John Fogarty: Seven holes in GAA’s 2022 calendar
Referee David Murnane convinces St Finbarr's players on his decision to award a free to Clonakilty during the Cork Premier SFC final. Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Only when the Allianz League fixtures are confirmed will the GAA’s master fixtures for next year be officially released.
But even at that Croke Park might be tempted to add a caveat or two given how the rug was pulled from under their feet by the Government last December.
The fixture planners hope what was presented to Central Council last Saturday week will be the structure followed in 2022. Featuring the first fully-fledged split season, the inaugural July All-Ireland senior finals and a first Tailteann Cup at the third time of asking, as GAA president Larry McCarthy recently said it will be a milestone year.
Notwithstanding that, the GAA’s 2022 fixtures list illustrates its calendar is imperfect. And here’s why:
Bearing in mind the large gaps between matches in both championships, that the two All-Ireland senior finals are to be played on successive weekends in July seems unnecessarily cramped. Explaining that giving the gap weekend between the finals to the clubs would be more beneficial, the GAA fixtures review task force actually made a stronger argument to retain it: “The Association has also always maintained a two-week gap between the staging of the Senior All-Ireland Hurling and Football Finals – there are good reasons for this: It maximises media coverage for showpiece events (and) it provides necessary time for ticket distribution (which remains primarily the responsibility of volunteers) at both club and county level.” Build-ups to both games are sure to be impacted by their proximity to one another. Moving further away from September, this is one tradition that should have been kept.
The three-in-a-row is already beginning to feature in conversations in Limerick but aside from franking their dominance another motivation may be becoming the first county to win provincial round robin and All-Ireland honours. Limerick finished third in Munster when they won in 2018 and Tipperary lost to them in the provincial final the following season before they went all the way. A four-week break between the provincial final weekend (June 5) and All-Ireland semi-final weekend (July 4) as their opposition win once or twice in the meantime is not helpful.
As Pearse Stadium’s capacity will surely be threatened when Brian Cody and Henry Shefflin share the whitewash on April 30 or May 1, the Leinster Council can look forward to a bumper spring/summer all going well. But their sequencing of games lacks imagination. As was the case in 2018 and ‘19, the clashes of Kilkenny-Wexford and Galway-Dublin are part of the final round of games. At least Munster shuffle their deck - what were the Round 1 pairings in 2019 are Round 5 next year, the ‘19 Round 2 matches becoming Round 1 in 2022 and so on.
That’s not to say Munster’s is perfect. With the extra week that has been provided to them as a result of Leinster needing another additional week to facilitate six teams in 2022, one team - the first up being Cork - have no game for three weeks then three in the space of 13 or 14 days. Two of those games will also be on the road. Luck of the draw, perhaps, nevertheless unfair.
However, there will be little sympathy for Cork if Ed Sheeran concerts mean they have to play one if not two of their home championship games outside Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Somebody might not have got the memo about how the new split season works but then the stadium’s debt is too considerable to ignore. Not only does it appear the Cork-Clare Munster SHC game may have to be staged elsewhere, the football semi-final meeting with Kerry - due to be played on May 14/15 at the latest - could also be moved.
After aborted attempts the past couple of seasons, the Tailteann Cup simply has to take place in 2022 if only to establish the fact that inter-county Gaelic football has accepted it requires tiers. However, the Tailteann Cup as it is presented next year might be a more attractive proposition under a potential new format in 2023. Giving the semi-finals of it an exclusive Sunday close to the end of June smacks of overcompensation.
Obviously, no games could be played on the national holiday the last two years but failing to organise national games for next year’s date, as much as it falls on a Thursday, is a missed opportunity. With the final round of the hurling league and football’s penultimate round taking place a couple of days later, bringing forward a game or series of games would restore the GAA’s deserved presence on Lá Fhéile Phádraig.
Coming two days after the retirement of the last Cork player to line out for both of his county’s Liam MacCarthy and Sam Maguire Cup teams in the one season, there was at least some joy for the dual player with Loughmore-Castleiney’s success on Sunday.
As Mike Moynihan wrote in these pages on Saturday, Eoin Cadogan’s inter-county retirement marks the end of an era, an age of innocence if you will, when those who could give most to their counties could.
When the likes of Podge Collins step away, the chord at senior inter-county level will be well and truly cut. It is already frayed at under-age level when players are being asked to specialise but at least there are measures in some counties that are sustaining the senior dual player.
Waterford and Wexford’s decision to split their codes and play out the adult hurling championships before football appears to have been a success not just in enjoyment and quality but also at the turnstiles. The surprise loss of Rapparees to Clough-Ballacolla having been out of action since mid-September will raise an eyebrow or two but Waterford representatives Ballygunner had no problem overcoming their break since early October and neither did Dunhill.
In 2013, then GAA president Liam O’Neill expressed his wish to facilitate the dual player at inter-county level. “If we are putting players first, they should have the freedom to play whichever sport. They are amateur games, after all, and my wish would be that a player who wants to play both codes should be facilitated.”
O’Neill knew he was being aspirational and if we didn’t already know that the elite dual player is a thing of the past it was constructively revealed last week when the 2022 All-Ireland senior finals were confirmed for July, one Sunday after the other.
Days like Sunday for Loughmore-Castleiney and others for St Eunan’s, Naas and Kilmacud Crokes this year and clubs like Slaughtneil are vital reminders both games can be mastered. Call it romantic, we call it achieving.
Speaking about those dual accomplishments, spare a thought for Tom Mullally who as Naas manager must now face down his own Glenmore in Saturday week’s Leinster intermediate hurling semi-final.
Naturally, he won’t be the first nor the last to be in such a position. Two years ago, John McEntee masterminded Clontibret’s win over his own Crossmaglen Rangers. “I'm absolutely glad it's over,” McEntee said after the game. “I knew it was always going to be difficult. I didn't want to be seen to be part of the celebrations… It's not a nice place to be when you're managing against your own club. I suppose it's a while since I managed those (Crossmaglen) fellas but at the same token my blood is black and amber.”
In 2012, faced with the prospect of preparing Errigal Ciarán against his beloved Ballinderry Shamrocks in an Ulster SFC opener, Ronan McGuckin temporarily stepped down. His old Ballinderry team-mate and former Derry star Conleith Gilligan said at the time: "No matter what Ronan would have chosen to do, as players who played with him for 10 or 12 years, and as friends we would have backed him whatever he decided to do. And look, he couldn't manage against his own team."
Listen to Eamon Cregan speak about the turmoil he went through at the final whistle of the 1994 All-Ireland SHC final and the difficulty of going up against your own is spelled out loud and clear. Mullally is only where he is now because of success but it’s one hell of a tight spot.
Email: john.fogarty@examiner.ie
