Gaa split season,killing Meath football since 2011

Current Affairs
5815

Jim McGuinness will be Árd-StiĂșrthóír yet. But not until he has brought Sam back to the hills at least twice more.

By Brendan Crossan

March 28, 2024 at 8:30PM GMT

JIM McGuinness has taken a swipe at pundits who continue to talk down the provincial Championships and National League finals and warned them to be careful what they wish for.

The Donegal manager is completely miffed by the discourse surrounding the inter-county calendar and whether or not there is room to play League finals given the condensed nature of the relatively new split season.

Speaking at Monday night’s men and women’s joint Ulster Championship launch at the University of Ulster Belfast, the 2012 All-Ireland winning manager said: “I’m a firm believer in you never truly cherish something or understand it fully until it is gone.”

“And so, I played in the Railway Cup and I loved it, I loved the level of competition and the players.

“People talked that competition down into oblivion. The same is going on now with the provincial Championships and the same is going on now with the Leagues.”

Reiterating the point that, historically, the Sam Maguire has generally been the preserve of two counties – Kerry and Dublin – McGuinness insisted that other competitions should therefore be retained and celebrated.

“Other counties pop in and pop out and they get a bit of success here and there, but it is basically owned by two counties,” said the Glenties man.

“Those other cups are very important to keep the passion flowing [for] the supporters on a big day, the Division Two and Division One competitions, the provincial Championships, all of these things.

“There are eight to 10 cups in a season. Maybe that can be a springboard to other things moving forward.

“If we take all of that away and focus on this (the Sam Maguire), historically only two teams have won it.

“And say some of our lads might potentially win a League medal this weekend in Croke Park.

“That might be the only thing they ever win in their life. Who knows who is going to be there this year or next year? This could be the pinnacle, going to Croke Park and winning a national title at HQ.”

McGuinness, who returned to the Donegal fold at the start of the season after a 10-year sabbatical, used Monday evening’s platform to express his disappointment at how the Ulster Championship is being damaged by the time of year it is being played while others argue it should be moved to February.

“The intensity is off the charts,” McGuinness said, replying to an observation of there literally being no space between the League and Championship.

“For managers, they are on tenterhooks with players in case they pick up any knocks. For players, it is very similar.

“Donegal finished last year and they’d a six-week gap until the start of the Championship and they played about six rounds of the Donegal Championship.

“The teams weren’t seeded and the team that went for it, Ballyshannon, finished top. Because it was an open draw, they played St Eunan’s Letterkenny when they qualified so there was no advantage to all the football they played.

“We are having the exact same situation with the Ulster Championship U20 competition at the moment.

“They are going to play four games and nobody is knocked out.”

McGuinness added: “Let’s not forget, the All-Ireland series is a round-robin so if we want to find weeks, we can find weeks.

“We want to find weeks at the expense of the Ulster Championship, at the expense of the League finals.

“Who are we serving? It is not serving managers, in my view, it isn’t serving players or supporters. They want to see their team win and it isn’t serving supporters going to Derry in three weeks in the pouring rain with a soft pitch. That doesn’t serve anybody.”

2 Likes
5816

Jim is an incredible human

5817

That’s an upper cut into the jaw of the split season zealots.

1 Like
5818

Nobody will ever remember anything from any of these Round Robin games in years to come.

5819

Jim is 100% correct on competition structures.

Belittling the provincial championships is being led by the weirdos on OTB but in the end Kerry & Dublin will always win 70% of titles.

Jim never allowed club games be played but it didn’t really affect Donegal which has no hurling. Different story in dual counties.

5820

Was that the match where Mark Keane had a free with the last puc of the ball to level it in normal time and the Tippos built a human pyrimad in front of him? Epic!

5821

That was 2001 in the Gaelic Grounds. The two 2002 games in Thurles were epic. I watched one of them with @SHANNONSIDER

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5822

That was to win it i think in 2001.

Kevin Tobin equalised in normal time in 2002 and it shook the Old Kinane Stand in Thurles to its foundations.

5823

It was only rivalled by the roar for Shaughs goal just before it, and the announcement that the train home would be held after it.

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5824

Ball went over the bar and there was a massive scrap in the goalmouth/net. Colin Morrissey picked up a red

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My abiding memory of that day is Noel Sheedy celebrating as if the game was won with minutes to go. Was supposed to be a dope of a manager and fully acted like it that day.

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A pure hames

https://x.com/fotoole13/status/1773770776623174002?s=46&t=bi9TPLB4aIa07RQv_xWOxQ

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A great time to be a young lad devoid of responsibilities

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That’s it. I’ve had enough this can’t continue it’s absolutely outrageous.

5829

England’s last 16 game in the Euros will probably clash with an All-Ireland football quarter-final.

5830

I know there was a big crowd at Offaly v Wexford last year but those Tipp v Limerick games really were something. Shaughs was at his peak back then and Tipp had Eoin Kelly.

An uncle of mine died 10 years ago I’d say at this stage but my abiding memory was 2008 u21 Munster final v Clare. The savagery from the Clare supporters was the last remains of their carry on during the late 90s and as a young lad it made me believe all the tales were true.
We stopped for chips on the way home, great times.

6 Likes
5831

What these split season zealots have done will not be forgotten.

5832

What even is the point of the 3pm all Ireland semi final?

5833

Them under 21 games were huge for keeping hurling going in Limerick, Clare, Waterford and Wexford at different times.

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5834

They have to be playing 4D Chess with the whole thing and have it set up to fail.

From June 1st onwards there will only be three hurling games televised on Sundays.

1 Like