John Fogarty: Championship draw proved provinces still hold sway
STRAIGHT SHOOTER: Seán Cavanagh ‘wasn’t willing to sell a pup’ last Saturday on RTÉ Radio’s draw coverage, says John Fogarty. Pic: INPHO/James Crombie
If there was a memo to stay onside with the GAA on RTÉ Radio 1’s ‘Saturday Sport’ this past weekend, Seán Cavanagh didn’t get it.
The national broadcaster may have become more discerning in their coverage of the provincial football championships in recent years, and understandably so, but with GAA vice-presidents (provincial chairs) in attendance for the 2023 draws and the new round of media rights still not confirmed, it behooved the hosts to be on their best behaviour.
Presenters Des Cahill and Joanne Cantwell made valiant attempts to promote the centrepiece of the programme. It was billed as the most important provincial championship draw in years but the fact it was being carried out on radio and not TV said all there had to be said.
And Cavanagh?
Well, Cavanagh wasn’t willing to sell a pup. From possibly landing Tyrone in it by mentioning he had heard they were already back training, he was in wicked form.
On the lop-sided nature of the Connacht draw, he remarked: “It highlights the madness of this provisional system as well that we’re now talking about Division 4 teams going to be guaranteed a place in the Sam Maguire Cup while there are a stack of Division 2 teams, some of them top provincial teams, that are more than likely going to miss out at this stage. The system is a crazy one.”
On his former RTÉ colleague and new Meath manager Colm O’Rourke’s hopes of competing with Dublin in 2023, he was completely dismissive: “I often had that conversation with Colm in studio behind the scenes and he wasn’t that confident before he took the job. I know he has to be positive. I personally do feel they’re still a long way off.”
On Ulster counties being envious of the Munster SFC: “I kinda laugh at the Munster football championship. It’s lunacy, really. There’s no team going to win it outside of Kerry, really, at this stage. You’ve got three evenly-matched Division 2 teams that are probably all going to hope to stay in Division 2 and the right side of the Sam Maguire. The relevance of the Munster championship is fairly insignificant in terms of the greater championship.”
Cahill did allow Munster chairman Ger Ryan to respond to Cavanagh’s comments and the Tipperary man made the point that three teams — Kerry, Clare, and Cork— were involved in the All-Ireland quarter-finals this past year. To help balance the scales, Cantwell mentioned Tipperary’s 2020 success but the damage had been done.
After Clare were drawn against Kerry in the Munster SFC for the umpteenth time four years ago, Colm Collins’ dejection on live TV was an awful reflection on the provincial draw but Cavanagh’s withering takes on all but his own beloved championship were damning. Ryan was right to highlight Munster counties comprised almost half of the quarter-finals this past season — Ulster’s representations was two.
However, Clare and Cork exited at that point to the tune of 20 and 11 points respectively. And while some of Cavanagh’s opinion of the southern province was gratuitous, he too was correct in stressing the league is where they are going to put the majority of their eggs seeing as finishing in the top five in Division 2 should secure them a place in the Sam Maguire Cup.
Ending up in sixth, while escaping relegation, is perilous now that Westmeath and one of Connacht’s Division 4 set of Leitrim, London, and Sligo as well as New York courtesy of the province’s draw will be taking two of the 16 places.
The managers of those four Connacht teams are wise enough to know that three Tailteann Cup games would be far more beneficial to them than the maximum of three they will get in the Sam Maguire Cup. Sure, Dublin or Kerry may end up travelling to Carrick-on-Shannon, Ruislip, or Sligo town but it’s competition, not crowds that will develop their sides. And it’s not as if leading Connacht officials are all that hung up on the provincial system that has led to this anomaly.
Yes, secretary John Prenty was part of the group that signed off on this 2023 format but he has spoken in the past of redrawing the provinces into conferences and the possibility of an open draw. Should a traditional side like Cork, Kildare, or Meath lose a top 16 spot to a lowly Connacht team next May, the new All-Ireland SFC structure will be under pressure before it has even begun.
But such is the quirk in a system, which was rightly aimed at pitting the better teams against one another but had to keep the provinces on board in order to do so. Make no mistake, the provincial championships’ relevance has been diminished as they are played over smaller timeframes.
This new structure is a short-term fix that is too hectic coming in the quick wake of a seven-round league. It is but a staging post on a road towards something better but Saturday’s draw proved the provinces still hold sway.
When it was the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) who first floated the idea of the split season, stealing a march on GAA president John Horan, it was understandable that they took offence to claims to the contrary on Sunday.
In his Sunday Independent column, Joe Brolly wrote of the GPA being against the new structure of the GAA season, which prompted the official inter-county players’ body’s head of communications Kieran McSweeney to post on Twitter: “A national newspaper this morning allows an article to be published talking about the GPA arguing against the split-season. Is it ignorance or deliberately misleading? Or maybe just poor editorial oversight? Because a quick Google search finds the truth.”
It was indeed former GPA chief executive Paul Flynn who broached the idea of separating the inter-county and club windows in August 2020.
The confusion on Brolly’s part may lie in GPA president Dónal Óg Cusack’s opposition to the inter-county period being condensed but his is a personal view that didn’t reflect how the body voted nor their stance now.
Such carelessness should be taken to task but that’s not to say the GPA’s attitude to the split season is above reproach. Succeeding in pushing the inter-county collective start date from December 8 to November 24 extends the season and negatively impacts the training-to-games ratio.
GPA chief executive Tom Parsons explained that an earlier date is needed to prepare players for what lies ahead and they would have sought a December beginning had the pre-season competitions been culled. But that would have also skewed the training-game ratio in favour of the former.
Also, the November start only legitimises counties returning to training earlier than permitted, particularly when the jostling for Sam Maguire Cup spots in Division 2 is going to be ferocious in the wake of the Connacht draw.
It’s time to strengthen resolve of refs
It may largely be reactive and most certainly late but the GAA’s determination to instil a healthier appreciation of referees looks and feels genuine.
That’s not to say that there aren’t flaws. The forthcoming “Respect the Referee” days due to take place at this weekend’s senior county finals have all the hallmarks of a stunt.
One that feels as arbitrary as the erstwhile Lá na gClub.
Clearly, they are being used as a focal point for initiatives to follow and GAA president Larry McCarthy last week acknowledged this is only the start of what he hopes will be a move towards changing the association’s culture towards referees. However, cups of tea and sympathy only go so far.
What was missing from last week’s launch were precise details of exactly what is going to be laid out for match officials. Performance coaches/psychologists have worked with leading referees before — shouldn’t that be expanded across the board?
In Sunday’s Kilkenny SHC final, referee Conor Everard, who was largely laissez-faire in his approach, sent off Ballyhale Shamrocks midfielder Paddy Mullen for a wild swing, which might not have merited a red card had it taken place closer to the middle of the field. But under the Grace Stand the offended reaction of the James Stephens crowd and sideline to the pull may have coloured Everard’s opinion. Preparing referees to make such big calls should be as much a part of this respect drive as anything else.
