Football

Catch-all GAA Congress not for the clubs

Director General Paraic Duffy at the GAA's Annual Congress in Carlow 
Director General Paraic Duffy at the GAA's Annual Congress in Carlow  Director General Paraic Duffy at the GAA's Annual Congress in Carlow 

STANDING at 5ft 11ins (in my heels) the art of high fielding was never going to figure much in my list of GAA strong points as just being able to touch a high crossbar was proving challenging enough towards the end of my career.

Adjectives like ‘diminutive’ and ‘stocky’ were commonly used in the press to describe my athletic frame. Thankfully, being a goalkeeper meant that most of my high fielding went unchallenged or clean catches would have been collectors’ items, so the position of midfield was always going to be a pipe dream for anyone of my stature.

Now the GAA has decided to reward the art at Congress by introducing the mark and many past players and managers have had their say on this new innovation. You could nearly pigeon-hole their responses as to how it would have affected them as players and as managers.

It’s not hard to fathom why Jarlath Burns and Liam McHale would support the new addition to our rules and why the likes of Pete McGrath, who has Eoin Donnelly in his team, might champion the cause. And any other manager with massive midfielders will also be thinking that this has to be to their advantage.

My old mate Jarlath, who has been advocating this art for many years, was one of its finest exponents. He used to get very annoyed with me at county training matches when I wasn’t on his team when I used every kick-out to avoid the big man.

However, that was 20 years ago and before the onset of ‘puke football’ as it would have been deemed lunacy to hang a ball above your opponents’ biggest player.

I’m not against the mark, though I can’t see it making much of a difference. And I’m certainly not convinced it will do anything to quicken up the game or make it more watchable. In saying that, 


I genuinely hope it does.

After enduring a very mundane first half of the Six Nations clash between Ireland and England at Twickenham, my son and I headed for the Athletic Grounds to take in the Armagh v Fermanagh match vaguely hoping we would see better fare than what we had witnessed on the box.

I have to say it was definitely no better – apart from a simply audacious match-winning point from Stefan Campbell who was the undoubted star of the show.

While a win for Armagh was a great boost, the game as a spectacle was not at the required level. And if the mark had been introduced last weekend in this particular encounter, I think we might have witnessed one during the whole game.

After returning home from the match and, after witnessing two relatively subdued sporting encounters on my much cherished Saturday, I impulsively decided to rescue the day and at the very least guarantee myself an uplifting sporting experience by booking the Frampton v Quigg fight. According to Sky and every pundit in the boxing game, this was not a fight to be missed.

Needless to say, I trudged off to bed extremely disappointed and 18 quid poorer as there were more punches thrown in the Athletic Grounds and in the tunnel than there were in this very tame ‘fight of the century’.

Time will tell with the introduction of the mark, but if anything is to be gleaned out of Congress last week it is once again how little influence in our association the club player has. 

Having played both county and club football, I am indebted to both strands of our association – but the division between the two is becoming wider and not narrower as is being promised in many quarters.

I honestly thought that, at the very least, Congress would appease the club dynamic by agreeing to pass motion 7 which would bring the All-Ireland finals forward by two weeks thus freeing up the calendar so that club championships and county finals could be played on firmer ground and in better weather. But alas, it did not meet approval, nor in fact did any motion that would have been advantageous to the clubs.

Many years ago when the GPA was formed, many within the GAA – especially in the hierarchy – viewed the players’ body as an elitist organisation only interested in county players, who make up two per cent of the players in the country, and with little or no concern for the average club player.

That was approximately 15 years ago and yet, in that time, much has been promised on how the club player would once again be at the forefront of  all our thinking and planning. Judging by Congress, the club player still has little or no voice in our association.

Drop from Division Two going down to the wire

WHILW Armagh got a much-needed two points against Fermanagh last week, they will need to perform better against a Cavan team who also gained their first points at the expense of Meath.

 Geezer’s men have a very tough run-in against Tyrone, Derry and Galway and you don’t have to be Mystic Meg to prophesise that relegation from Division Two will go down to the last game with so many teams now sitting on two points. 

The biggest draw attendance-wise over the weekend will be in Omagh to witness another encounter between Derry and Tyrone which will undoubtedly provide us with many talking points if previous confrontations this year are anything to go by.

It’s hard to see anything other than a home victory in this one which will further strengthen Tyrone’s determination to get back to the premier division. 

As to who joins them remains very much in the balance as every other team in Division Two still has an outside chance. 

While there may be cause for some optimism in Ulster in Division Two, there seems no doubt that the Mournemen will definitely be heading back into the second tier after quite an emphatic defeat at the hands of the Kingdom last week.

It was quoted after a spirited battle with Monaghan that Division One was the place to be – however, from Down supporters’ perspective, the Marshes was certainly not a fruitful destination in what was a very insipid and uninspiring performance against the 2015 All-Ireland finalists.

Donegal will provide a sterner test this weekend for Eamon Fitzmaurice’s men, while I’m afraid the story probably won’t get any better for Down. They face what is probably the most improved county team this year in the shape of Roscommon so the pain may continue.

Antrim, meanwhile, have had a great start to their League campaign for the first time in years and will hopefully take a step closer to Division Three against London in Ruislip. The Saffrons are one of three Ulster teams currently occupying the leading position across the four divisions.