Change in the air — but will it be for the better?
My own Kerins O’Rahilly’s were the appetiser to the main course between All-Ireland champions Dr Crokes and divisional side South Kerry.
We were somehow playing in a relegation play-off no less, despite the fact we only lost to South Kerry by a point in the semi-final two weeks ago. Last Sunday, we faced the prospect of playing intermediate championship next year. Bonkers, I know. But because of two poor results back in April in the club championship, we found ourselves eyeballing the prospect of the drop having only been a point away from making the final.
The divisional sides are sacrosanct in Kerry. There are only eight senior clubs and the other 70 are made up of novice, junior, and intermediate. Proposing motions to change the system is a fruitless one.
Seventy votes beats right all day long, and twice on Sundays.
In my view, the senior clubs need to be more assertive in fighting their case to ensure a more equitable system besides the one that currently exists which eliminates the weakest club team from the senior championship every year, while the divisional sides are seemingly bulletproof and immune to any repercussion from poor performances.
The argument in Kerry has always been that every club player deserves his chance to play senior county championship and thus put himself in the shop window for the Kerry senior management to view his talents.
But that bucket doesn’t hold as much water as it once did.
Since former Uachtarán Sean Kelly introduced the concept of the All-Ireland junior and intermediate finals being played in Croke Park, I would wager that most of the players from those smaller clubs are now far more motivated by the prospect of representing their own club in GAA Headquarters as opposed to achieving anything else with their division.
One division in Kerry however, that despite being decimated by rural depopulation, is as competitive as ever, and ran neck and neck with Dr Crokes all the way to the finish line.
South Kerry are made up of 10 different clubs, and led by Bryan Sheehan they fought with as much as they had in them, but like so many before them, they just came up short.
In the end, Dr Crokes, who were down to 14 men for the last 10 minutes or so, just about had too much experience, guile and depth of talent off the bench to show everyone why they are the reigning All-Ireland club champions and favourites to do it again.
It’s their efficiency in attack that still separates them from everybody else in Kerry and beyond.
Defensively and around the middle, there are plenty of teams who have the capabilities to cause them serious problems.
But they are so heavily laden with sharp thinking, fleet-footed, high-IQ forwards who more often than not make the right decision at the right time, highlighted by them ruthlessly converting 17 of 20 scoring chances created on Sunday.
Colm Cooper missed out on starting with a hamstring injury, and Tony Brosnan (who played championship with Kerry two seasons ago) came in, in his stead.
Jordan Kiely (a guy you’ll hear plenty more about with Kerry in the coming years) and Gooch were introduced with the game in the melting pot.
Gooch did nothing spectacular and was clearly inhibited for his spell on the field, but he was there for his speed of thought, not of foot. He won the most crucial break of the game from the last kickout as South Kerry were pressing hard. Once it was in his hands, the race was over.
It’s the abundance of smarts that you most admire about them. Their consistent ability to get the ball to the man in the best position to take the right option is boringly beautiful.
That comes primarily from coaching, but also the leadership of the senior players within that group, and at the moment they are blessed to have an abundance of that type of player-led direction.
Eoin Brosnan didn’t even see action the last day. That tells you the depth of experience and belief they have in their group that you don’t have to call on a guy with seven senior county medals in his back pocket in a tight squeeze like they found themselves.
As it was last year, providing everybody is fit and well, it’ll take a top side delivering a big performance to stop Dr Crokes in their tracks.
After the final whistle, the conversation quickly turned to hypothesise what impact next year’s Super 8’s will have on the premier club competition in the country.
As I have said many times in the past, given the quality of these games and the effort that goes in by the players and their management, the notion of just running off county championships like an under-age blitz for three or four weeks in a row to just tick a box and produce a team to represent the county is all wrong.
Outside of players picking up an injury in the first round and maybe missing the entire four-week sprint of a condensed county championship, it’s very unfair on clubs who don’t get the time to celebrate and soak in the journey properly.
Playing games in a blur isn’t what it’s supposed to be about.
Next season will bring huge changes to the GAA. The Super 8’s, and an earlier All-Ireland final will have a seismic impact on all those counties involved. The knock-on to the lowly club game within those counties and how that is managed centrally and by the individual county boards will be crucial to maintaining even the threadbare sense of fairness within the playing membership of the association.
Too many players have become disenfranchised with the association because of the problems affecting the club game. How those issues are addressed as part of next season’s amended schedule will go a long way to determining the type and quality of association we have for over 90% of our playing population.
