Any GAA fan who blinked last weekend was in grave danger of missing County Kilkenny's sole contribution to senior inter-county Gaelic football this year, writes an Fear Rua - more in sorrow than in anger, he has to say...

Kilkenny is one of the great adornments of the GAA. It gives An Fear Rua no pleasure whatsoever to enter a strong criticism once again of the Noreside county for their appalling policy towards the fielding - or rather, the non-fielding - of county senior football teams. Kilkenny was the most successful county in senior hurling in the recently ended Twentieth Century. This is the county that gave us some of the great hurling finals like those of '82, '72, '69, '63, '59, '57, '47 (many oldtimers say this victory over Cork was the greatest hurling final ever) and the 'Thunder and Lightning' final of '39, also against Cork. Kilkenny has given us household names like Jim Langton, Lory Maher, 'Drug' Walsh, Paddy Grace, Ollie Walsh, Pat Henderson, Jim Treacy, Fan Larkin, the peerless Eddie Keher and the magician himself, DJ Carey. The list of Kilkenny hurling stars is endless.

But, An Fear Rua was never one to pull his punches nor shirk his duty where the failings of GAA officialdom is concerned. And so, it has to be said: the decision of the Kilkenny County Board to field a county team in last weekend's O'Byrne Cup defeat against Wexford, and then to refuse to field a team again this year in either the League or the Championship is an absolute disgrace. They should be ashamed of themselves, especially representing a county that has added so much to the history of 'd'Association' but has received even more in return.

The game against Wexford took place in the tiny village of Horeswood, just over the border with the Model County. The village name reminds AFR of the comment of the famous American writer of the Thirties, Dorothy Parker, who said of a celebrated Hollywood female star of the silent era, that her name was spelt 'Jean Harlot' - but the 't' was silent ! With the class of goings that's happened over the years in the county Wexford, An Fear Rua wouldn't be surprised if the 'W' in the name of this village may be silent as well... And wasn't it Dorothy Parker too who advised that 'You can lead a whore to culture, but can't make her think....'?

The game itself was a joke. About fifty people turned up to watch. A concrete block house at one end - possibly left behind by the LDF after the Emergency - served as a score board (For younger readers, the LDF was a class of Dad's Army who served in Ireland during the years 1939-45, during what we called 'The Emergency' and the rest of the World knew as World War Two. AFR supposes this is yet another example of the indefatigable Irish capacity for either understatement or self-delusion....) Most of the Kilkenny team were late because they got lost along the way, and the panel included only two substitutes, one of them team selector PJ O'Connor. That wise and decent man exercised his 'droit du selecteur' to prevent himself going on in the second half, thus corner forward John Dowd had to go off for a bit of a breather, before resuming play again.

Of course, why stop at just going off for a breather, asks An Fear Rua. Why not go off to the pavilion for tea and cucumber sandwiches at four o'clock? Why not go the whole hog - like cricket - and spread inter-county football matches over two days? Maybe the Kilkenny County Board have cottoned onto something the rest of the GAA have been missing for years? In any event, this kind of 'on/off/on' fielding of a player is probably against the rules, and An Fear Rua wonders what the referee, a Mr. Whelan of Laois, was doing while all this 'toing and froing' was going on.

However, not content with more exits and entrances than a Brian Rix farce on the field of play, given the time of the year that was in it, the Kilkenny County Board obviously thought a touch of pantomime might warm up the unfortunate punters who paid good money to get into Horeswood They decided to stage their own version of 'Jack and The Giant', the giant in question being none other than hurling All Star DJ Carey. The misfortunate Carey turned out in his first - and only - senior inter-county football match at the request of County Chairman, Ned Quinn, 'to give the lads a bit of a lift'. Boys-a-dear, if that's what it takes to give the Kilkenny footballers 'a bit of a lift', the GAA is in a more parlous state than An Fear Rua had even imagined. AFR thinks the lads would have got far more of a 'lift' if the County Board had played young Deirdre O'Sullivan on the team. Deirdre, you might remember, is the pulchritudinous twenty year old from Graigue-Ballycallan who represented Kilkenny in last year's Miss Ireland competition and who is a star inter-county camogie player in her own right.

Anyway, to be serious for a while. This problem is not confined to Kilkenny, though they are the most serious and most high profile offenders. Kilkenny stands out more than others because it's a county where football is neglected because of the strength of hurling. But Kilkenny should not be let away this. Counties like Galway, Offaly, and Cork have fielded All Ireland winning senior teams in both Gaelic codes. Strong footballing counties like Meath and Kerry at least have the decency to field senior hurling teams in their provincial championships. Tipperary manage to field decent teams in both hurling and football. If they can do it, why can't Kilkenny? As AFR's old pal, the Maestro Boylan might say, they don't eat any better nor any more potatoes in Tipp than in Kilkenny.

Kilkenny itself is surrounded by gallant little Carlow and by counties like Laois, Waterford and Wexford that constantly make the effort to field senior teams in both hurling and football. Not with any great success, it must be said. But, then, it's not only about winning. It's about love for the games... it's about the honour of representing your parish and your county... That's something Ned Quinn and his County Board colleagues might ponder on. And while they're doing that, maybe Congress might bring in a rule that would insist on all counties fielding a minimum of inter-county teams in both hurling and football - say, senior, under-21 and minor. Although, An Fear Rua is not sure whether those particular 'hoors' would, or would not, back such a change...