Vinny Claffey Interview on edenderrygaa.com

[True Red]

Another great interview featuring the legend from Doon.

http://www.gaelsport.com/html/club/club_home.jsp?c=147

[Kevin]

These interviews are tremendous.

Interesting how he points out how critical success could have been in 2006 in terms of proving we could do it and in producing leaders.

Have to agree with him, I thought Cluxton should have walked for his foul. It was a key point of the game. Although we were well beaten in the end we were so, so close.

Looking forward to 2010 (in both codes)...

[Boyneman]

I have to say that I find it ironic and with a slight bad taste in my mouth that with every passing interview from former greats that almost to a man they lament the passing of "parish" teams when if memory serves me right that it was Edenderry Club who objected to players having dual status (ie play with a Junior /inter team and then a parish senior team) back in the late 80's
Maybe it achieved their purpose with 3 senior titles in the 90's but in general it is my view that it has been to the detriment of the county team for a long time

Great interviews and website though!!

[Lone Shark]

I'd love to see a practical application of how this "parish" team structure would work before I'd necessarily get behind it. I've said before that if we're going to do this, parishes aren't enough, it has to be districts, with no less than five or six clubs making up the amalgamated side. Honestly, I wonder about people sometimes - when it comes to divisional teams, we could copy Kerry and Cork, or we could copy Laois - and the appetite seems to be to copy Laois.

Regarding the hypocrisy, I wouldn't blame Edenderry for that. Going against parish teams was legitimate enough on a variety of levels, since there are obviously pros and cons to the practice. It's very harsh to say that the club was acting out of self interest, while certainly the views of one interviewer don't necessarily reflect those of the Edenderry club as a whole.

[offalyman08]

I think its a standard question which appears to be asked to every ex player and it doesnt mean its the interviewers particular opinion just because the players say they are in favor of it. And also people in the same clubs often do have different opinions

[Coolestown1562]

I think its a standard question which appears to be asked to every ex player and it doesnt mean its the interviewers particular opinion just because the players say they are in favor of it. And also people in the same clubs often do have different opinions

I think this is the crux of it all really. The interviewer who is doing a tremendous job asks this question every time, the real test for this particular issue would be to have it raised at county convention and see where the debate goes.

In response to BoyneMan I think if memory serves me correct the real issue regarding the Parish rule that you refer to stems from controversy that arose over a league final involving Edenderry and Ferbane in the mid to late 1980s. Ferbane played a parish team a forthnight after the rule had been overhauled to which Edenderry duly objected.

As to the championship success (95.97,99 and 01) enjoyed by Edenderry it was firmly built on two things:
a) an absolute brilliant underage structure which yielded unhearlded success for the club 1991-1995 and
b) the will to succeed by a talented bunch of players who having been defeated in three semi finals; 1991 (Clara), 1992 (Ferbane) and 1993 (Ferbane) and a First Round defeat by the then newly promoted Belmont in 1994. They continued to train throughout 1994 despite having few games to play. These players included Greg Blong, Peter Brady, Finbarr Cullen, Michael Og Brady, Donal O'Neill, Declan Farrell, Ciaran O'Connell, Kevin Guing all of whom had played either minor, u21 or senior for Offaly. Hardly fair to state that the abolition of the parish rule favoured their success .

[bazza]

I'm going to ignore the elephant in the room, as I see it, and address my main concern regarding Parish teams in Offaly. Rhode Parish will win every Senior Championship for the next ten years if a Parish Rule is brought in. Simple as that. It's just not fair on other teams to have such a strong "made-up" team and could ruin football in Offaly. God help us.. Anton, Casey and Niall Mc in the one full forward line!

[Lone Shark]

I'm going to ignore the elephant in the room, as I see it, and address my main concern regarding Parish teams in Offaly. Rhode Parish will win every Senior Championship for the next ten years if a Parish Rule is brought in. Simple as that. It's just not fair on other teams to have such a strong "made-up" team and could ruin football in Offaly. God help us.. Anton, Casey and Niall Mc in the one full forward line!

Rubbish. On paper they would certainly be strong, however the chemistry of any club would be greatly affected by a merger, and one never knows how it would work out.

I can't remember exactly when Ferbane and Belmont amalgamated, but on paper it should have worked out a lot better than it did. The parallels between that and the idea of a Rhode/Croghan/Clonmore merger would be easy to see - one club that was dominant at the time, amalgamating with another who had a few county players to bring to the table. Others on this board would be a lot better placed to recount exactly the story of the time, but it certainly didn't work out as would have been expected.

Another way of looking at it would be - who's to say that Croghan would have the same determination and drive if they weren't playing for themselves? Clubs like that who punch above their weight is something we should be looking to replicate, not eliminate.

[offalyman08]

niall anton and paschal couldnt dominate the clara defence so do you think ken casey is better than pascal?
Interesting though what claffey said about what winning Leinster in 2006 could have done. What leaders would it have been spawned?

[bazza]

niall anton and paschal couldnt dominate the clara defence so do you think ken casey is better than pascal?
Interesting though what claffey said about what winning Leinster in 2006 could have done. What leaders would it have been spawned?

Not neccesarily but I know he's a lot better than James Coffey, the same way David Egan is better than O'Connell and Sean Casey over Brereton. Those 3 players would turn Rhode Parish into an almost unstoppable force I feel.

[red exile]

vinny claffey ,sound man, had pleasure of playin with him and against him in the late eightys. his brother david also had great potential. on the parish rulei think the competition for places would not only create better players but also raise the standard of football on the club front,less games would mean more work could be put in at county level and would favour dual players and it would also be of some financial benifit to have parish pitches with good training and playing facilities instead of small pitches scattered around the place

[offalyman08]

your dead right exile but as he also says you'll always have die hards that just wont allow it, I wonder has it even been discussed at any county board meeting lately?

[Lone Shark]

Again, any chance any of the proponents of parish rule could explain exactly how it would work - particularly the following aspects, which I can't get my head around....

(1) To take Daingean parish for an example, is this replacing the four clubs in the parish, or alongside them? If it's replacing them, what happens to all the lads down the grades who wouldn't get a game with the new amalgamated outfit? More relevantly, do we really expect that areas like Doon, Croghan, Pullough, Ballyfore and Bracknagh (for example) would put so much effort into playing for entities that would be largely made up of their big rivals down the years? If it's alongside them, when in God's name do we fit in these fixtures?

(2) If these new amalgamations are senior clubs, who gets relegated to make way for them? Daingean Parish and Raheen Parish don't have any senior teams right now, who makes way for them? More relevantly, if the idea is that as in Kerry, everyone has access to playing in the senior championship, then what about the parish teams who aren't senior right now? How does this help a footballer from Rynaghs, or Birr, or Durrow - all clubs that have provided a smattering of county players at all levels in recent years? I can see the logic of divisional teams that means that everybody who's good enough gets to play senior, but not this half measure.

(3) How does it work for the hurling championship? Do we amalgamate Birr, Carrig and Riverstown and Crinkill? Do we really think that Crinkill would go for this after everything that's gone on? Ballyskenach voted against an amalgamation with Killavilla (I don't know how Killavilla voted), showing that small clubs don't always like the idea - why should it be forced on them?


There seems to be a lot of momentum towards parish rule at the moment, and before it goes too far, I'd love to hear somebody explain to me how any of the above circles would be squared.

[bracknaghboy]

There seems to be a lot of momentum towards parish rule at the moment.

Is there? If just seems to be a journalist from Edenderry asking the question during a series of interviews (which by now are getting a bit repetitive and boring) with former players. I can tell you now from a grass roots perspective it is not wanted by the majority of clubs or players. Like LS, I'd like to see exactly what the benefits would be and also how it would be run off? Also what exactly is wrong with the current set up?

[Lone Shark]

There seems to be a lot of momentum towards parish rule at the moment.

Is there? If just seems to be a journalist from Edenderry asking the question during a series of interviews (which by now are getting a bit repetitive and boring) with former players. I can tell you now from a grass roots perspective it is not wanted by the majority of clubs or players. Like LS, I'd like to see exactly what the benefits would be and also how it would be run off? Also what exactly is wrong with the current set up?

There was an open letter in the Tribune this week from some guy in Capincur as well - I can't remember the name. I also think there's a bit of the classic bit of committee thinking going on here too, and people are starting to give the idea more air.

(1) Something must be done!
(2) This is something!
(3) We must do this!