The Fogarty Forum: Ten truths to share after a below-par league season
1. If you think Gaelic football is dead you’re a sucker. If you rolled your eyes at those who grieved the game’s demise then you’re just as much a mark. We were all had. Jarlath Burns in making his declaration was just as deliberately provocative as Joe Brolly when he made his “indentured slaves” remark. Burns wanted a reaction. He wanted to start a debate. He succeeded on both counts. Cut away the grandstanding and the reality is Gaelic football is in difficulty. Replay finals or not, hurling championship attendances, considering the number of teams involved, should really never exceed those of football. Yet that is exactly what’s happened last season. We need not wonder why.
2. For the third time since Division 1 semi-finals were introduced in 2012, a team with just three wins from seven games will be in the shake-up for a league title. Mayo didn’t win a title in either 2012 or 2013 and the chances are Donegal aren’t likely to be so gung-ho for a title because of bigger challenges ahead. But their presence in the knockout stages after a mediocre campaign says more about the competition structure than them.
