Dublin's John Costello asks ‘naysayers’ to give Super 8s a chance

Any chance the GAA ‘naysayers’ could give next season’s Super 8s a chance before declaring it an unmitigated disaster for everyone?

That’s the wish of Dublin GAA secretary John Costello who wants the new championship structure to be given a chance to sink or swim over the next three years.

“What has been clear, for some time, is that a format that had remained largely unchanged since the introduction of the qualifiers in 2001 badly needed a shake-up. You might well argue that there is no such thing as a ‘Super 8’, more likely, based on the outcomes during recent summers, a ‘Top 4’ comprising Dublin, Mayo, Kerry and one other (currently Tyrone) ... but if that really is the case, retaining the status quo was not a viable solution either, given the quarter-final beatings endured by the next four pretenders last summer.”

He elaborated: “In the last half-decade we have seen a handful of unheralded counties (Cavan in 2013, Fermanagh in 2015, Tipperary and Clare in 2016, Roscommon this year) reach the last eight. Nor was it a complete humiliation for all of them once they got there: Fermanagh kept the Dubs to single digits; Roscommon’s mauling by Mayo was preceded by an edge-of-the-seat stalemate; while Tipperary actually burst through the glass ceiling to reach the last-four. Maybe that couldn’t happen under the new round-robin structure ... but don’t dismiss the possibility entirely, especially with the so-called ‘whipping’ boys enjoying home advantage in one of their three group games. This is a worthwhile experiment. Let’s not draw any conclusions before the results are in.”

Speaking of experiments, Costello added that quite a few ‘experts’ weren’t shy about forecasting that the introduction of ‘the mark’ would have no influence whatsoever on Gaelic football ... that it would, in effect, be ignored by teams who would continue to go short in pursuit of retaining possession at all costs.

“It didn’t quite pan out that way. At different stages of the championship, you could clearly discern a pattern of some goalkeepers choosing the longer restart route to try and punch holes in blanket defensive set-ups. That said, the tactical game of kick-out cat-and-mouse has become one of the most fascinating elements of football today. How and when teams decide to push up on restarts, forcing the opposing goalkeeper to punt into that congested middle-eight is very interesting to watch.

Suffice to say, ‘keepers are no longer there to block piledrivers or catch the odd ball. They are deep-lying playmakers who launch the game-plan –no one better, in my mind, than our own Stephen Cluxton.”

In 2018, the decision of September’s Special Congress comes into play - every kick-out must travel beyond the 20m line before being touched by another player from the defending team.

“I hope this latest rule change isn’t part of a trend, especially when taken in tandem with the ‘mark’ and some talk of umpires being tasked with controlling delivery of the ball to ‘keepers. Is it possible that there is a small but influential number in our games that are trying to turn back the clock to an era of catch-and-kick, where sharpness of thought and speed of movement are rendered less important?

“If so, Gaelic football would be the poorer for it.”