Christy O'Connor: Should every county final level at normal time go to a replay?
The Mayo SFC final between Ballina and Westsport will be replayed after the sides finished level on Sunday. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
At the end of normal time in the 2024 All-Ireland hurling final, as Anthony Daly, Liam Sheedy and Donal Óg Cusack were arguing against the principle of extra-time in an All-Ireland final, Joanne Cantwell brought up the example of Jack McCaffrey to elucidate why players might want to get the game finished on the day.
When McCaffrey announced that he was stepping away from playing with the Dublin footballers in 2020 at just 27, one of the key moments in shaping that decision arrived after the drawn All-Ireland final with Kerry the previous year. “It broke me,” McCaffrey said the following year. “I thought there was extra-time but David Moran just stuck his hand out to shake my hand. I was like, 'We don't have to do this again, do we?'"
As Cantwell waited for a response to her question though, Sheedy cut straight to the point - that was a personal opinion from just one player. “That's Jack McCaffrey,” said Sheedy. “That’s nothing got to do with today. I'd hate this match to be lost on a pure exhaustion mistake.” That match was decided by a wafer-thin margin, but the losers (Cork) were always going to harbour regrets, especially after such an epic match, and particularly when the game would have gone to a replay if it had still been level – which it almost was – at the end of extra-time.
It had been even more of a lottery again when both Clare and Cork lost so many players, including key leaders, to injury or cramp just before or during extra-time. It didn’t seem fair for a team’s year to be decided when so many central figures aren’t physically able to play their part in the biggest game of the year.
It wasn’t, so much so that the GAA changed their policy this year; All-Ireland finals level after normal time now go to replays. The previous ruling was in place for a few years but it was only bound to come under scrutiny when an All-Ireland final eventually went to extra-time, as it did for the first time in that 2024 hurling decider.
The GAA turned down millions of euros but they initially brought in the ruling to protect the club window and the club schedules already set in stone, particularly in a strong dual county like Cork, where time is critical in completing championships.
And yet, if the Cork county senior hurling final was a draw yesterday, it would have been a replay. Up the road in Limerick though, the Na Piarsaigh-Doon county final went to extra-time, with Na Piarsaigh running out winners by seven points. After scoring a late goal at the end of normal time, Na Piarsaigh cashed in on that momentum as Doon ran out of gas, only managing 0-1 across over 20 minutes of extra-time.
Seeing one of the most attractive county finals in the country decided in that manner seems even more of an anomaly when other big county finals over the weekend – the Mayo and Fermanagh deciders – finished level and are headed for replays. So is that right?
Every county board makes its own decisions regarding its own fixtures. The timing of provincial campaigns, and the draw for that particular county, often ultimately decide in advance what decision is taken around either planning for a replay or having extra-time.
It's never straightforward, especially when county boards have to cater for dual clubs. Boards are also keen to give their county champions ample time to prepare for a provincial campaign. With Na Piarsaigh now playing Ballygunner in a Munster quarter-final on November 2nd, 14 days preparation is certainly more appealing than just seven.
Unforced hold-ups or events can often squeeze the schedule even more but the Mayo county board still showed some smart planning around yesterday’s county final.
With Storm Amy leading to a postponement of the semi-finals two weeks ago (they were played last weekend), there was pressure on the Mayo board to leave a two-week gap to the final. However, they chose not to in order to allow time for a replay.
Organising club championships is never easy but, within reason, and allowing sufficient time for the county champions to prepare for a provincial campaign, every county board should at least try and leave enough time in the calendar for a replay.
Just two weeks ago, the numbers looked good. A possible record looked on. And then the dominos started to fall. Rapidly.
Nine clubs around the country were still in contention to try and secure a precious double; Éire Óg (Clare), Naas (Kildare), Ratoath (Meath), Mullinavat (Kilkenny), Loughmore-Castleiney (Tipperary), Carickmore (Tyrone), Slaughtneil (Derry), Na Fianna and Ballyboden St Enda’s (Dublin).
Éire Óg achieved that historic double last Sunday but by the end of last weekend, the chasing pack to try and join them was down to just four; Naas, Loughmore-Castleiney, Na Fianna and Carrickmore.
It was always going to be a long shot but if those four clubs could have achieved that double alongside Éire Óg, it would have marked a historic season for teams seeking to bring glory to their clubs in both codes.
After four clubs managed the double four years ago – Loughmore-Castleiney, Naas, Kilmacud Crokes in Dublin and St Eunan’s in Donegal – the excellent Twitter handle ‘GAA Stats’ revealed that the only previous time there were four senior doubles was as far back as 1903.
In 2022, it appeared as if that number could possibly be surpassed when nine clubs were chasing doubles before the county semi-finals across eight different counties. By the end of that 2022 season though, only two clubs had managed it; Kilmacud and Naas.
By the quarter-final stage last year, seven clubs were chasing the double but only two managed it; Loughmore-Castleiney and Naas.
Nine were in the chase again up until a couple of weeks ago but the runners gradually began to hit the ditches and all remaining four double-chasers fell over the weekend; Naas, Loughmore-Castleiney, Carrickmore and Na Fianna.
It has been a remarkable period for club doubles but this year again showed just how difficult it is to achieve it.
It took until the 37th minute of Saturday night’s Ballyboden St Enda’s-Na Fianna Dublin football final for the first clear-cut goal chance to be created. The chance fell to Na Fianna’s David Quinn but his shot from close range was blocked by the leg of a Ballyboden defender and the south Dublin side counter-attacked at pace to score a point off the turnover.
It felt like a decisive turning point in the match but it also signalled the key pattern to the second half of how Boden physically turned up the heat to transform a tight and taut dogfight into a comfortable victory.
Boden have made a habit of converting the outcome of a match into something that looked in no way looked possible just minutes earlier. Seven points down with five minutes remaining in the semi-final against Cuala before sacking the All-Ireland champions with an unanswered 2-3, the sides were level in the 43rd minute on Saturday night before Boden stretched into a nine-point lead in what seemed like a flash.
Ballyboden had already taken control but the game’s key score arrived in the 53rd minute when Galway player Cein D’Arcy drilled the ball to the net. That score came off a turnover but turnovers largely told the story of the match, and Ballyboden’s performance; the south Dublin outfit mined 1-8 off turnovers, 1-6 in the second half, compared to Na Fianna’s scoring 0-2 from the same source across 60-plus minutes.
In such difficult weather conditions, those numbers were decisive.
