Counties not spending their downtime wisely

Dublin need only a point on Sunday to seal a fifth straight Division 1 final appearance.

Tue, 28 Mar, 2017 - 01:00

John Fogarty is the Irish Examiner’s GAA correspondent, with unique insights into the action on the pitch and in the Gaelic games’ corridors of power.

Should they qualify, it will leave eight weeks until their Leinster quarter-final against Carlow or Wexford. In that time, there will be one round of club championship football in the capital to be played on Thursday and Friday, April 21. One. As has been the norm, the second round of the knockout format will only take place after the county’s interests in the All-Ireland are over.

Kerry have an outside chance of reaching a second successive league final but should their last league game come against Tyrone in Killarney next weekend they will have a barely bearable 10-week gap to their Munster semi-final, the same as it was in 2015 and one less than the break between league and championship in ‘14.