Since the event, most discussion on the Fenway Classic has been centred on the mass brawl that kicked off in the second quarter. But other criticism has been directed at the entire event itself.
Cheddar Plunkett doesn't have much time for concept. His essential point is that seeing as hurling is a minority sport in two-thirds of Ireland, so why are the GPA throwing time and resources into a game between two blue chip counties in Boston.
He told Pat Nolan in the Irish Daily Mirror he would see nothing wrong with the idea if the game was being promoted properly in Ireland.
I probably wouldn’t question the wisdom of it if the work was going on here in Ireland. It’s just when there is such a lack of strategic thinking about growing the game in these counties and then you have something like that... I think then it doesn’t work.
What was the objective of it? These things don’t come cheap and they send two panels to the States? This is not about the money, it’s really about the thinking behind the whole project.
In addition to his surprise at seeing a Galway referee officiate at such a game (though he said that he was sure Alan Kelly did a good job) Eddie Brennan did opt to retweet (not an endorsement, of course) Brian Laverty's reply, in which he argued that more time should be devoted to promoting the game in weaker counties.
@NedzerB13 think they should spend more time promoting it in the weaker counties than sponsoring a junket to Boston
— Brian Laverty (@ted_t_bear) November 22, 2015
The event was driven by the GPA and the bulk of the funding came via AIG so the GAA would have had very little (if any) input into its staging.
However, the whole spectacle appears to have annoyed those in less fashionable counties.
Laois's Cahir Healy told Nolan that, 'taking the games out of Ireland to grow the game globally when it’s struggling in the majority of counties makes no sense to me.'
