Toher leading by example
June 01, 2016
Antrim's Conor Carson and James Toher of Meath with the Christy Ring Cup at a media event.
©INPHO/Morgan Treacy.
Meath captain James Toher hopes their achievement in reaching the Christy Ring final will inspire the next generation of Royal County hurlers.
Toher, who sent over 12 points in the semi-final win over Kildare, and his team-mates will square up to Antrim in Croke Park on Saturday.
It will be their first final appearance in the competition and, speaking to The Irish News, he stated: "If Meath hurlers were born somewhere else in the country, you'd be surprised at how many of them would make it at a high level.
"Unfortunately for those guys, an awful lot of Meath is football and there's no other way of saying it. There's a few pockets of Meath that are die-hard hurling and then a couple of pockets again with dual clubs, like Trim. They would take one code as serious as the next.
"But what you'd regularly see is quality young hurlers in Meath who would have stopped playing hurling because they didn't see a future in it and went to football or athletics or something else. I do think we're making progress and making waves in that regard and encouraging the next generation to leave the game in a better place.
"I'm not saying we've done anything amazing, but hopefully the next generation will say, 'hold on, if those guys are getting to Croke Park then I want to get there too and play in the Leinster Hurling Championship'.
"That'll hopefully happen, but it can't be done unless there's total support. You're relying on a very small few to lift an awful lot of the weight at the moment. Hopefully, this final will open a few people's eyes that way."
