Limerick manager ‘understands’ club celebrations
Galbally native, Limerick hurling boss and the Abbey School (formerly Abbey CBS), Tipperary Town principal John Kiely, has made an impassioned defence of recent GAA club celebrations.
During an online Zoom press conference to coincide with the upcoming Munster SHC game v Clare and the start of the county’s efforts to regain the All-Ireland title won so gloriously in 2018, he praised clubs for their efforts during Covid-19 and said he understood lapses.
His comments come after it emerged that a number of clubs held large scale celebrations/gatherings in recent weeks.
As the number of club players and people nationwide suffering Covid-19 infections significantly increased, last week the GAA declared that all club competitions were suspended.
“The bottom line is, if you are a club and you won a title for the first time in 40 or 50 years, for those seconds or minutes after the final whistle the logical part of your brain switches off and the emotional part of your brain is in full flow,” said the manager.
“People will obviously express their emotions when they are very emotional. People are far more emotional maybe now than they would have been outside of a Covid world. So I think when people have a little lapse after the final whistle in a county final, a minute or two after a county final, I can understand that.
“I have been there, I have been that club player who won a county title in the first time in the history of the club. I understand what that means for people in the parish, to a family, to a player and of course you can let your guard down after a minute or two in the circumstances.
“My heart goes out to clubs that haven't had their chance to finish their competitions and hopefully they will get the opportunity to do so in the next number of weeks or months,” he said.
CHAMPIONSHIP
John praised the clubs for the ‘ phenomenal job’ done during lockdown.
“They were getting prescriptions from pharmacies, giving out dinners, giving people lifts to the shop, whatever it was, there was incredible work done.
“They took a very responsible position. I think the way the 2,500 clubs with multiple teams across the spectrum, from U6 to adults, training nightly, more than they ever did, because of the need for outdoor activities.
“They did a phenomenal job, we came into a difficult phase, where the universities and third level institutions were reopening and I think that is where the bigger impact was, rather than any GAA matches that were held or any celebration that was held,” he added.
John said that he believes the All-Ireland championship will make it to Croke Park.
"I am actually very confident that the championship will go ahead,” he added.
“Maybe that is me being foolish but I just think so - barring a major outbreak of the virus and we all want to ensure that doesn’t happen, hurling or no hurling, because of the implications for society as a whole.
“Any of us don’t know what we are going to face when we get out of bed tomorrow morning these days. I could go for a cup of coffee at 11 and come back at 11.40 to be told the school is closing in three hours time as it was in March. That’s the world we live in at the moment - it changes very quickly,” he said.