Hurling gets big focus in Louth

News: With the GAA county convention season slowly getting under way, a number of far-reaching motions are set to emerge over the coming weeks.

Louth staged their convention on Wednesday night and the most remarkable aspect of their motions was that they all referred to hurling.

Three motions were carried on the night, two of which will go before the GAA Congress in April. The Naomh Moninne club have called on Congress to request the GAC in each county to organise a Poc Fada qualifying competition.

More interesting were the two motions from the Knockbridge club, one of only five hurling clubs in the county. Firstly, they have called for the new O'Neill's sliotar to be dispensed with, a motion that is likely to gain considerable support at considering the large amount of dissatisfaction that surrounded the introduction of the new ball during the championship.

The second motion from Knockbridge was for the Louth County Board to appoint a designated hurling coach for the coming year. This caused the only heated debate of the night before it was put to the delegates and carried.

"Efforts are being made to promote hurling in Louth," says county secretary Pat Toner, "but we remain a football county. No more than Kilkenny remain a hurling county. In fairness, we want to give this position a shot, but it all comes down to finance."

Surprisingly, there was no debate on Rule 42 and the potential of opening Croke Park to other sports next year. According to a spokesperson for Croke Park, it is now "assumed" that a motion calling for the abolition of Rule 42 will come before Congress in some format.

The suggestion from GAA president Seán Kelly that motions be passed on a simple majority rather than a two-thirds majority, as currently exists, will also need to be presented as a motion to Congress and therefore won't have a bearing on any Rule 42 debate this year.

Meanwhile, reports yesterday that Armagh forward Oisín McConville would be not be available for next year's league campaign have been dismissed by the player.

McConville did undergo surgery in London last Friday on a prolapsed disc in his spine, but he has already returned to light training in the pool and expects to be close to full fitness by the time the league gets under way at the start of February.

In the meantime, manager Joe Kernan has announced his initial panel for the coming year. Barry O'Hagan is the most notable exclusion following his recent retirement, while other former panel members Barry Duffy and Des Mackin have not been recalled.