LAST September 12 months in Croke Park on All-Ireland hurling final day, I bumped into GAA President Christy Cooney and took issue with him over his public declaration that payments to team managers was a “cancer running through the association.” Director General Padraic Duffy was with him, but I was in no mood for diplomacy.

I don’t take offence easily, but felt Cooney’s choice of words was doing a profound disservice to and tainting the image of hundreds of managers, between club and county level, who are completely dedicated to driving their teams forward and who put in countless hours of labour in endeavouring to do so. The GAA President obviously feels strongly about the issue, but his words were way below the belt.

It was only a brief encounter, but I remember saying to Cooney that I resented being described as a cancer on the GAA, and quickly told him about 22 years of total commitment to my club Lorrha which involved such diverse roles as player/manager, club secretary, fund-raiser, team manager and captain. That round trip from Galway of approximately 100 miles had cost me a relative fortune during that time, but I loved it and wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Like thousands of players up and down the country, I was utterly immersed in my club and every day that I put on that blue jersey, the sense of pride was almost overwhelming. My playing career stretched until I was 41 and though there were some bad injuries along the way and that coveted Tipperary county medal proved elusive – it will haunt me until the day I die – it was the greatest time of my life and I was honoured to serve the club that my father, uncle and brothers were so involved in.

In the winter of 1996, I was appointed Offaly hurling manager for the first time. I was offered £60 a training session and readily agreed. There was no compensation for going to club matches around the county and the fact that I was over 80 miles from the training base in Tullamore probably meant that over the course of my year working with the Dooleys’, Johnny Pilkington, Martin Hanamy, Brian Whelahan and company, my expenses weren’t even covered. It didn’t bother me in the slightest.

All I was interested in was keeping Offaly at the top and, perhaps, only for Damien Fitzhenry’s great reflex stop from Billy Dooley in the 1997 Leinster semi-final when Wexford were reigning All-Ireland title holders, we might have had a big say in that year’s championship. Managing Offaly was demanding given all the travelling involved, especially as I was still hurling with Lorrha, but the blinkers were on and it’s where I wanted to be.

Another term with Offaly, this time for three years, started in November of 2004 and though 1997 wasn’t that far in the past, the time, workload and commitment involved with inter-county management had increased dramatically in the interim. I remember occasionally heading into the Connacht Tribune office at 4am to ensure I made Tullamore for 7pm that evening and, then, there was the return journey back to Galway which sometimes mightn’t get underway until after midnight. Nothing would compensate you – if so inclined – for that kind of almost slavish devotion.

It was admittedly tough going at times and a few heartbreaking defeats along the way would rip the soul out of you, but you were just consumed with winning matches and talking Offaly forward. Against that kind of background which is so typical of many managers, it’s infuriating to think the top man in the GAA views us as some sort of plague, simply because some sideline supremos might be getting a few quid more than basic expenses. So what!

It’s the hypocrisy which kills me as well as all this outdated tosh about amateurism and volunteerism. Cooney, for instance, is an employee of the State agency, Fás, and on a reported salary of over €150,000. He is not out of pocket for taking leave from the company to serve as the Association’s highest ranking official and remains one of the country’s highest earners.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.