FORMER TIPPERARY SENIOR hurling team manager Michael ‘Babs’ Keating was refused tickets to the All-Ireland final by county board chiefs last month.
Keating was snubbed following comments he made in a newspaper column in the wake of Tipp’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Galway.
County board secretary Tim Floyd was so annoyed by Keating’s remarks that he turned down a request from the 1989 and 1991 All-Ireland winning manager for final tickets.
Keating subsequently wrote to the county board to express disappointment after he was refused All-Ireland final passes for the first time in 55 years.
A long-standing tradition in Tipperary is that ex-players and former members of management teams receive tickets for the biggest hurling day of the year from Premier County top brass.
But at a board meeting of county management officials on September 15, Floyd revealed that he was “so disgusted” by Keating’s rant that he “could not bring himself to supply him with tickets.”
Keating’s newspaper article was circulated to committee members on the night and Floyd’s fellow members were “unanimous” in their support of his stance.
Keating had criticised the “extravagance” of spending related to Eamon O’Shea’s senior in a column headed ‘Tipp’s trips to push hotels insults fans.’
The piece ran on Monday, August 24, eight days after Tipp lost to Galway, which gave Keating plenty of time to plan his assault.
Keating slammed Tipp’s training stint at Carton House a week before the game and queried “what all the extra expert advisors were at during their time at Carton House” as his view was that “Tipperary didn’t seem to have a plan in place at Croke Park (against Galway).”
Meanwhile, county board officials have also expressed disappointment with Liam Cahill’s recent call for increased funding and resources for underage hurling in Tipperary.
Cahill, who guided Tipp to the All-Ireland minor decider against Galway, spoke out in the wake of the team’s defeat, insisting that “we need help from our county board in relation to resources and finances.”
But county board officials “resented recent comments on radio airways about lack of investment and little being done with county development squads.”
