Today’s Hospital Pass features post-match drug testing procedures in the GAA and a photo of Mayo’s Aidan O’Shea simply crying out for an easy caption.
GAA drug testers taking the piss… literally
Those who think that the GAA are professional games in all but name can point to the fairly rigorous nature of drug testing within the association, a theme that was revisited in the Irish Examiner today.
A report in the paper revealed that Kilkenny’s Jackie Tyrell was detained in Croke Park for two hours on Sunday until he was ready to provide a urine sample for the drug testers, while Galway’s Johnny Coen and Kilkenny substitute Paddy Hogan also had to go through the whole peeing into a tube routine.
Hogan didn’t feature at all on Sunday so we’re sure he was OK, but Tyrell and Coen had to go through the process after sweating out close to every millimetre of fluid in their bodies during what was an absorbing 70 plus minutes.
Strict anti-drug procedures in sport are obviously extremely necessary and it is a very topical issue at the moment after the Olympics and the whole Lance Armstrong business, but should members of an amateur organisation be subjected to the same procedures as everyone else?
Not everyone would think so, it seems, as the issue has elicited plenty of debate ever since post-match and post-training drug testing was introduced for GAA players by the Sports Council in 2001.
Because it was a draw, Tyrell, Coen and Hogan probably didn’t mind as much as they would have done if the game had been decided on Sunday.
Without wanting to stereotype the post-All-Ireland final habits of the players, we dare say that after a long hard season, going on the piss as opposed to having it taken from you by a drug tester would probably have been higher on their list of priorities.
Mayo waiting in the long grass
The issue of GAA photocalls has cropped up on a few occasions in Hospital Pass in the past.
While most of them are straightforward enough with a player standing slightly nervously in front of a sponsor’s backdrop, they can be creative affairs from time to time.
A most recent one featuring Mayo’s Aidan O’Shea is a case in point as the giant midfielder was taken into the wilds of the Breaffy House Hotel – O’Shea plays club football with Breaffy so he knows the territory – as part of the pre All-Ireland Final photoshoot.
If ever a photo was crying out for ‘a waiting in the long grass’ caption, the one at the top page is it and with Mayo being classed as outsiders for the big one, it seems entirely appropriate under the circumstances.
Don’t be surprised if you see said photo being used as the topic for one of the ever-growing Mayo All-Ireland Final memes between now and Sunday week.
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