The Railway Cup competition, which generated enormous interest among followers of the GAA in the fifties and sixties, comes into focus again this weekend when the semi-finals and final of the hurling competition will be decided on Saturday and Sunday in Ballinasloe.
Munster, the holders, who are seeking their third trophy win in a row, will meet Connacht and Ulster will play Leinster in Saturday's semi-finals. For a considerable time now attempts have been made to regenerate the excitement which attended these matches when they attracted crowds of 40,000 or 50,000 and when the football and hurling finals were played in Croke Park in a double bill on St Patrick's Day.
As things stand at the moment it can be taken for granted that the capacity of the fine Ballinasloe stadium will not be put under any pressure this weekend, which is a pity. In spite of a dismissive attitude by the public, these games can always be relied upon to provide some excellent performances.
Several attempts to re-vamp the competition have failed and the widespread wisdom now is that this may be the competition's last hurrah.
It must also be admitted that the administrators of the games have not covered themselves in glory either. In spite of the fact that there are no National League matches in either hurling or football on this weekend, there is a very crowded fixture list.
Wexford's hurlers have a fixture against Waterford and Kilkenny are playing Cork. The secretary of the Leinster Council Michael Delaney also points out that there are many inter-firm matches on at the weekend as well as club matches.
"The fact of the mater is that there are too many other counter-attractions and it is difficult to understand what purpose the Railway Cup matches serve. It is a pity that this is the case, but that is the way things are and perhaps we should have another look at the situation. "It is costing the association quite a bit of money because the attendances do not cover the costs. At the same time many players are very proud to represent their provinces and money is not of any importance in this equation. The problem seems to be a lack of public interest," he said. The manager of the Ulster team, Sean McGuinness, is enthusiastic about the competition, however, and is very much in favour of its continuation.
"For a start the players enjoy it very much. They are not under great pressure and there is the bonus, particularly for Ulster players, of getting to play against the top players from the other provinces . "When I was a young lad there were two major days out for us. Those were St Patrick's Day for the Railway Cup matches at Croke Park and the first Sunday in September for the hurling final. "Our problem seems to be that we do not seem to know where to stick the competition. We were told that the National League was being changed so that we could get rid of winter hurling and now we don't seem to be able to find a date which is not already full as far as hurling is concerned. I believe that we should try to find a way to declare a closed weekend for the playing of these games and try to revive public interest" he said.
McGuinness points out that some years ago when Ulster played Munster the only Clare player in the Munster team was Anthony Daly. Clare have, in the meantime, come into a situation where every Clare player has a chance of being selected for Munster.
"Next weekend Darren McDermott from Donegal is included in the Ulster panel and that will be a big boost for him when he will get a chance of playing against the best hurlers in Leinster," McGuinness points out.
"Meeting new people and playing against people who are regarded as the best in the game is always a great pleasure. I believe that the GAA should put a greater effort into the Railway Cups because they represent an important way for promoting the game," he said.
He and his fellow selectors - Danny Murphy, Frank Dawson and Dominic McKinlay - have selected a starting line-up which will have eight Antrim and seven Down players with Martin Mallon from Down as the captain. Meanwhile the all-Galway Connacht side shows two changes from the team which saw duty when Galway beat Laois in the Oireachtas competition last weekend. Cathal Moore from Turloughmore replaces Geoff Lynskey at right-half back and Donal Moran from Athenry comes in at right-half forward for the injured Justin Campbell.
The Games Administrative Committee of the GAA met in Croke Park last night to look into the Dublin-Offaly NFL match in which Offaly's Finbar Cullen was injured. No statement was issued.Ulster (SH v Leinster): C Clarke (Down); S Baillie (Antrim), S Murray (Down), K McCambridge (Antrim); M Mallon (Down), P Coulter (Down), M Coulter (Down); J Connolly (Antrim), N Elliot (Antrim); G McGrattan (Down), B Coulter (Down), J Carson (Antrim); A Elliot (Antrim), G O'Kane (Antrim), N Sands (Down). SUBS: S Elliot (Antrim), J Elliott (Antrim), S P McKillop (Antrim), G Savage (Down), D McDermott (Donegal), J Hamill (Antrim), C McGuckian (Antrim), P McNaughton (Antrim). Connacht (SH v Munster): - All Galway - R Burke; G Kennedy, V Maher, B Keogh; C Moore, N Shaughnessy, P Hardiman; M Coleman, L Burke; D Moran, O Fahy, M Cullinane; R Gantley, J Rabbitte, E Cloonan.
Wexford: (SH v Waterford) - MJ Cooper; D Caulfield, D Berry, R Mahon; M O'Leary, S Carley, D Ruth; L Murphy, T Kehoe; R McCarthy, R Hassey, G Buggy; C McGrath, M Jordan, M Morrissey. Subs: D Fitzhenry. E Donovan, E Furlong, G Flood, A Fenlon, P Codd, S Walsh, J Purcell, T Farran.
