GAA's First Professional Player ??

Dont Ban Me

Dont know if anyone else had heard this (I presume some have) but apparently Eoin Kelly (the Waterford one) has left his job to concentrate full time on hurling!!
He's done this a couple of weeks ago afaik!!:eek:

He's gone on the dole and Im guessing a few backhanders from the county board aswell just to play hurling!!

Just wondering what everyone else has to say on the matter?

Coillte_Bhoy

Eoin Kelly (the Waterford one)

How many famous Eoin Kellys are there?

BigCon

One plays with Tipp as well...

mchurl

Surely He must be recieving some kind of sponsorship or else being paid by the county board if this is true. How else would he be able to sustian a healthy living??

The Rooster

Didn't Kieran McGeeney do the same for Armagh a couple of years ago. There have been a few from Armagh and Tyrone I think. Its said Club Tyrone made some class of offer to Sean Cavanaugh to help persuade him to stay in Ireland rather than going to Australia. Benny Coulter is employed by Down as a full time coach - I'm sure there are a few of these up and down the country.

Lemlin

The Rooster wrote:

Didn't Kieran McGeeney do the same for Armagh a couple of years ago. There have been a few from Armagh and Tyrone I think. Its said Club Tyrone made some class of offer to Sean Cavanaugh to help persuade him to stay in Ireland rather than going to Australia. Benny Coulter is employed by Down as a full time coach - I'm sure there are a few of these up and down the country.

Rory Gallagher worked for Brigids as a full-time coach. Kieran McGeeney works for the GPA or some of those bodies. Can't remember which. Isn't Dessie full-time for the GPA too?

Waylander

Yeah, Dessie is full time, but I do not think that qualifies him as a professional players. Also Enda Mc Nulty was a full time youth coach for Ballyboden St Endas for a few years, again I would not really consider this a professional, although this may be slightly different, as Ballyboden St Endas was also the club he played for at the time.

J.R.HARTLEY

if you don't get paid for playing your not a professional player, getting dole hand outs or having to go and trian kids for a living harldy equals being a professional player. some lads got cushtie little jobs but they do have to do extra work to get their money.

Waylander

I dont disagree JR, but at the same time, when the club you play for is also the one that pays your wages, I can see how this could be construed as a grey area. Like I said Enda had a full time role coaching for that club, he was not earning a bit of extra cash. Now, that is my club, and I am satisfied that he was not paid for playing for the first team, but it is not beyond the realms of possibility that a club would use such a role as a cover up for professionalism.

cournioni

Lemlin wrote:

Rory Gallagher worked for Brigids as a full-time coach. Kieran McGeeney works for the GPA or some of those bodies. Can't remember which. Isn't Dessie full-time for the GPA too?

Nicholas Walsh is working as a full time coach for Cavan GAA too. Doesn't seem to have helped him much... :rolleyes:

cruiserweight

I don't know if he still is but Damien Fitzhenry is as full-time coach with the Wexford GAA

Dont Ban Me

I wouldnt reall count coaches as professional players, but I agree it would be a good disguise if they had a player coach and paid him for his coaching abilities.

But Eoin isnt a coach, in fact all he does is drink Vodka and Red-Bull when he's not playing!!

And the County Board must be paying something becuase there is no way you could live comfortably off the dole, or else his girlfriend is rich!! :rolleyes:

The Rooster

Waylander wrote:

Like I said Enda had a full time role coaching for that club, he was not earning a bit of extra cash. Now, that is my club, and I am satisfied that he was not paid for playing for the first team, but it is not beyond the realms of possibility that a club would use such a role as a cover up for professionalism.

I was talking to a Boden member about McNulty a few months back. Now it was in a pub after a few scoops, so apologies if my memory is rusty or I get something wrong. Bu he was hugely resentful of McNulty and said everyone at the club was. He took a load of money and gave nothing back in return. He was hardly ever seen around the club, and they are now delighted to be rid of him!! But maybe you have another side to the story...

Waylander

No Rooster that is a pretty accurate assessment of feeling in the club alright. When I said I was satisfied that he was not being paid for playing for the first team, I meant that I was satisfied that the club were not trying to disguise a professional player, I did not mean I was satisfied with his performance at the role he was hired for. I suppose the fact that he is no longer there is prrof enough of the fact he was not hired to play for the first team. There is actually allot of resentment towards him in the club.

Lemlin

PORNAPSTER wrote:

Nicholas Walsh is working as a full time coach for Cavan GAA too. Doesn't seem to have helped him much... :rolleyes:

I think he works with the minors. He's a dreadful waste of talent for a player who was menat to be the next big thing. Australia ruined him but the Gaels made him too big for his own boots.

chubba1984

Tony Griffin, the Clare hurler, postponed his studies in Nova Scotia and sold his share of a business to concentrate fully on hurling for this year. Big Article about it in a major Irish sunday paper recently.

thirdmantackle

they are not Professional GAA players as they don't get paid for playing, but they are memerly Full Time GAA players

The first fully professional GAA player was probably Pat Kirby (Clare) who played handball professionally in the states and made a living out of it

Dont Ban Me

thirdmantackle wrote:

they are not Professional GAA players as they don't get paid for playing, but they are memerly Full Time GAA players

The first fully professional GAA player was probably Pat Kirby (Clare) who played handball professionally in the states and made a living out of it

But dont all GAA players (hurling, football, handball...) get paid to play in the States? So are they all technicaly professional players? Or is there some strange thing about that too?

Triton

Dont Ban Me wrote:

But dont all GAA players (hurling, football, handball...) get paid to play in the States? So are they all technicaly professional players? Or is there some strange thing about that too?

They only get their rent paid. Little else.

Joeface

Im not sure about this and dont want to start any rumours or crap, but wasnt DJ the pride of killkenny the first pro-GAA star, form all accounts he is not that good of a business man , so the money had to come from some where.


Im sure there are loads of Pro GAA players it depends on how u look at it , some of them have sponsership deals , ie Paddy powers, might be small but it all adds up in the end.

Dont Ban Me

I think we can all agree that if your good enough the county will look after you no matter what you do!! :rolleyes:

StupidLikeAFox

Joeface wrote:

Im not sure about this and dont want to start any rumours or crap, but wasnt DJ the pride of killkenny the first pro-GAA star, form all accounts he is not that good of a business man , so the money had to come from some where.

His wife/gf comes from a moneyed background i believe

foxirl

Eoin Kelly left his job in 2005 to concentrate totally on hurling. He was interviewed on RTE about this. I watched him play against Cork in Croke Park in the Quater or Semi Final (cant remember which) and he was terrible. One of Waterfords worse players that day. Had he played well Waterford would have won as it was a close game.

So was it worth giving up his job for? I doubt it

And now he is doing it again this year. Madness!!!