Only a blind fool would observe the winter training ban

DURING a not entirely successful shortcut out of Dublin on Friday afternoon, I found myself driving through Ballymun.

While looking for the “one way out” from Bono’s “Seven Towers” my eyes were drawn to a huge advertisement hanging from the top of an apartment block.

The banner was promoting an offer for rented rooms at €99 per week. Apparently, a room for €396 a month is some type of bargain.

When I was a student, it was possible to rent houses for that type of outlay.

Then again, when I was a student, everybody paid rent, and it didn’t matter how good you were at playing football.

That situation no longer prevails and nowadays, talented young footballers can avoid paying any rent whatsoever.

Students who are offered a Gaelic football scholarship at Dublin City University (DCU) can avoid coughing up that €396 a month because they are provided free accommodation.

But, like most things that come free, there are a few strings attached. One of the conditions that comes with the DCU scholarship is that some students are required to sign a contract at the start of the term confirming that their first allegiance will be to the university during the O’Byrne Cup.

Given the perks involved, the stony-broke students have no hesitation in signing the dotted line. The contract seems to have the desired effect because DCU certainly don’t suffer from the defections to county squads which occur in other universities, particularly those with Tyrone players!

And the system also seems to be working for DCU. Last year, they made history by winning the O’Byrne Cup, beating Westmeath, Offaly and Meath en route to the final against Louth.

By defeating Louth, they became the first university to win one of the subsidiary competitions. They also won the holy grail of varsity football, the Sigerson Cup.

While DCU will be delighted at their haul of silverware, their success has had repercussions for inter-county managers.

Dublin are particularly aggrieved and it’s understood the county board is going to table a motion at this year’s Leinster Convention which, if passed, will give county managers first preference when it comes to selecting students for O’Byrne Cup squads.

It’s not just Leinster-based managers who would welcome this initiative. Several members of the Donegal U21 squad that Jim McGuinness guided to this year’s All-Ireland final are currently at DCU.

Like all new senior managers, McGuinness would like to assess young players like Anthony McFadden and Michael Doherty by watching them during in-house training games.

Under the current rules, McGuinness is denied that opportunity. The two-month ban on collective training during November and December started on Monday.

If Donegal respect the moratorium on collective training, then McGuinness will not see some of his former U21s on a training pitch for the next eight weeks.

The obstacles facing first-year managers like Jim McGuinness are bordering on the farcical.

Consider his predicament. Next year, he will lead Donegal into a Division Two campaign that includes games against Tyrone, Derry, Meath, Laois, Kildare, Sligo and Antrim.

It’s not inconceivable that he could start the League without having seen some of his players on a training pitch for three months.

This is an absurd situation that has been created by the collective training ban and the participation of the universities in the January competitions.

It also needs to be stressed that DCU are not doing anything wrong. They are no more culpable than any other university.

While their contract might help to wring some extra loyalty from their students, it shouldn’t really be necessary.

Under the rules of the McKenna Cup, colleges are supposed to have the first pick on student footballers.

Jim McGuinness is no different to Ulster’s other first year managers: John Brennan (Derry), Eamon McEneaney (Monaghan), Val Andrews (Cavan) and John O’Neill (Fermanagh).

All these managers are at a massive disadvantage to any rival who has been in the job a few years.

As he prepares for his ninth season in charge of Tyrone’s Mickey Harte has an intimate knowledge of all the players. He might use the McKenna Cup to find one or two new players.

In stark contrast, John Brennan might be hoping to find six or seven players as he sets out to build a new Derry team.

Brennan could begin the selection process in earnest if he had access to his players in December.

As it stands, he must throw raw, untried players into McKenna Cup games. And because all counties use the McKenna Cup to blood new talent, it’s still difficult to tell how rookies will perform against established footballers.

In reality, new managers are going into the National League completely unprepared. It’s not very fair.

The main reason there hasn’t been a bigger outcry is because counties have flagrantly ignored the ban.

There is certainly no shortage of anecdotal evidence about the squads that were going full tilt on the pitch last winter.

Everyone involved in the game knows it’s going on. Just last week former Mayo manager John O’Mahony criticised Croke Park for its failure to sanction the offenders.

However, the difficulty involved in collecting tangible, admissible evidence is yet another major failing of the rule.

The next eight weeks are unlikely to be any different. While Croke Park will posture and make threatening noises, it will be business as usual for many county squads.

Having observed what took place during the past few seasons, only a blind fool would allow the opposition to steal an eight-week march on him.