Is semi-pro county scene the result we want?
The GAA owe Cork a debt of gratitude. Who would have thought we would be able to say that so soon after the county’s winter of discontent?
And the idea of Option C being backed this evening as their new club championship format is causing angst both inside and outside Cork.
We’re not too fond of it, either, but it’s the willingness to grasp the nettle that has shown the extent of the board’s new lateral thinking.
For its one glaring deficiency, you can understand the logic behind it. Clubs want to play more championship games in the summer and the significance of county players is acknowledged: games in which they are involved will be worth more than twice when they are not and those starred matches will amount to just one or two fixtures.
A happy medium? That would be over-selling it, but for such a radical proposal, there is an in-built compromise.
It is good that Option C is on the table, simply because it affords Cork the opportunity to make a statement about the club versus county divide.
Not like how the GAA insisted on doubling down on their amateur status a few years back, in the face of anecdotal evidence of payments to club and county managers, but a genuine declaration of how much it means to be a club player, be they good enough to wear the red and white or not.
If it is rejected, then it is rejected, but if there is notable support for it, then let that be a consideration in the future that the ownership of the GAA summer has to tilt more towards the club.
We estimate the proposal will fare better than expected, although the proportional representation vote mightn’t suit it when Options A and B are similar enough to be next-best alternatives to one another.
Option C discriminates, though. It discriminates against the best a county has to offer in its very own flagship competitions and that’s irrespective of the points being regraded to reflect their talents.
It is a submission to the strength of the county scene. It is disrespectful not just to the players in question, but to the time and effort that has been invested in them.
It is also the thin end of the wedge. Mark our words, if Option C is favoured, it won’t be long before the club name beside a Cork hurler in a match programme reads as redundant as Cork Constitution after Peter O’Mahony’s name.
The county game will never go fully professional, because it is not feasible, yet the fear is that when structures encourage players not to play for their clubs, then the formalisation of a semi-professional culture will be in the offing.
Option C has already been heralded by some irritated club players, both in and outside of Cork, as an opportunity for the clubs to finally show some backbone, the equivalent of them serving the divorce papers to the county scene after years of neglect and abuse.
But with that school of thought, there doesn’t appear to be the realisation that an official separation is exactly what the county scene wants.
Option A and Option B aren’t without flaws, either, and the working group clearly set them out.
Last week, we outlined our issues with April as a club month, but that there is one championship game in that month, followed by two in August, in Option A, means every team still has something to aspire to upon the resumption, however long that may be.
But that hiatus mightn’t be as long if, as is predicted by some GAA officials, the April idea dies a death in the next year or two and club championship windows can reopen in early summer.
Whatever option is chosen, the addition of another level will make the championships leaner and meaner.
It’s 10 years since Newtownshandrum last claimed a Munster senior club title for Cork; you have to go back to 1987 to the last time a Cork club that wasn’t Newtownshandrum (Midleton) claimed the provincial title.
It will take two or three years for the benefits of premier senior to kick in, but the condensed field has added a much-needed filter and whoever emerges will be all the better for it having been distilled.
This evening, Cork are presented with three doors, one of which also asks them to take a leap.
Option C would be cataclysmic, causing tremors across the country.
But Cork must be commended for asking the question the GAA dare not.
The country watches on with much interest.
Limerick's talent truly exceptional
Confirmation last week that performance psychologist Caroline Currid was no longer part of the Limerick backroom team would have been met with some disappointment in the county.
Currid’s success rate speaks for itself but then her exit should not have been too surprising.
From Tyrone to Tipperary to Dublin to Limerick now, the Sligo native moves on quickly after reaching the summit.
Former Galway hurler Tony Óg Regan now takes her place and he too has pedigree having worked with Gerry Hussey as Tipperary claimed an All-Ireland three years ago.
Regan’s task, you could assume, will be easier because of what Currid has achieved and any glass ceiling that had been there has been well and truly smashed.
The likes of Currid and Regan are not alchemists but facilitators.
John Kiely is widely regarded as a supreme manager of people and in coach Paul Kinnerk, he has a likeminded soul.
As the manager said on Sunday, the pair’s principles on how the game of hurling should be played “align very much” and when they are carried out by an able body of players, it can be almost poetic.
Kiely paid Waterford huge respect by stating how they compelled Limerick to come to Croke Park with something different but that wouldn’t be achievable without the talent of the players.
“These players are lifers when it comes to hurling and they’re playing it since they’re eight years of age. They have developed their skills with their clubs, colleges, schools, university teams. So it’s not what we’ve been doing with them, as such.”
Joe O’Connor may also have them in excellent physical nick but the first touch of some many of them is peerless and it’s they who merit a lot of the plaudits.
It seems Hill 16 is a Dublin-only zone
As well as being the first Division 1 football final without Dublin since 2012, Sunday also marked the first time since that Cork-Mayo decider that Hill 16 wasn’t opened for the Allianz League showpiece.
Hill 16 is made available for Dublin senior football League and Championship matches so as to accommodate their terrace season ticket holders, which is completely understandable.
But then it is also availed of by fans of Jim Gavin’s side who want to enjoy the action from the team’s primary support base in the stadium.
Obviously, it is also a cheaper ticket but the opportunity to take in Sunday’s finals for a less expensive admission was not afforded to those followers from Limerick, Waterford, Kerry and Mayo, not to mention those supporting the Galway and Kilkenny camogie teams.
The same courtesy was not extended to Sunday’s participants because Dublin’s rent of Croke Park allows them to make so many terrace season tickets available.
The GAA does have an optics issue when it comes to how cosy the All-Ireland SFC champions have it at the Jones Road venue.
How can Croke Park be considered anything but Dublin’s home venue when their fans have access all areas passes?
Our highlighting of this is not a slight against Dublin — they are only availing of what has been provided to them — but the arrangement is only going to reinforce the argument that it’s one rule for Dublin and another for everybody else.
