Dual counties feel the fixture squeeze

Nobody can deny the appeal of finishing the club season in the calendar year. It’s neat, it’s tidy, reports John Fogarty. 

The gap between provincial finals and All-Ireland semi-finals is so long, it can skew the competition, similar to how the National League was distorted when rounds were played prior to Christmas.

But take a closer look and the fault-lines, the many fault-lines, reveal themselves. The practicality of the Football Review Committee proposal to have everything that is club over and done with by mid-December can be likened to spinning dozens of plates all at once and hoping none of them fall.