Halving counties would double the problems
The midland lads weren’t merely the latest David to give Goliath a good chinning when they toppled the mighty Dubs in the Leinster U21 championship on Wednesday, they also punctured the ballooning guff about the capital being sliced in two along the banks of the Liffey lest they lay waste to the rest of the footballing landscape.
This was an idea that first raised its curious head back in 2002 when a Strategic Review Committee spearheaded by Christy Cooney, who would go on to become GAA president, proposed it and, in fairness, it isn’t all that hard to understand why such a concept would generate backers in the first place.
You may even be tempted to argue that it is surely all the more necessary now given Dublin have claimed nine of the last 12 provincial titles available at minor, U21 levels and senior levels, and four All-Irelands besides, and that future successes are all but assured given the millions pumped into the game’s grass roots this last decade or so.
Let’s keep it in perspective though. Cork and Kerry, for example, have known plenty of dominant periods at various age groups down the years and no-one has suggested the establishment of a Boundary Commission while Kilkenny have at times reduced the rest of Leinster to serfdom with their all-conquering conveyor belt.
In the last 15 years, the Cats have hoarded 32 of the available 45 provincial titles at the three main grades, as well as 18 All-Irelands, so how is it that no-one has produced a map of the county with a red line drawn down the middle with the Marble City itself perhaps serving as the demarcation line between the erstwhile allies.
Because that would be ridiculous, right? Of course it would, so why should Dublin be any different. Yes, Dublin’s growing dominance is triggering alarm bells but where would such splintering end? Why should Dublin be treated differently when the rest of the country’s demographics and traditional county boundaries would continue to enable some counties and disable others?
Let’s take the most obvious example. Leitrim, with its population of just over 30,000 would still be Leitrim and they would still have to face up to Galway every other year or so: a county with over 230,000 living souls in it according to the last Census in 2011. So, would they be next? Forgive the glibness but there is more to be considered when this line of thinking crops up than mere numbers. The GAA is rightly proud of its history and traditions so how would the old war cry about doing it for the county jersey stand up if the geansai in question was that of North Dublin or whatever title would be tippexed on to the new units of choice?
To take it further, you would quite conceivably give birth to an utterly farcical situation whereby talented young dual players from the likes of Blanchardstown and Blackrock would play alongside each other for the Dublin hurlers one week and against each other when they turned their attentions to the bigger ball.
All of which is to get away from the basic fact that sports is nothing if not a globalised animal farm. Teams may line up on the principle that they are equal at the first whistle but everyone knows that some are more equal than others and therein lies the joy of seeing or hearing about results such as that which was produced at Parnell Park in midweek when Dessie Farrell’s favourites were humbled.
If people really wanted to do something about Dublin’s dominance then they could start with why everyone so meekly accepts a situation where they are allowed play the vast majority of their games at the same stadium year after year, but then that is to strike at the heart of why the county will never be sundered: money.
Why would anyone in their right mind do anything to derail the gravy train that is ‘The Dubs’? It is why they are wedded to home comforts at Croke Park and the simple fact is that their continued success will keep the cash registers ticking over at GAA HQ regardless of whether the country is still mired in recession or not.
For the rest of us, it may get a tad monotonous for a while. We may very well have to put up with a succession of Septembers when a man in sky blue ascends the Hogan Stand to reclaim Sam for another winter but, then again, we may not.
Underage success tends to be ephemeral. The very victories that are gained can and do corrode the hunger and structures which delivered them in the first place and there will come a day again when the Dubs are swallowed up by the pack.
It just may not be tomorrow, or the day after.
Email: brendan.obrien@examiner.ie Twitter: @Rackob
