Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup round one: Maynooth University v St Mary’s University College, Belfast (tomorrow, Maynooth North Campus, 2pm)
THE future of the Sigerson Cup is at “a serious crossroads” unless the GAA give the competition its proper place in a crammed fixtures calendar, according to St Mary’s boss Gavin McGilly.
The Sigerson has been brought forward this year, with games now held at weekends rather than the usual midweek slot, leading to a host of county v college headaches as inter-county bosses look ahead to the start of the National League at the end of the month.
It has left the likes of McGilly in a difficult position in terms of trying to prepare for the Sigerson, as last year’s finalists begin their campaign against Maynooth University in Maynooth tomorrow afternoon.
He said: “It’s been a bit disjointed this year because of the lateness of players being involved with their clubs, the U21 championship running late, the U20 competition… like, we have lads away to Mayo on Saturday with Derry U20s.
“How they actually thought this would be a good day to put Sigerson Cup football on, I really don’t know. It’s strange.
“Players love the Sigerson, it’s a super competition. It’s a great springboard for fellas to gradually progress into senior county, but the GAA is at a serious crossroads with it because if they don’t pay it the respect that has been there in years gone by, it does run the risk of losing its prestige.
“When the fellas come to the Ranch it’s something they all aspire to, playing against the best players in Ireland. But if it gets to the stage where the top players aren’t being allowed to play in it, you could see a diluting of it. You wouldn’t want that.
“The planning has to be a bit better. You can talk about hindsight, but we all saw this happening. It puts the players in an awful position because they want to play for everybody.”
McGilly - who is part of Paddy Tally’s backroom team with Down - retains several of the men who helped the Ranch to the 2019 decider, although they can no longer call upon key duo Jarlath Og Burns and Shane McGuigan of Slaughtneil.
However, St Mary’s do have the midfield pairing of Oisin O’Neill and Conn Kilpatrick at their disposal.
O’Neill returned from injury to help Crossmaglen to an Armagh title back in October, while Kilpatrick impressed in Tyrone’s opening Dr McKenna Cup win over Cavan and played the second half of Wednesday night’s win over O’Neill’s Armagh.
Another Red Hand prospect, Liam Rafferty, is among the Ranch ranks, alongside the likes of Cahir McKinney, Liam Devlin, Ryan Coleman, Derrylaughan’s Tomas Carney and Ryan McCusker, who shackled Kerry star Sean O’Shea to good effect in last year’s Sigerson final defeat.
Along the way to that showdown with University College Cork, St Mary’s got the better of Johnny Doyle’s Maynooth - and McGilly expects the Kildare men to be eyeing up revenge tomorrow.
“That was a very tough game, it swung back and forward; there was really nothing between us,” said the Armagh man, who has Tyrone All-Ireland winner Joe McMahon, ex-Antrim forward Kevin Niblock, Lorcan Martin and Ciaran Kearney among his backroom team.
“Maynooth have retained most of their team and added the likes of Jack Robinson [Kildare]. The fact we’re going down to Maynooth, they’ll be keen to level it up after last year.
“We know it’s a huge challenge but its championship football and the Ranch always rise to championship football. That’s what we’re hoping for again.”
