Why weren't Boston battlers as feisty at home?
It's difficult not to be suspicious that players were happy to parade an exaggerated version of handbags at dawn. (Stock Photo)
Excuse me for being a touch cynical but wasn't the flare-up during the Dublin-Galway hybrid hurling game in Boston on Sunday the ideal selling point for future ventures of a similar nature?
I'm not suggesting that it was totally contrived but it's difficult not to be suspicious that, once it started, players were happy to parade an exaggerated version of handbags at dawn.
Much of the pushing and shoving would embarrass the most dedicated hold-me-back merchants.
As it fizzled out, lads even offered opponents a helping hand back up off the Fenway Park surface, giving the impression of being contrite for besmirching hurling's noble art in front of their fellow Irish men and women in Boston, as well as a new and curious audience.
Now, if it had all passed off as a meek-and-mild exhibition of skills, who would be talking about it now, either here or in America?
Instead, it's all over the internet and social media. Some creative souls have even added diddly-eye music to various YouTube clips, turning the incident into a sort of leprechauns-on-tour promotion.
Still, it has attracted huge publicity, which is good for selling future ventures, since it can be promoted on the basis that players take it so very seriously.
Don King would be proud of such a marketing coup, albeit one that is pretty embarrassing for the GAA.
Of course, Dublin and Galway supporters were left wondering why their teams didn't show such a feisty spirit when most needed this year. Dublin were passive to the point of inertia against Galway in the Leinster quarter-final replay last June, while Galway were pretty flat in the second half of the All-Ireland final.
Have they both changed so much since then?
