This article is from page 67 of the 2011-10-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 67 JPG
ABOUT eight minutes into Sunday’s senior hurling final a puck out from Sixmilebridge goalkeeper Derek Fahy landed just beyond the half way line on the seated stand side of Cusack Park. The sliotar actually plugged into the soft turf like a golf ball would in very wet conditions. Half the ball was visible, the rest of it buried in the ground. In golf you get the option of picking the ball up and dropping it on a kind part of the surface. In hurling, you play as you lie until the referee is inevitably forced to whistle up.
The early ‘plugged ball’ drew gasps from the crowd. There would be more incidents of the ball almost disappearing into the sod, while referee Rory Hickey probably handled the sliotar more than any player. Throw-in followed throw-in as players battled with the elements and soft ground. It was hardly his fault, conditions were simply not conducive to hurling or any other sport on Sunday. All around the ground the same conversation was being had. Should the game have been played at all?
Our county hurling final is supposed to be the showpiece of the hurling year. However, Cusack Park in late October is not the time or the place for that. The intermediate final was thankfully moved to Clarecastle where both Eire Og and Ruan were at least able to hurl on a surface that is designed to cater for such weather. Cusack Park is not. Indeed after both Crusheen and the Bridge ‘warmed up’ the sections of the field where they had done their drills were visibly ‘ploughed up’. The crowd knew before a blow was struck in anger exactly what time of game we were in for. Attrition.
And that’s what we got. Crusheen won because they are the best team in Clare and have been for some time now. Their half backline display on Sunday was imperious and no matter what the conditions, it is clear that this is a serious team. Amazingly they still managed some patches of brilliant hurling during the hour. Their hunger and strength saw them through, giving us all the impression that if this game had been played on the surface of the moon, the result would have been the same.
But Sunday was unfair on Crusheen as well as Sixmilebridge. Neither side could do themselves justice and those that watched live on TG4 could be forgiven at times for thinking that this was the ploughing championships and not the hurling championships. The fact that Crusheen managed to shoot ten points was remarkable in the morass of a field they were forced to play on.
The solution? It doesn’t take a genius to see that the third week in October is far too late to playing a hurling final, in any code. Players lying idle for almost three months of the summer hurling season is ridiculous but apparently the will is not there to tackle this fixtures chaos nationally. The Kilkenny county final was also played on Sunday, one wonders would we have managed that had we won an All-Ireland final six weeks ago? We should have our county final played in September at the latest.
As for Cusack Park, traditionalists will tell you that it was always prone to bouts of softness when the heavy rains came. That may be so, but this is our county ground. Clarecastle can provide a pitch playable any day of the year, why can’t we have something similar in Cusack Park? With all the money the GAA have invested throughout the county, it is time to look elsewhere for big games this late in the year as Cusack Park clearly cannot cope. The moving of the intermediate final on Sunday morning certainly robbed The Park of further glamour and gate receipts as could be judged by the huge crowd that made their way to Clarecastle for the Eire Og/Ruan clash. God only knows what the Park would have looked like if that game had gone ahead before the senior final. Hoping/praying/ keeping your fingers crossed for a spectacular Autumn Sunday to allow a decent game of hurling to be played in a county final is not good enough. This is Ireland, it will rain. Make the decision – play it in September and stick to it.
Well done to Crusheen, hard luck to the Bridge. Good luck to whoever is cleaning the jerseys.