ARMAGH boss Kieran McGeeney has expressed his dismay at the GAA’s inability to create a fixture schedule that protects both the inter-county and club scene.
This year’s National Football League starts earlier, in the last week of January, while the Ulster Council’s Dr McKenna Cup has been tightened by playing the group games over a seven-day period – Wednesday, Sunday, Wednesday.
“Everybody is pushing the county calendar tighter and tighter – and people are giving out: ‘The county this, the county that…’ I don’t know why,” said McGeeney.
“I just think that’s our shop window… Rugby and soccer are getting bigger and we’re trying to squash our stars. We have 12 months in the year – I still think we can fit both club and county in but why they always have to overlap and fight.
“We only play, what is it, 14 games? We can easily fit that into six months. But the thing is they want to keep us in the papers all year but they don’t want to separate us. I can’t understand it.
“But we’re not the ones that make the decisions. I agree that everybody should be playing for their clubs as much as possible. They have 20 games in a year, maybe less. Twenty games can fit into six months no problem; then 14 [inter-county games] can fit into six. I don’t see a problem.”
Under pressure from the newly formed Club Players Association, the GAA has tried to keep April free for club activity but county teams will be putting the finishing touches to their Championship preparations and therefore clubs may still play games without their county players.
Armagh find themselves in Division Three for a second year running and will hope to banish the agony of losing out to Tipperary on the final day of last season’s NFL that denied them promotion.
“It is [important] but then we won the League [Division Three, in 2015] and I was told afterwards I was useless [laughing], and then when you don’t win it… [shrugging his shoulders].
“Last year’s League was annoying, but it’s funny – one minute you’re told: ‘There’s too much fouling’, and the next it’s: ‘You’re not fouling enough’… It’s hard to keep everybody happy, as I’ve found out.
“Somebody once told me about management: ‘When you start out, there are only a few that don’t like you. When you’re finished, everybody hates you!’”
He added: “You saw Offaly drawing with Dublin, Sligo pushing Galway the whole way. You’ve tough teams [in Division Three] and then you’ve the two Ulster teams – Fermanagh have started well and so have Derry again, and you have Westmeath who are a quality team, so it’s going to be a tough year. But, listen, if you want to be ready for the summer you want tough games in the League."
After recording a five-point win over Down in their McKenna Cup opener, the Armagh boss said: “It’s a good start and a good start for a couple of new players in there and a lot of players coming back from injuries, but it’s nothing to be getting carried away with.”
