of city and suburban youth that had no previous relationship with the GAA. Former Dublin footballer and St. Vincent's clubman Kevin Heffernan spearheaded this breakthrough. He observed how his team had succeeded 'to a large degree' in replacing 'the names of English soccer stars in the minds of young footballing enthusiasts and by their example in Irish sporting life' to having 'contributed to maintaining the national identity in the city.' Variations on this observation abounded. There was a near consensus that the coming of the Dubs was a matter of profound significance not just for the GAA in the capital, but for the broader welfare of the Association as a whole. There are several reasons for this. For a start, the team's record in winning three All-Irelands in four years represented levels of success that were, at the time, unprecedented for a team populated by native Dubliners. The early development of the GAA in Dublin had been driven more by the city's rural migrants than by native Dubliners, and it was these who had founded many of Dublin's first GAA clubs (many centred around workplaces or occupations) and filled the ranks of the county's teams. They were sufficiently good to helping the county to an impressive 19 All-Ireland titles - 14 in football, five in hurling – by the time the GAA's Silver Jubilee was reached in 1934. There was no sustaining this success rate. Dublin's fortunes waned noticeably after 1925 when the GAA introduced a new rule that permitted players to play for either their county of birth or residence. Dublin county teams consequently drew from a shallower pool of players and fewer All-Irelands were won. Post 1925, indeed, Heffo's Dubs became the first Dublin team to enjoy a period of sustained success - and Jim Gavin's would be the next with the five-in-a-row. But how did Heffernan, aided by selectors Donal Colfer and Lorcan Redmond, do it? The answer is superficially simple: by gathering around him the right people and getting them to play in a way that suited them best. Heffernan stressed that he wanted the right type of players, as opposed to necessarily the best players. He wanted players with character; players who would commit fully to the vision he set out for them. Once he had that, he explained that the job of management was three-fold: (i) to improve their individual skill levels; (ii) to ensure that they each achieved maximum fitness and (iii) develop field tactics that made the most these attributes. From RTÉ Archives, highlights of 1977 All Ireland football semi-final between Dublin and Kerry with commentary from Michael O'Hehir This he did to a dramatic effect. The fast movement of players and the ball helped to create space and scoring opportunities. The fluidity it brought to the game led writer Ulick O'Connor to extol that it was 'like watching soccer in the air', a tribute that doubtless disturbed some GAA traditionalists. The Dubs' swashbuckling style did not sweep all before it, however. It met its match in a young Kerry team under the tutelage of Mick O'Dwyer which surprised many by winning the All-Ireland title in 1975 and surprised even more by going on to become one of the greatest teams of all time. Heffo's Dublin and O'Dwyer's Kerry met five times in five years in championship football during the 1970s in a rivalry that a captivated media played up as a clash of opposites: urban versus rural, city versus county, culchie versus jackeen. This was a form of stereotyping that only partly stood up to scrutiny. As journalist Mick Dunne observed of their 1975 All-Ireland final encounter, Kerry had only one farmer on their side, despite being standard-bearers for the Irish countryside, and Dublin counted market gardener Paddy Reilly from St. Margaret's in rural north Dublin amongst its ranks. There was also no shortage of so -called "townies" in the Kerry team, the difference being, Dunne pointed out, that 'Dublin city is so much bigger a town than Killarney or Tralee." That it certainly was, and the disparity in size became ever more pronounced throughout the 1970s. Indeed, the rapid spread of new suburban housing was such that it would end up tipping the capital's population over the one million mark for the first time by the close of the decade. The rise of 'the Dubs' coincided with this moment of major demographic development and was a gift to a GAA that was increasingly anxious about its place in an Irish society that was no longer predominantly rural-rooted. It was therefore notable that as support for the Dubs snowballed from 1974 onwards, the team tapped into a youth culture that, on big match days, turned Croke Park (and the Hill 16 terrace in particular) into a riot of colour and noise which bore resemblances to images that TV would have made familiar from cross-channel soccer stadiums. 'We got pages of Dublin stories, badges, scarves, tee-shirts, pop-songs and all the other things that go with being successful sports teams nowadays', journalist Eugene McGee noted in late 1974. 'But in Dublin's case, we got it all to a degree that the GAA had never before experienced.' If the story of the GAA's subsequent development in the capital owes more to patterns of club organisation and to well-resourced coaching and games development strategies, the swell in support for Heffo's Dubs still signalled something significant and new for the GAA. It culturally connected the association to a growing constituency of urban youth and inspired a support base that in subsequent decades would prove both a rich source of Croke Park spectacle and a driver of GAA revenues.

Irish Daily Mirror

2 hours ago

• Irish Daily Mirror

Even David Clifford can't save Kerry this weekend

And then there were eight. After a weekend where results went as expected, the one quarter-final we know for certain is that Kerry will face off against the All-Ireland champions, Armagh. Kerry, at times, looked to be cruising against Cavan. Then, at other times, especially in the second half they were really struggling as Cavan cut the gap to four points. David Clifford settled the nerves with his third goal of the day. The reality is unless he produces a masterclass next weekend, Kerry will be out of the Championship - and even that might not be enough. Injuries are certainly not helping their cause but this Kerry team do not look as good as they were in 2022 when they last won Sam. Diarmuid O'Connor going down straight from the throw-in with a shoulder injury he picked up in Round 3 of the League looks like a huge setback. It's a sign of the desperation that must have been there to get him back on the field. He must have been well off being right if he hurt it again so innocuously. The fact Paudie Clifford has only started two games since the League Final at the end of March, one of which he was sent off in and the other he came off before half time, is also an incredible blow. Only giving him 15 minutes at the weekend tells me he has no level of serious training done at all, a week out before their biggest game of the season. Paul Geaney, who was in great form, is another that is struggling. I'm also looking at guys like Tom O Sullivan, Jason Foley, Gavin White and Tadgh Morley at the back and their form is nowhere near what it was a few years ago. That's one of the biggest concerns I'd have if I was a Kerry supporter. Can these guys find their form in a week? It's a big ask. So that brings me back to David Clifford. Never have Kerry relied on him more coming into a big championship game than they do this weekend. His 3-7 on Saturday brings his championship total to 7-37. It's virtually impossible for them to beat Armagh without him shooting the lights out. People will point to Kerry's struggles in the qualifier run in 2009 and then how they exploded into life against Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter final. That was a Kerry team that contained greats like the Gooch, Declan and Darren O'Sullivan, Paul Galvin and Márc and Darragh O'Se. That team wasn't as reliant on one player as this one is on David Clifford. As for Armagh, this is a great test for them mentally. Heading into last year's All-Ireland semi-final, I think Armagh would have been hoping to beat Kerry, whereas now they will fully expect to do so. That, in itself, brings a different pressure as their supporters will have the same mindset. They will also be hoping that Barry McCambridge and Paddy Burns have recovered from injuries picked up against Galway as their full back line looked very shaky in the second half of that game. Armagh just seem to have the greater impetus and the better overall outfit. The chance to put Kerry out of the Championship two years in a row is an opportunity I don't think they will let slip. As was widely predicted, Down and Galway was the closest game of the weekend and was an absolute belter in the process. For the third game in a row Galway had to dig deep to stay alive in this year's championship. While they led for most of this game, Down asked serious questions, especially in the second half. When Conor Laverty reflects on this game he will point to missed opportunities. Out of 31 shots from play they only scored 17. Galway looked like they were on the ropes in the closing stages but again found a way to survive, which is the sign of a good team. Shane Walsh produced some moments of magic in the first half, but his injury, picked up before half-time certainly seemed to curtail him in the second half. Another worry for Pádraic Joyce is that the decision to change goalkeepers mid- championship doesn't seem to be working. Conor Flaherty's kickouts in the second half against the wind were poor at times and put his team under pressure. His positioning for Down's first goal seemed to be off and he left a gaping hole for John McGeough to aim for. But regardless, Pádraic Joyce will be delighted to be in the draw and the further they can go, the more belief they will gather from their gruelling run. Dublin survived a mini scare against Cork on Saturday in a game that showed us the new rules are not going to make every game a brilliant watch. Cork are one of the most conservative teams in possession. Every attack feels as if it's slow, choreographed and risk averse. To beat Dublin on Saturday I felt they would need to be a bit more off the cuff and goal hungry. Chris Og Jones did get a brilliant first half goal and had a glaring chance of another soon after. His hop before taking the shot allowed Cluxton the extra second he needed to narrow the angle and save it. Fast starts are becoming a hallmark of this Dublin team. For the second week in a row they found themselves four, nil up in a matter of minutes. I found Dessie Farrell's comments on Con O'Callaghan a bit strange. He didn't feel the game warranted his introduction, despite it being level coming down the stretch. A goal or a two pointer for Cork and the Dubs could have been out of the Championship. The fact they didn't even want to use O'Callaghan for 10 or 15 minutes tells me the overall picture of his fitness isn't good. The result of the weekend probably goes to Limerick, who are through to the Tailteann Cup Final against Kildare. Josh Ryan probably had the score of the weekend with an incredible strike from the ground, virtually on the side-line. It was an inspirational score for his team that was worth more than two points.