THANKFULLY, any intercounty football talk in the last week has been about the 2021provincial draws that have taken place.
The criminalisation of county managers and teams has dissipated and inter-county teams can now operate fully within the law.
The virus, being the genius it is, will understand that it now has to operate within the rules set by the government and those ‘experts’ who feel that lockdowns and total isolation is the only weapon in our armoury.
Perhaps in my sarcasm, one could wrongly contend that I am a Covid denier – which I am not – but I have argued for some time now that careful following of social distancing, shielding and some good old commonsense is a formula for re-opening sport and society much earlier.
The provincial Championship will provide a focus for our inter-county players, who have faced a very tough, isolated, and what must have felt like an endless, winter training schedule.
Managers have also found it frustrating. Not being able to interact with their players will have felt rather arti?cial and most players in team sport feed off the energy of how a manager and coach communicates, as well as what they’re actually communicating.
The League, which has taken on even more importance for some counties, will make for ideal preparation in another year of straight knockout games. The League is, for some teams, the best chance of achieving success and gauging annual improvement. With the Championship now becoming more predictable by the year, the chances of a breakthrough like Cavan’s or Tipperary’s last year is more unlikely.
The truth is that winning Sam Maguire is a pursuit that has narrowed to around four counties, at best six.
Given the uniqueness of the last two seasons, I can’t help but feel that the GAA has missed an opportunity to experiment with an open draw, if only for one year.
I suspect the GAA’s fear is that an open draw becomes a massive success and as a result the power of provincial councils becomes totally eroded. For now, though, Down will meet Donegal in the preliminary round of the Ulster SFC and you’d be hard-pressed to ?nd anyone willing to bet against a Donegal win.
Donegal will have been hurting since Cavan out-fought them in the Athletic Grounds in last season’s Anglo-Celt decider. Donegal will have to face questions internally and their response in the upcoming League games will provide an early indication of what will follow.
Last year may have been a blip and one would feel that in a straight knockout Championship, given their prodigious talent, Donegal’s best chance of securing a third All-Ireland would be via this format. Dublin haven’t lost one match in the Championship since 2014, so in a normal season with a backdoor available and the Super 8s, how likely is it that they will be beaten twice – or even three times? This is the problem for the chasing pack, which you can argue only realistically contains Donegal and Tyrone from Ulster.
Division One side Armagh miss the chance to play a full round of top-tier League games and, unfortunately for them, you learn a whole lot in these types of matches.
As a player, pitting yourself against the best sides in the country is where you want to be and whether this is against Kerry in Killarney or Dublin at Croke Park, it shows you where you are.
ANTRIM will be well organised by new manager Enda McGinley and most teams will experience a bounce in the first season.
Again, their Championship run will depend on a good League showing and, should they secure promotion from Division Four, the outcome of their Ulster quarter-final with the Orchard county is by no means a certainty. One would still fancy Armagh to progress and, with the addition of Kieran Donaghy to the management team, they will have a player’s man who has seen and done everything at the top end of the game.
Donaghy will also instil in Armagh a bit of a mean streak, not that Kieran McGeeney ever lacked the ability to do the same.
In my experience, when an outside man says it, that change in voice can strike the right chord. Tyrone will be looking forward to life under a new management team and it will be interesting to see how they will set up tactically. Given that Tyrone can make a case for being one of those teams dining at the top table over the past few years, it matters not who they draw, but rather how they want to play going forward.
New players will no doubt need time to adjust and there are those who have not been given a chance at that level who may come into management’s thoughts.
Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher have opted for a joint-management ticket but in my experience this structure has never been a formula for ultimate success.
Rightly or wrongly, someone will have the last word, so management by committee will always compromise a decision. In the past, the Red Hands would never have felt an inferiority complex in drawing Cavan, with Tyrone far more likely to be the reigning Ulster champions.
The shoe is on the other foot now and, while that fighting spirit will certainly not be lacking as Cavan seek to hold onto the Anglo-Celt Cup, I fancy Tyrone to win.
Monaghan face Fermanagh and both had seasons to forget last year. Given this, neither team will be looking much further than the quarter-final. Elsewhere, Kerry, Cork, Dublin, Galway and Mayo are the obvious contenders in the race for Sam Maguire. Déjà vu.
As noted above, Covid was an opportunity to be experimental with an open draw, something that could breathe new life into a failed system – an opportunity the GAA decision makers have sadly missed.
