Sport

A 'B' Championship: Be careful what you wish for

Brendan Crossan

Brendan Crossan

Brendan is a sports reporter at The Irish News. He has worked at the media outlet since January 1999 and specialises in GAA, soccer and boxing. He has been the Republic of Ireland soccer correspondent since 2001 and has covered the 2002 and 2006 World Cup finals and the 2012 European Championships

Donegal outclassed Antrim in Ballybofey last Sunday but should it add weight to creating a 'B' Championship?
Donegal outclassed Antrim in Ballybofey last Sunday but should it add weight to creating a 'B' Championship? Donegal outclassed Antrim in Ballybofey last Sunday but should it add weight to creating a 'B' Championship?

IT was a weird feeling leaving Ballybofey around dusk last Sunday. Antrim had lost to Donegal by 16 points in their Ulster Championship match and yet they didn’t play badly.

Joint manager Frank Fitzsimons and Gearoid Adams fielded one of the youngest-ever Antrim senior teams that included a half dozen Ulster Championship debutants.

And they all played well.

Jamie Brennan might have hit 1-1 in the first half but Glenavy’s Conor Hamill had a good game at corner-back.

At full-back, Patrick Gallagher was Antrim’s best performer.

Peter Healy also played solidly and Stephen Beatty had good moments in midfield.

Young Conor Small, a late substitute, showed plenty of guts and bagged a brilliant stoppage-time goal.

The Antrim players were very disciplined in the tackle. Tactically, Antrim couldn’t do much more.

I reckon 10 or 11 Antrim players came close to reaching their potential.

And yet they were still beaten out the gate.

The previous night, Fermanagh were outclassed by Monaghan, losing by nine points.

Many people are anticipating another landslide victory for Tyrone against Derry this weekend.

The summer is only a couple of weeks old and already the conversation has started of the need for a 'B' Championship.

Of course, there are different angles to look at the state of the Championship.

A two-tiered Championship is generally regarded as the dominant prescription because, right now, the lower-ranked teams are being cast as dragging the competition down.

It's important to adopt a holistic approach when looking at the Championship.

At the top end, the GAA has a couple of runaway trains. Dublin is the fastest train of them all and is showing no signs of slowing down.

Tyrone, Kerry and Mayo are merely trying to keep apace.

The All-Ireland winners will come from these four counties.

The rest are making up the numbers.

Perhaps, as was tentatively mooted a few years back, the GAA could cut Dublin into two 'counties'. In the interests of trying to level out the playing field.

It is true there is no perfect solution and while it may be tempting to introduce a ‘B’ Championship the GAA has to consider the advantages and disadvantages of such a move which could be construed as serving the elite and the needs of television companies.

To the lower-ranked counties, a ‘B’ Championship might be seen as cutting them loose.

In all likelihood, it would lead to a de-investment in county teams, perhaps the collapse of some; you could have walk-overs and more players flocking to America for the summer.

Development squads would lose some of their appeal, games promotion could suffer; media coverage of the lower-ranked competition(s) would undoubtedly shrink and fundraising would become even tougher.

Recently, a top Ulster GAA player was asked to join a top Irish League club.

He could command in the region of £300 or £400 per week to play soccer.

He politely declined the offer because he is playing at the highest level in GAA.

Imagine if the same offer was made to a GAA player who was involved in the ‘B’ Championship.

In this instance, that player would probably switch codes.

There would be an inevitable talent drain from a ‘B’ Championship.

Standards would be driven downwards.

Now, some of these scenarios may or may not come to pass. But the GAA has to consider all angles.

On St Patrick's Day earlier this year, St Mary's, Magherafelt won the MacRory Cup.

Superbly drilled by former Antrim forward Kevin Brady, John McElholm and Ronan Devlin, St Mary's had five Antrim players in their starting line-up in the decider against St Colman’s, Newry and three young Saffrons were thrust from the bench.

Creggan duo and St Mary's men Tiarnan McAteer and Liam Quinn were also brilliant for Antrim in last Sunday’s Ulster Championship minor victory over Donegal, while Moneyglass defender Eamon Kelly played his part in Ballybofey.

With a bit of care and attention these players can form the nucleus of the Antrim senior team in a couple of years time, alongside the likes of Hamill, Healy, Conor Small and Brendan Bradley.

After playing at elite level and winning a MacRory Cup, the prospect of a ‘B’ Championship would surely have a demoralising impact on this young, vibrant generation.

Is the real problem not under-performing county boards around the country rather than blaming a lack of commitment and talent among their respective playing bases?

Is it possible for the GAA to introduce more stringent performance-related criteria for county boards to ensure they are reaching their potential?

And how would the ‘A’ Championship pan out?

Would it really be the panacea of the Championship’s perennial ills?

Would there not be one-sided victories here too, just as we’ve witnessed in the last number of All-Ireland quarter-finals?

It appears the GAA is self-absorbed in some weird, foggy capitalist logic where it feels compelled to evolve, change, develop, progress into something else, to the point of being evangelical in its belief that utopian Championship structures are out there somewhere.

Moving the furniture around has a limited impact.

The Republic of Ireland had virtually no chance of winning Euro 2016 but their group win over Italy and gallant display against France in Lyon were two of the enduring highlights of the tournament.

Albania’s journey added much colour to Euro 2016 too.

At the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil, Colombia and Algeria added a few more layers to the narrative.

For a lot of the lesser counties, a 'B' Championship nurtures the feeling of being banished to the backwaters - even if there was promotion open to them to the top tier.

Maybe the GAA would be better to consider preliminary rounds first before taking the drastic step of creating tiers.

Maybe the Leinster SHC has it right where the so-called lesser counties play in a round robin competition with the winner progressing to the first round proper in the same season.

This is perhaps a truncated view of a 'B' Championship and the potential side effects.

But it's equally truncated to think the 'A' Championship is the utopia that will transform our enjoyment of Gaelic Games.