Fogarty Forum: How August All-Ireland finals can work

The split season was supposed to save money when the pressure to keep and get players fit and organising food, transport and accommodation at short notice has only seen expenditure spiral compounded by the cost of living. 

The GAA can’t genuinely say it is preserving and promoting Gaelic games, particularly hurling, in their organisation of the inter-county season. Eddie Keher, a bona fide Rower-Inistioge man as he is a Kilkenny man, speaks for a lot of hurling people when he says: “To the supporters, to GAA people and hurling people, it seems in the present set-up that they just want to get rid of hurling, move on to something else. They’re not giving it time at all.” 

That mightn’t be the truth but it is the perception.

Why not go back to September?

That would take a quantum leap of faith from counties to synchronise and implement a uniform championship structure. It is not going to happen. 

September is only a runner if the split season is completely jettisoned and for the few drawbacks it has the split season has provided the tens of thousands of club players with certainty of fixtures and an opportunity to plan their lives around them. 

They might not be the only stakeholders but without them Gaelic games may as well be Roman games. No, August is the medium. Not a happy medium but the closest to achieving the best of both worlds.

Best of both worlds?

Yes, in the sense that the All-Ireland championships reclaim the summer, people actually have the chance to save money between matches to go to them, anticipation is built to give matches authentic profile and the competitions reach a crescendo just as the Premier League is starting. 

All-Ireland hurling semi-finals won’t clash with Ireland-South Africa Test matches. The final round of The Open won’t run parallel to the All-Ireland SHC final. At the same time, counties can commence their championships in reasonably good time. 

If all but the four All-Ireland finalists are remaining going into August, there should be quality time for club championships in at least 88% of the counties.

But how can that be done? Cork need 14 weeks to run their championships.

Based on their current structure, they do. GAA president Jarlath Burns’ point that the GAA at both county and club level has become too consumed with the round-robin as a championship feature is an interesting one. They are undoubtedly a success in the provincial hurling championships but the appeal for them has evaporated in inter-county football.

It’s generally accepted now a team that loses more than twice has no right remaining in a championship. That’s a premise that all counties should consider in formulating club championship fixtures. Cork could save a couple of weeks by dividing their premier football and hurling groups into four groups of three from the current three groups of four. Alternatively, the winners and losers round stages is an option.

Either way, it is the most efficient means of ensuring no team is able to stay in a championship having been defeated twice.

And if Cork and the likes of other dual counties like Galway say no?

Which they are perfectly entitled to do and it’s likely they will considering the handsome amount of gate receipts they earn from the current number of matches. 

Then, it may come down to what the provinces are prepared to do for their counties. Galway’s champions don’t feed into Leinster but last year the province chose to cut their own championships by a couple of weeks and give it back to the clubs to complete their games. 

Could Munster do likewise to assist Cork and its bevy of dual counties? It’s certainly possible especially if it’s agreed the All-Ireland club semi-finals and finals in each code are moved to January. Incentivising dual counties in the form of seeding in provincial club competitions is an idea too.

But August finals will hardly stop the bickering?

Not a chance of it but football and hurling mightn’t be at each other’s throats like they have been were the schedule more relaxed. 

And if the club championships are to surrender games then the inter-county scene has to as well – rounds instead of groups in the Sam Maguire and Tailteann Cup stages would sacrifice eight matches and jettisoning hurling’s All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals would be no great loss.

Might they end the RTÉ/GAAGO rows?

Only if RTÉ’s number of live championship fixtures increases from 31. At the same time, if matches are spaced out, the national broadcaster’s headaches about having to cover lopsided provincial football finals at the expense of strong hurling games might ease. 

For them, for everyone, the status quo is all too much, all too soon.

john.fogarty@examiner.ie

Will the four exiting managers stay or go?

Seeing as none of them are in their first season, there is bound to be speculation about the futures of the four managers whose All-Ireland SFC campaigns ended this past weekend.
Of the counties that went out at the preliminary quarter-final stage last year, only Aidan O’Rourke and Paddy Bradley, who were only minding Donegal on an interim basis after Paddy Carr’s resignation, stepped away.

Which, if any, of the four this time around is most likely to bid adieu?:

John Cleary (Cork, second full season): Read between the lines and Cleary, if he is to stay, wants commitments in personnel and resources before agreeing to staying on in 2025. The emphasis has to be on returning to Division 1 for the first time since 2016 and that means an extra onus on pre-season. Stay or go: Stay (eventually).

Kevin McStay (Mayo, second season): There is a general acceptance Mayo are a work in progress but nobody in Mayo will accept the word transition if McStay is to hold onto the reins next season. There aren’t too many contenders to challenge him. Stephen Rochford’s influence is strong and he has to come up with answers why Mayo keep getting pipped. Stay or go: Stay.

Vinny Corey (Monaghan, second season): Like he was as a player, Corey is unlikely to walk away from a challenge. The series of retirements this year contributed to relegation and this relatively early championship departure. He has overseen a season of upheaval. Even if Conor McManus retires, he deserves to be given the chance to see out the rebuilding of Monaghan’s foundations. Stay or go: Stay.

Brian Dooher and Feargal Logan (Tyrone, fourth season): That nobody from the management team were available to speak to the media after the home loss to Roscommon said a lot. The pair were given a new three-year term last August but Logan has since had medical issues and Dooher’s been appointed as the chief veterinary officer in the six counties. Priorities change. Stay or go: Go.

O'Mahoney shows duty of care to player

Croke Park was a lonely place for Derek O’Mahoney in January of last year after Kilmacud Crokes were allowed to play a vital segment of their All-Ireland senior club final against The Glen with 16 players.
The miscommunication allowed Dara Mullin, who had been replaced by Conor Casey, to remain on the field as Conleth McGuckian’s strike at goal went wide and an unseemly mess of clarifications, a replay decision and appeals before Crokes were eventually officially awarded the title.

O’Mahoney, to his credit, hasn’t looked behind him and returning to Croke Park on Sunday made an incredibly sharp call in dismissing Sligo’s Nathan Mullen for his dangerous and reckless hit on Down’s Oisín Savage in their Tailteann Cup semi-final. It was a difficult, almost brave one to make but O’Mahoney assessed it precisely and because of the new rule regarding extra-time Sligo were down 14 men in the two additional periods as well. The injury hospitalised Savage who eventually regained consciousness before he left the field. “I know he was bad whenever I was out on the pitch, it was scary stuff, even the noises that he was making. It was genuinely scary, that’s the truth,” said Down manager Conor Laverty. Coming as it did on the same day Hungary’s Barnabas Varga suffered a similarly frightening injury in their Euro 2024 final group game against Scotland, it was a reminder of a referee’s duty of care for the player. Kudos to O’Mahoney and bouncing back and the best of luck to Savage in his recovery.