In recent weeks, much has been made about the apparent slow march towards death being experienced by hurling as a sport.
Numerous big names have slammed the decision to move some small ball games to GAAGO, meaning they are not available to watch on free-to-air television. They believe that not only will this unfairly stop people from watching games, but it also gives other sports the march on hurling in terms of keeping the attention of the masses.
Donal Óg Cusack was particularly outspoken on the matter, slamming the for the decision and managing to insult those involved involved with Gaelic football in the process. His comments on the Tailteann Cup have not been well received, with the matter leading to some raised tensions on The Sunday Game earlier this afternoon.
For some, the noise coming from the hurling camp is getting to be a bit too much.
Pat Spillane calls out 'great hurling man' Donal Óg Cusack
Pat Spillane has seemingly grown tired of the complaints emanating from hurling country in recent weeks.
Writing in the Sunday World, the Kerry man called out Donal Óg Cusack over his Tailteann Cup comments and branded his GAAGO complaints as 'populist' nonsense.
After Donal Óg Cusack’s rant and the over-the-top criticism of GAAGO of recent weeks I was expecting more uproar last weekend when the Clare versus Waterford hurling game wasn’t shown on RTÉ.
Yet there was no sign of ‘the Great Hurling Man’ on Liveline or any other media outlet. Would it have anything to do with the fact that the match turned out to be a turkey?
I swear if the ‘Hurling Men’ had their way, there would be a 15-minute tribute to the sport before the Angelus every evening, eulogising Mackey, Ring and Cúchulain’s game..
Anyway, Donal Óg is still at it, still digging in the hole.
His comments about the Tailteann Cup, that it was a Grand National for also-rans, were way out of order.
As a former leader of the GPA, and still its president, it was a cheap shot, demeaning our players, and not helping hurling’s cause in any way.
And by the way, while we are on the subject of streaming, I regularly use Clubber, another excellent streaming service where you can pay to watch club games.
They had five matches available to purchase last weekend – two Munster Ladies Football semi-finals, the Munster Camogie Final, and two Joe McDonagh Cup matches, Kildare-Down and Kerry-Laois.
Did I hear anyone complaining about those games not being free-to-air? Like hell, I didn’t.
Because what we’ve heard over the last few weeks has been selective, opportunist and populist – and I hope now we move on to far more serious issues in the GAA world.
He certainly didn't hold back there.
In fairness, we doubt that a few negative opinions from elsewhere will do much to deter Donal Óg Cusack from continuing to raise this subject moving forward.
SEE ALSO: Donal Óg Cusack & Joanne Cantwell Have Incredibly Tense Exchange Over His Tailteann Cup Comments
