The GAA is an organisation that prides itself on tradition, but it has come under heavy fire for the way they have treated some of the greats of previous eras in recent times.
One practice that is always a welcome sight on All-Ireland final day is paying tribute to the team that won the competition 25 years before the current edition. It is something we see in both the Gaelic football and hurling finals, with the players from winning teams a quarter of a century previous making their way onto the pitch to receive a warm ovation from the crowd.
However, the timing of this tradition has come in for heavy scrutiny in recent times.
Peter Canavan calls out GAA over treatment of Galway legends
Plenty was made about the GAA welcoming the Offaly All-Ireland hurling winners of 1998 to Croke Park last week, with the players from the Leinster county showing up on Jones' Road to receive acknowledgment for their win quarter of a century prior.
While this should have been a nice moment, it was somewhat ruined by its timing. The Offaly lads were sent onto the pitch well before the game between Limerick and Kilkenny, meaning there were very few spectators in the stands to give them the ovation that they deserve.
The GAA came in for a huge amount of criticism on the back of last week's game, with Donal Óg Cusack saying that the Offaly players deserved better. As well as that, Anthony Daly hammered the timing when speaking on the Irish Exmainer's Dalo Podcast and said that his 1996 Clare team were not treated all that well the previous year:
Have we thrown away such of our traditions of All-Ireland final day? Feckin July...
The 25 year team, I was that chap last year. It felt like we were being treated like the dirt of the road, I have to say, being marched out and marched off.
Other stuff as well, none of the teams staying in Dublin [on Sunday night]. I know when this show goes out, people will tweet back, 'Why should they be leaving money in Dublin?'
23 July 2023; Michael Duignan of the Offaly 1998 All-Ireland winning Jubilee team as the team are honoured before the the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship final match between Kilkenny and Limerick at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Daire Brennan/Sportsfile
Unfortunately, we saw this controversial move repeated by the GAA this afternoon.
On this occasion, it was the Galway Sam Maguire winning side of 1998 that were marched out onto the pitch in front of essentially empty stands.
Speaking on RTÉ, Peter Canavan said that it really wasn't good enough.
First of all, it's a shame that that brilliant Galway team of 1998 were not shown to the crowd when there was more people in here at halftime.
He was right to call it out.
Both Ciaran Whelan and Tomás Ó Sé would go on to praise the quality in that Galway team during their successful run in the late 90s and early 00s.
Whelan: They were a top class team, particualrl Michael Donnellan and Ja Fallon. I came out on the wrong side against a lot of these at minor level as well, they had brilliant team in 1994 and went on to deliver in 1998 and 2001 (at senior). They were a brilliant team to watch.
Ó Sé: I marked Donnellan in the first game (with Kerry) in 2000 and we drew with them. I wasn't marking them in the second game! I couldn't catch him at all.
That Galway side were incredible and it would have been brilliant to see them properly appreciated this afternoon.
This is something the GAA need to change moving forward.
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