Are Kildare hurling folk angry at the Seanie Johnston saga? Understatement of the year

Kildare’s hurling chief has said that to say that the Lilywhite small ball game community are angry over the Seanie Johnston affair is the ‘understatement of the year’.

While the rights and wrongs of the Seanie Johnston transfer from Cavan to Kildare have been endlessly debated, the events of last weekend made a few people change their mind.

The use of Coill Dubh, and the cheapening of the Kildare club hurling championship, to make Johnston eligible for the county’s senior footballers, was seen by many as following the letter of the law but not the spirit. Playing Johnstone for 45 seconds before taking him off was a real sign that a new low had been reached.

And if the average GAA fan felt the hurling cameo left a bad taste, you can imagine how hurling folk in Kildare felt. The issue was raised at a county board meeting on Tuesday and the county’s hurling board chairman Eddie Lawler spoke out on behalf of the hurling community, a report of which is carried in today’s Irish Independent.

“It would be remiss of me not to mention what happened last weekend when our flagship competition, the senior hurling championship, was turned into a bit of farce by Seanie Johnston appearing in a Coill Dubh shirt," said Lawler.

"I don't blame the Coill Dubh club because they were obviously put under severe pressure to let this man play. No club, no matter who they are, should be subjected to that sort of pressure or interference," said Lawler.

"To say the clubs are angered over what happened would be the understatement of the year," he said. "I've been inundated with calls from the clubs and people around the county and they are very, very unhappy with what happened."

It is hard to disagree with Lawler’s sentiments. The clock can’t be turned back but hopefully a similar stunt won’t be pulled again.