AFTER three false starts over the course of the past 10 months, the GAA should prioritise the completion of the minor football Championship as soon as a definitive return to play date is confirmed.
That is the view of Monaghan minor boss Mark Counihan, who was left confused and frustrated when the wraps were taken off the Irish government’s ‘Living with Covid’ document on Tuesday night.
The plan, in its own convoluted way, confirmed that it would be the start of April at the earliest before inter-county panels are allowed to resume training, with the competitive action commencing at the beginning of May after a four-week ‘pre-season’.
Much of the focus has centred on the senior inter-county scene but Counihan feels last year’s minors have been “forgotten”.
The Ulster Minor Football Championship was originally scheduled to begin in April 2020, eventually getting under way on October 31 when Counihan’s Farney outfit saw off neighbours Cavan in the preliminary round.
Since then, though, they have played just one more game – a quarter-final victory against Antrim in December – leaving plenty of unfinished business to be resolved.
The Ulster Council has given assurances that they intend to finish the competition, but Counihan wants it to be resolved as a matter of urgency once the action recommences.
“It’s massively frustrating for all stakeholders – for parents, players, coaches, the county boards,” said the Truagh Gaels clubman.
“We’re asking questions, knocking on doors. That announcement on Tuesday and it had inter-county able to play at level four, but it didn’t stipulate whether that was senior, minor, U20… that was the same mess they left us with around Christmas when you games being pulled two or three days in advance.
“The minor players of 2020 probably feel like the forgotten group at the minute. All the dialogue seems to be around getting senior inter-county started when they should really be prioritising competitions that have yet to be completed from last year.
“Ulster is behind everybody else as it stands. We have the semi-finals and final to play whereas Munster’s complete, Connacht’s complete and Leinster’s at the final stage.
“It’s actually been quite cruel the way things have panned out for these boys, and the same goes for all the other minor groups too. It’s been such a challenging time, these guys have had three false starts, this will be our fourth time starting our season and you’re basically starting from scratch each time because there’s been such a gap between them.
“To be fair to these young lads, they’ve been through a huge amount, they’ve been taken away from their natural environments, away from their mates, they haven’t been able to train collectively but they’ve been so diligent with their work.
“We’ve liaised with them the whole time but they’re just so keen to play football.”
And Counihan sees no reason why the entire 2020 All-Ireland Minor Football Championship couldn’t be finished off before the end of May, provided play resumes at the start of the month.
He said: “What these minor footballers have on their plate this year is different to what they had on their plate last year with the Leaving Cert coming up, so a speedy conclusion to this competition is really important.
“You’re talking about school age kids possibly being able to train in pods from April - if we could get the minors out at the beginning of April, two weeks in pods, two weeks training and play the Ulster semi-final that first weekend in May, you could have the All-Ireland wrapped up by the 23rd of May.
“We all understand it’s an evolving situation, it’s hard to put anything down in stone but whether it’s the government or the GAA, they need to step up and acknowledge what these boys have been through and give them a speedy conclusion.”
As a secondary school teacher, Counihan was also keen to highlight the need to accelerate a return to outdoor sport for all juvenile age groups.
“I know how much our lads are missing that kind of environment - the social, physical and mental benefits of it far outweigh the risk level, which doesn’t seem to be there. There have been very few, if any, cases attributed to outdoor youth sport.
“It’s imperative that we get young people out and active, meeting each other again. It’s been too long for them.”
