An Fear Rua is one of those people who strongly believes that unless we bring the Youth with us, there is no real future for the GAA…

Many's the time he has preached this gospel to AGMs of Gowlnacalley-John Redmonds and at other appropriate GAA gatherings, often at times when it fell on deaf ears and was neither popular nor profitable.

It was in that spirit, therefore, that An Fear Rua recently took a pair of favourite grand nephews to see the GAA Museum in Croke Park. This fine pair of red heads - a six year old and an eight year old - have the privilege of living in the heart of the Royal County of Meath, within easy walking distance of Evan Kelly, Richie Kealy, Jimmy McGuinness and John McDermott. They've been at each one of Meath's League matches at Navan this season and have attended every phase of this year's and last year's Leinster Championship. In fact, they confidently expect to be in Croke Park to see Stephen Bray lift the Sam Maguire in September. These are lads whose love for Meath football is so deep that their mother has to maintain not one, but two, Meath jerseys for them - one to wear, while another is in the wash.

So, when they stepped inside the portals of the GAA Museum on a quiet evening the other day, they couldn't believe their luck. Forget about Dublin Zoo or Duffy's Circus or even one of those new-fangled burger joints … this was the place they wanted to be. One of the early exhibits in the museum is a series of video monitors showing highlights of great games of Gaelic football, hurling and handball. Naturally, these included quite a number of scenes of Meath triumphing, and these little lads got a bit carried away. There were cries of 'Go on ya good thing!', 'C'mon Meath!' and so on as the excitement mounted. An Fear Rua felt happy that the ancient games were working their magic one more time. A couple of moments later, a member of the museum staff from the reception desk came over and said: ' Could you ask them to keep quiet ...? '

Well, well, well… An Fear Rua didn't know whether to laugh, cry or explode with anger. Not content with keeping people off the pitch in Croke Park in rare moments of celebration, some GAA officials now want us to keep quiet in their Museum. In ainm Dé, is it a museum or a mausoleum they're running there?!

Surely we should be encouraging rather than stifling the nascent enthusiasm and love of youngsters for our native games. The whole essence of watching Gaelic football is cheering - whether for parish, club, county or province. Asking young kids to stay as quiet as church mice while watching, say, Caoimhín King bursting through a wall of navy-and-blue clad defenders is like asking Vladimir Putin not to open another bottle of vodka. An Fear Rua wouldn't mind, only apart from himself and the two grand nephews, there were only three other people in the museum at the time, so the kids could hardly be accused of disturbing other customers.

Indeed, the presence of no more than five visitors on an afternoon in the height of the tourist season, with children everywhere off school, raises the question of whether the museum is getting the kind of attendance it should be, or whether or not it is being promoted properly. That might be more in their line than 'shushing' six year olds, thinks An Fear Rua.

For make no mistake about it, even to the most casual follower of Gaelic games the Croke Park museum is a pleasure to be savoured not once, but on many occasions. It's worth going to see the historical videos alone. But the collection of artefacts - jerseys, medals, hurleys, balls, books, databases etc (much of it cleverly interactive) - is breathtaking; not just in themselves but for the compelling manner in which they are woven together thematically and brilliantly explained.

An Fear Rua strongly recommends a visit to the Museum for children of all ages. And whether you're nine or ninety nine, don't let the begrudgers silence you if you feel like giving out a whoop of joy or encouragement or even - God bless the mark - a Clare Shout ... Yee-hah-hooooooo...