So the time has come for Padraic Davis to move on, having completed his three years as Longford manager. One of the great players of his time, he’s blessed with a brain too, and nobody could complain about his decision. Padraic felt, and I’m sure still feels, deeply about the Longford County team, and tried his best to make the players better.

But we’re living in a strange time, when the GAA has become almost out of date in it’s policy of persisting with the same old championship routine, year after year, whilst watching again and again the same cohort of teams being hammered by better prepared and better resourced opposition, while Croke Park seems oblivious to the reality.

Time and again, the GAA talks about “respect” and makes a great case for better protocols, while at the same time expecting ordinary county teams - that means the majority of county teams - to be able to play week after week with no regard whatsoever for recovery time.

I used go to Croke Park a lot, in summer almost every week, but I’ve lost my gra for the games, sadly, and what they do to young men who are pulled and dragged to pillar and post without real reason being applied. The current championship being a case in point.

Myself and a few of those who sit in the same seats often laugh at the displays of “respect” written on the signs etc., in the grounds, when in reality there is little respect for players being treated and seen as deserving of respect and proper recovery.

How many serious players in hurling and football are presently out injured, simply because they hadn’t time to recover from all the training necessary to prepare for the mad schedule of the championship?

Why on earth - in these times of raging pandemic - did Croke Park telescope the entire GAA championship into a few weeks?

Maybe because they are allowed to take such actions, perhaps.

To return to the top of this article, the fact that young players can now see the reality - propagated by Croke Park - that denies them proper treatment, and proper resources, while living in one of the majority of counties who can never dream of real success. What do they do then?

They elect to confine their sports activity to their clubs. Many good players don’t make themselves available for selection, and it takes a canny manager to convince them to tog out.

In Longford I think we have plenty of useful footballers, around most clubs, but not many will really fully commit to the county team because of their knowledge of the reality.

Of course everyone knows that to be a real county player with any chance of success you must train to the scale of the high bar. That takes more than merely interest.

Sadly - though not blaming any player here - that takes obsession to the cause. How many in Longford are constantly obsessed with football? Very few, is the reality.

Until the GAA makes some attempt to equalise the grades, this situation will remain the same. We’ll still have a Longford team that is interested but lacks too many of the fully committed. Amateur teams cannot compete with the professional players.

It’s simply not possible.

As long as the GAA favours the professionalism that is clearly allowed nowadays, and which may make more money…yet has lost sight of what the GAA is originally about……we cannot expect the Longford’s of this world to train as hard, or eat as specifically, or condition their bodies to the nth degree, or study the mental aspects of the game, or be provided with top quality conditioning experts, all of which eats up many many hours every single week of the year, and costs money. 

It’s simply too much to expect. As a former wonderful player said “football is now an obsession, not a hobby”

I’m not surprised that Padraic Davis announced his retirement. In fact he did well to complete the period that he undertook.

Personally I wish him well, and I for one, can see that he simply took reality into the equation. Once he did that, there was only one route to take.