Gaelic football badly needs some sleeping giants to roar
“Down players have uncles or neighbours who played on All-Ireland winning teams,” he’d say.
“It is like a smaller version of Kerry. It creates expectation. That is the environment. So the 21 years [without winning an Ulster title] will not dilute the confidence one bit. It is not arrogance. Nor is it science fiction. There is this belief that if Down get their act together, then they can do great things.”
Forgive us, Peter, but that smacks of complete arrogance. A misplaced and undeserved one too on the behalf of your county men, the kind of which Cavan and Mayo perhaps too could boast back in the 60s and 70s before falling into a complacent slumber that it would take the latter decades to arrest and which in ways they’re still dealing with the effects.
Comparisons with Kerry? Over the last 20 years Kerry have won seven All-Irelands, contested another five finals and another five semi-finals. Mayo may have found Sam Maguire still elusive but they’ve featured in six finals, being huge contributors to countless championships, established in the last five years a confidence built on true substance.
Down in that time have reached just one All-Ireland quarter-final (in 2010, when they’d reach a final). They’ve reached just four Ulster finals, the last three of which they have lost by an average of 12.67 points.
Last weekend, in their first league or championship game since exiting the qualifiers to Wexford in the first round last summer, they were trounced by 16 points at home to Donegal.
If it is just a matter of getting their act together, as Pete suggests, it’s perhaps time that they shook their legs and made a go off it.
But of course it’s not as easy as that. If it was, they’d have done it some time ago.
They’re not the only once-proud and mighty football county struggling to be relevant these days.
Division Two is loaded with counties of such a profile. In the early years of the last decade, the likes of Galway, Armagh and Meath routinely contested All-Ireland finals.
Even in the second half of the noughties, they retained a certain relevance. In 2008, Galway and Armagh each won their provincial titles. In 2009 Meath beat Mayo and contested their second All-Ireland semi-final in as many years. The three counties played a lot of their football in Division One, especially Galway, even after the GAA in their wisdom did away with the 1A/1B format.
Now, Armagh are four years outside the top flight; Galway, five; Meath eight. There’s an urgency about all of them to get back among the big boys, and that if they’re to seriously challenge the likes of Donegal, Mayo and Dublin in the summer, first they need to be playing them routinely in the spring.
It’s why we’d be better off at this time of year paying less attention to what’s going on in Division One. Watching Kerry and Mayo struggle on the road at the weekend, the easy thing is to conclude that in these freezing conditions it’ll be another while yet before the serious stuff warms up.
Maybe such big hitters have that luxury. That when you know you’ll be playing well into August you don’t have to concern yourself much with the events of January, even February.
The cold – everything at this time of year is cold – reality though is that outside of Division One, things are at full throttle already.
There is no one easing back into things. It may only be February and the league, but when you’re involved in virtually any inter-county football setup nowadays, league is virtually championship.
Including – especially – in Division Two. As Terry Hyland put it after his Cavan team lost out to Tyrone by two points at the weekend, four wins might be enough to get promoted; three might not be enough to avoid relegation.
Meath are especially desperate to get into Division One. Last year they actually finished in the top two on points difference but lost out on a head-to-head record with Roscommon. Mick O’Dowd is now in his fourth year. His backroom team feature members of the Donegal S&C unit during the Jim McGuinness era. By winning the O’Byrne Cup, and following it up with an opening league win over Armagh, they’re signalling serious intent.
Galway though also need to get promoted, no easy task when Tyrone are vying to do the same.
Under Kevin Walsh they seem to be finally creating the kind of high performance culture that neighbours Mayo set about over five years ago. Trainer Greg Muller was a service provider to New Zealand rugby. Gerry Hussey has been team sport psychologist to the Irish boxers for the past decade.
Tony Óg Regan, who did such fine work with the Galway minor hurlers, is also assisting in that area.
They’re looking everywhere for an edge. Over the winter they followed the example of Dublin bringing in Mark Ingle for a few sessions last year by having Joe Shields of NUIG basketball take them through such principles as peripheral vision, and losing your defender.
They’re aware of just what a gulf they’re trying to bridge. “In reality it’s probably more of a three-to-five year plan,” Muller would admit before Christmas.
But at least they’ve shaken a leg, as indicated by their wins over Armagh and Derry last summer in the qualifiers, and again last Sunday by way of their comprehensive win over Laois away.
A sleeping giant appears to be awakening.
And football this spring and summer needs at least one to roar.
