National Coaching Conference: The GAA's National Coaching Conference for 2005 took place in DCU on Saturday and was attended by nearly 400 delegates. There were keynote presentations by a number of well-known inter-county managers past and present - Joe Kernan, Conor Hayes, Donal O'Grady and Seán Boylan - plus parallel sessions on a number of topics related to coaching and skills development.

The conference concluded with a lively forum featuring some more big names under the chair of Colm O'Rourke.

During this closing session the most debated issues concerned the interface between club and county fixtures and the future of the under-21 championships.

"One of the two biggest questions facing the GAA is the clash between club and county," said former Offaly manager and football columnist Eugene McGee.

"There is a rising tide of anger about it. Club players are the abandoned people of the GAA. I get letters and emails detailing horror stories about players travelling all around the country only to be told their club fixture is off. This can't go on. Otherwise the GAA is not treating all its members equally."

Páraic Duffy, chair of the National Coaching and Games Development Committee and a former chair of the Games Administration Committee, made the point that the GAA had addressed this issue but that its ruling wasn't being followed.

"Central Council have said that counties couldn't call off matches less than two weeks before a county fixture. County chairmen and officers have to stand up to managers and fight for club matches. This is a failure of leadership."

Tyrone's All-Ireland-winning manager Mickey Harte outlined how his county deals successfully with the problem.

"The club shouldn't be sacrificed for the county. We stick to the regulations in Tyrone. There are 22 division one games and county players are committed to half of those plus championship and any play-offs. We need to watch out that we're not killing our games by the way we're administering them."

There was general admiration for the county's ability to give around 15 club matches to its county players although newly appointed Tipperary hurling manager Babs Keating did point out that Tyrone didn't have to deal with the dual player issue in the way many other counties do.

Former Dublin All-Ireland-winning manager and captain Tony Hanahoe raised the impact of under-21 fixtures within counties and recommended a change of approach.

"Under-21 matches should be separately scheduled in different counties. All players who have played senior championship should be prohibited from entering."

There was support for the idea of abolishing the grade although Harte, who has managed All-Ireland-winning teams at that level, defended its continuation: "It's a crucial age group because it's a huge step up from 17 or 18 to senior level. Players emerge who might otherwise be lost."

McGee disagreed from the perspective of smaller counties: "Under-21 suits leading counties but I'd question the merit in a county like mine. In Longford, players are needed for senior at 17 and 18. I'd amalgamate under-21 and minor into an under-19 grade."

Keating disputed the usefulness of the grade: "If you're not good enough at 18 or 19 for senior, you'll never be."

Former Wexford All-Ireland-winning manager Liam Griffin broadened the argument on the issue and raised another possible solution to fixture congestion.

"All the talk has been about elite players but a lot of young lads can't make senior from minor. What are they going to do? Why is the All-Ireland hurling final played on the second Sunday in September when it could be done at the beginning of August?

"Floodlights would solve a lot of these problems. We need to get the lights up because at the moment we're losing three-quarters of the year."

The question of media treatment of teams and managers was also raised, particularly in relation to RTÉ's Sunday Game.

Clare manager Anthony Daly, who had to endure some swingeing comments from his predecessor Ger Loughnane last summer, said that there was a growing tendency to concentrate on negatives on the programme.

"I feel for the players," he said. "The night we played Tipp, we were so low. Players had put in everything for six months. By all means praise Tipp but don't go hard on fellas who have given everything and were feeling terrible."

Babs Keating rounded off the discussion with his own inimitable perspective. "I'd prefer if they went on television on the Saturday night and told us what to do on the Sunday."

Earlier retired Meath manager Seán Boylan had expressed his dismay at the current controversy over his successor, Eamonn Barry, who tonight faces a move from the county executive to oust him after three months in charge. "How could it be good, what's going on, for either side?" he asked during a question-and-answer session.

"They need to shake hands and leave it all behind. If the right mentality is there, there is no reason why Meath can't become competitive again."

Down for decision

Delegates voted on a number of topics during the conference and the results included the following:

Too much emphasis on competition rather than skills development: Yes - 88.6%; No - 10%.

Must be 17 to play senior: Yes - 66.3%; No - 33.3%

Restrictions on the number of training sessions: Yes - 38.2%; No - 60%

Match-based rather than time-based suspensions: Yes - 91%; No - 7.8%

Football to institute a tiered championship as in hurling's Ring and Rackard Cups: Yes - 47.5%; No - 49.5%

Return of old Sunday Game theme music: Yes - 75%; No - 25%