John Fogarty: Time to give hurling the football final slot

Cork have a gaping three-week break in their provincial campaign. Provincial finalists have a yawning four weeks to wait for their All-Ireland semi-finals. Does there really need to be two weeks between All-Ireland quarter and semi-finals? Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

For the second year in a row, the GAA are set to release their finalised master fixtures on this, the shortest day of the year.

No amount of Christmas cheer is going to boost the immunity of the GAA leaders from a sense of déjà vu.

When we say finalised, Croke Park and everyone else knows there is no guarantee the confirmed matrix of games will be played out given the escalating nature of the pandemic.

With no prior warning from the Government, the GAA’s best laid plans for 2021 were pulled from under their feet as a result of senior inter-county games being removed from the Level 5 exempted sports list.

As late as Christmas Eve 2020, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media informed the GAA that inter-county matches could take place as had been planned from February. By New Year’s Eve and with Covid cases reaching unprecedented numbers, an exception was no longer made for them.

You might recall that as part of the original fixtures list slimmed down versions of the Allianz Leagues were due to start at the end of February, the provincial championships in April with backdoor formats in both codes as well as the Tailteann Cup in football and the return of the round-robin provinces in hurling. The All-Ireland finals were also scheduled for July, as they are again next year.

However, the GAA had to issue a revised fixtures layout in April with the league not commencing until May 8 and football the following week. The provincial league formats were scrapped in hurling as were the qualifier route and Tailteann Cup in football.

At the very least, the GAA know what they can sacrifice if there happens to be a delay to the start of their 2022 season. However, the outlook is not so bleak this time around. Even with crowds cut in half or 5,000, whichever is lower, in the 26 counties until the end of January, restrictions are nothing like the prescribed levels of 2020 or early last year.

If there was an opportunity for the GAA to revise the current masters fixtures, it should be so that more inter-county hurling games are arranged for the height of summer and conditions are likely to be more complementary to the game. The clocks will only have gone forward three weeks next year when the Liam MacCarthy Cup will commence. By the end of May, possibly earlier, five of the 11 counties will be out of the competition.

Why does the hurling championship have to commence at the same time as football in April when there is ample time in May, June, and July? Cork have a gaping three-week break in their provincial campaign. Provincial finalists have a yawning four weeks to wait for their All-Ireland semi-finals. Does there really need to be two weeks between All-Ireland quarter and semi-finals?

And does the football final have to be the last final? In his annual report four years ago, GAA director general Páraic Duffy opened up the possibility of the hurling final bringing down the curtain on the inter-county season. He wrote: “The motion on the timing of the All-Ireland finals that will go before Congress will ask that both All-Ireland senior finals be played on or before the last Sunday in August, on dates determined by Central Congress.“It does not specify a particular Sunday, nor the order in which the finals would be played. There is absolutely no reason, therefore, why Central Council could not decide to play the hurling final after the football final, if it was concerned that there would be too few major hurling games in July or August.”

Duffy was speaking in relation to his Super 8 proposal, which in 2019 contributed towards 18 football games being played across July and August in contrast to hurling’s seven. In 2022, the All-Ireland final and semi-finals will be the only Liam MacCarthy Cup games in July. In June, there are six, possibly seven. The Sam Maguire Cup also has three games in July but there are 12 in the previous month.

Whether it’s the green or red proposal that is adopted by Central Council next month to go forward to February’s Annual Congress, it is envisaged there will be more games at the business end of the Sam Maguire Cup from 2023 onwards.

But hurling shouldn’t have to lose out on prime summer dates to football. By giving the Liam MacCarthy Cup the last All-Ireland final slot in late July and returning to a 10-team format (to include the Joe McDonagh finalists at the preliminary quarter-finals stage) in 2023, the championship could commence in May and over 13 weekends set the summer ablaze.

The early provincial football fare, so starved of live TV coverage, would also benefit from two exclusive weekends in April. That makes more sense than staging 10 Liam MacCarthy Cup games in a month known for showers.

Is Friday fix the way to go?

Analysis of the seven major provincial pre-season competitions shows a growing move away from weekend games.

As this newspaper reports, over half of the Co-Op Munster Hurling League and McGrath Cup games next month are being played on week nights. Only one of the four matches in the FBD Connacht League — Roscommon v Sligo/Leitrim — has been organised for a weekend.

In Leinster, the second round of the O’Byrne Cup will again be played midweek as will the semi-finals. All Walsh Cup matches are down for weekend dates but six of the nine McKenna Cup fixtures will be played on weeknights.

A mitigating factor in all this is the determination of football teams to play their campaigns over a concentrated period as they build towards the start of their Allianz League campaigns at the end of January. Also, it is easier to arrange midweek fixtures in the tail end of the Christmas period when players have not yet returned to work or university.

However, the provincial aspect of the competitions clearly lends itself to staging these games away from non-traditional throw-in times. The relatively close proximity of counties to one another means the logistics around evening games aren’t as difficult to negotiate.

Earlier this year, hurling counties had discussed playing some Allianz League matches midweek if it meant they could retain the original five-round format. In the end, they simply started the league a week earlier than scheduled but there had been serious discussions about midweek games. 

In October, the Gaelic Players Association were keeping an open mind about Friday night games. GPA co-chairperson Maria Kinsella said: “I think we’ve also seen the amount of coverage the ladies’ game has received on TG4 as a result of having no competition (on a Friday night). The LGFA came out quite strategically and said we’re only going to make it happen if there are two neighbouring counties. I think something like that is logistically just common sense for a Friday night game.”

If they’re on board, it could be the future.

Home comforts for Leinster champions

It’s 10 years since Dublin’s spring series began in Croke Park. Coming off a promising 2010 season when they were eventually worn down by Cork in their All-Ireland semi-final, the decision to move games to GAA HQ was an inspired one.

Seeing as the hurlers also played there more often as a result, the argument that their familiarity with the place paved the way for the success of the footballers isn’t completely watertight but lining out so often on top of their Leinster appearances contributed to making it their virtual home venue.

This past weekend, the Leinster senior club football semi-finalists and hurling finalists were afforded the great opportunity to play there. Ballyhale Shamrocks hardly needed a reminder of the place where they have experienced so much glory but it was a distinct edge over new boys Clough-Ballacolla. Kilmacud Crokes and Naas will be the better for their run-outs in two riveting SFC semi-finals on Saturday.

Going into next month’s All-Ireland series, the province’s senior champions will have a distinct advantage over their rivals whether it’s just the finals or also the semi-finals that are scheduled for Croke Park.

While Shamrocks’s semi opponents St Thomas’s lost to them on Jones Road in the 2019 final and Slaughtneil have football experience of the venue, Ballygunner have yet to grace the sod while many of Kilmallock’s side didn’t play in the 2015 loss to Shamrocks.

Kilcoo were in the 2020 final but it would literally be new terrain for Derrygonnelly Harps, Austin Stacks, St Finbarrs, Knockmore, and Pádraig Pearses.

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