Frank Murphy really hit the nail on the head
“Why are we amending something which has been such a success?” he asked. “These have drawn crowds of 30,000 or 40,000 and to think they’d be replaced by a league game in Croke Park is a farce.”
Thankfully, today won’t be the last of them. If the season is to be condensed into the calendar year, counties will need at least a year’s notice so they can realign their championships. At this stage, 2017 is a safer bet if the proposals are to be adopted at all.
But if there was a March 17 to go out on, today would have been a suitable candidate. The four provinces are presented in the finals for the first time since 2010. Kilmallock’s against-the-odds season has been worth following. Will King Henry abdicate his throne? The story of the hamlet of Slaughtneil is a wholesome one, while Corofin’s brand of football has been a privilege to watch.
On our national day, when Croker is a haven from the paddywhackery elsewhere, the GAA has every right to believe their ultimate club day chimes with it. But any smugness about heritage and authenticity can be spared. Just as the county scene has become a hotbed for outside managers (14 in football, three of the 14 Liam MacCarthy Cup hurling teams), so too has the pinnacle of the club scene.
Today, the winning managers in both codes will be from outside the club. Tipperary men Colm Bonnar and Andy Moloney, a Waterford midfielder under Justin McCarthy, take the helm of Ballyhale.
One of Clarecastle’s finest Ger “Sparrow” O’Loughlin is in charge of Kilmallock, having succeeded fellow Clare man Tony Considine.
In the football decider, Mickey Moran of Slaughtneil’s rivals Glen hopes to guide his adopted club to the Andy Merrigan Cup just as Crossmolina’s Stephen Rochford will be with Corofin.
It’s a first for All-Ireland Club finals day. Just two of the last 10 All-Ireland Club SFC winning managers have come from outside the club — Paddy Carr with Kilmacud Crokes in 2009 and Kevin McStay with St Brigid’s in 2013. In hurling, James McGarry and Dinny Cahill helped guide Ballyhale Shamrocks and Portumnato success in the same time-span. However, the presence of these men on the sideline is indicative of not where the game is going but where it already is.
Kilkenny may be perceived as a “grown your own” county for managers but, as well as Bennettsbridge’s McGarry, they’ve had former Offaly and Limerick manager, Birr’s Pad Joe Whelahan, in as well.
Ballinrobe-based Rochford was the first Corofin manager to be appointed from outside the club. Much like Ballyhale did when Bonnar and Moloney failed to settle with Ballygunner, they came to Rochford after he was turned down for the Mayo U21 job.
In Derry, there has been some disquiet in Moran’s own club about his switch to Slaughtneil but it’s become par for the course. Two years ago, half of the 16 Division 2 football teams in Tyrone were from outside the club.
The issue, mentioned by GAA director Páraic Duffy in his paper on payments to managers three years ago, has only exacerbated. He wrote: “(T)his ‘outside manager’ recruitment at club level is an unhelpful phenomenon, as it inhibits the natural development, progression and renewal vital within clubs. It also frustrates the legitimate ambitions of the new generation of managers and coaches clubs should seek to promote.”
Joe Brolly has spoken on putting the same restrictions on managers as players, ie only manage your own club and county.
Utopian or draconian, it’s a proposal unlikely to be accepted when the proof of the success of outside bosses has been in the eating. The number of outside managers winning All-Irelands at county level might be slim (John O’Mahony, Eamonn Cregan, Michael Bond, Diarmuid Healy, Eugene McGee) but ask people in Kildare, Westmeath, Laois and Dublin what Messrs O’Dwyer, Ó Sé and Daly brought to them in provincial titles and they will say pure joy.
Winning colours everything more vividly but listen to what Slaughtneil and Ballyhale players say about their respective managers and they don’t sound like the mercenaries outside managers can be painted as.
“Maybe in years gone past, as a small club you go out and play off the cuff and hope for the best. This year Mickey has brought more tactical awareness and more of a game-plan,” says Patsy Bradley of Moran.
“I don’t know what Colm Bonnar and Andy Moloney did but there are so many young lads after coming back into the club and we’re having 15-on-15 challenge matches in the club, which I haven’t had since I was a young chap,” reports Colin Fennelly.
A sense of belonging is wonderful and preferable but expertise is essential. Wasn’t St Patrick a Welshman, after all?
Unless it is followed by another, one victory or defeat should never be considered in isolation, especially at this time of year.
Kilkenny’s win over Cork in Páirc Uí Rinn on the opening day last month was held up, in some quarters, as evidence they should never be written off.
Nobody actually did write them off but the point was made they would struggle in Division 1A with so many players unavailable to them this spring. Their three defeats that followed don’t point at any crisis for Kilkenny — Tipperary shouldn’t read much into what happened in Thurles on Sunday — but they will need considerable time to replace key personnel who retired in recent months. With the Ballyhale Shamrocks players back in harness for their relegation final, they will be well placed to retain their Division 1A status. But at least this campaign has been an education for people that the Liam MacCarthy Cup race is shaping up to be more open than they believe it is.
Predictions: Division 1A: 1. Tipperary 2. Cork 3. Dublin 4. Galway 5. Kilkenny 6. Clare. Division 1B: 1. Wexford 2. Waterford 3. Limerick 4. Offaly 5. Laois 6. Antrim.
Before Saturday’s game in Castlebar, we jested on Twitter that Mayo were doing far too much kick-passing in their warm-up to win the game. Some of their best work was done in those 15 minutes.
It’s difficult to accept Mayo were prepared sufficiently to take on the visit of Dublin. It seemed they had done too much or too little during the week.
Might the same be said for Kerry against Cork? Anthony Maher was killing them in the first half in Páirc Uí Rinn before he was withdrawn with suspected concussion. The midfielder was back and starring against Donegal on Sunday, meaning he never suffered it. Again, nobody’s suggesting divilment but the move was precautionary. Would he have been as easily replaced in a Munster final?
When not every punch has to land at this time of year does it really matter when one or two don’t connect? In this era of behind closed doors, what isn’t there to believe?
