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Don’t let London die
By Tony Tighe
With speculation surrounding London’s future participation in the National
League two of Connacht football’s stalwarts have leapt to the Exiles’
defence.
Eamonn O’Hara and Colin Regan have both called for London’s
continued inclusion in football’s second competition and that the
GAA must strive to keep Gaelic Games alive on foreign soil.
O’Hara, whose Sligo side open their Connacht title defence against
London on May 25, said: “It’s getting more difficult for them
but I think it’s vitally important they stick with it. With all
the ex-pats over there GAA is huge.
“I know it’s difficult for them geographically. It can be
very hard for players to get across the city for training. We don’t
actually realise it until we hear the logistics of it.
“It’s costly on teams to travel over and back but if London
didn’t play in the League they’d more than likely be looking
for challenge games before the Championship so then it’d still cost
them money to travel to Ireland or else for a team to travel to Ruislip.”
London’s League form in the National League this year has sparked
calls from within Croke Park to review their involvement. After the League
restructuring this year where London were grouped in Division Four with
teams of similar strength the GAA were expecting them to be at least able
to compete. Despite the changes they have so far failed to win any of
their opening four games and currently sit second-bottom with no points
and a minus 61 points difference.
However O’Hara feels that London should be not judged on their League
form but on their Championship performances where they have proven to
be tricky opponents for both Leitrim and Roscommon over the past couple
of years.
“Taking our own form into consideration I wouldn’t really
look into the League that much,” said O’Hara.
“I think a lot of the players over there don’t really care
for the League or until the Championship comes around. Then they’ll
come to their training sessions and try their best.
“When we travel over in two months time there’ll be a huge
interest in the game and a huge crowd as well. They’ve always pushed
teams that have gone over there and I doubt it’d be any different
this year.”
A lot of the frustration towards London from Croke Park stemmed from their
postponed fixture with Leitrim in the League last year where they were
unable to provide an alternative pitch to the waterlogged Ruislip. Yet
Regan — one of the players who travelled over — feels that
the furore surrounding the incident was blown out of proportion.
He said: “The situation last year was very frustrating but I think
it was handled badly. Any county can have a game postponed at the last
minute. It happened to us last month against Fermanagh where we had to
postpone the game an hour before throw in.
“Because of the situation in Ireland at the minute there isn’t
that many emigrating so it’s tough for them. We’ve played
London more times than most due to us playing in the Connacht Championship
and National League and it was always a pain for us because London would
feel they could beat us and would up their game. We’d travel there
knowing we were on a hiding to nothing.
“It was a good experience for us though as being overwhelming favourites
for a game was something we weren’t used and I’m sure it’s
the same for the teams down in Division Four.” |
