In football Donegal and Tyrone Vs Mayo. Tyrone again Vs Armagh. Cork Vs Down. You would be going back to Armagh v Kerry I’d say
We have been through this 1000 times.
April for clubs was a good break between league and championship but it had 2 main problems…
1: many counties ignored the supposed 4 weeks of club games and went on training camps after 1 or 2 games.
2: Clubs had to be back in pre season in January for 1/2 championship games that could potentially make or break your year.
As a supporter I share your frustrations to a degree but it was madness before having a 10 month club season.
Obviously, it would be great to have a situation where we could have a club weekend each month but it’s impossible when you build in the various permutations such as u20, dual clubs etc.
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Limerick 1973 is the only one I can think of in hurling.
Wexford’s breakthrough in 1955 was against Limerick in the semi-final and Galway who got a bye to the final.
In football, Down in 1960 and Armagh in 2002 were against Kerry. Donegal against Dublin in 1992.
Edit: Waterford against Kilkenny 1959.
It is happening though, clubs like St Patrick’s are getting their house in order, they have the pick of some very talented kids who play soccer for Fairview and Pike but have now started hurling and the ability is there. You then have Monaleen and Mungret adding big numbers. It does take time but I believe it will increase the numbers in the county for years to come.
Could you have a club weekend in June July and August? I think you could. Would top players want to play with their clubs in middle of intense inter county championship? I doubt it very much.
Looks the split season zealots are coming round to the idea they’ve made a total fuck of the GAA Calendar…
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Maybe in a one code county like Kilkenny but not in any of the others who have dual commitments at club level.
Money doesn’t put the ball over the bar.
It doesn’t drive players to spend hours upon hours working on their game by themselves.
It doesn’t drive internal competition.
The current Limerick team compete with each other on every single thing they do. Who can run most, who can lift more, getting in extra sessions, early sessions… When you have talent and you add that culture of extreme internal competition… What’s a trip to the Bahamas doing?
All the great teams in any sport all have the same ingredients…
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A 10-month club season where you would have access to your county players for one training session before a Championship match.
Not having a clue when your next match would be. Relegated to trying to force all your meaningful matches into a tiny space in October. Spending a fortune on hiring pitches to train under lights because the county season has dominated for 9 months.
It was completely unsustainable, it’s so much better now. It’s not perfect but beyond taking power from the county managers (for which there is no real appetite to do), there was no other option. It’s been a great compromise (bar the odd weird decision like Wexford’s way of running it off).
The All-Ireland structures are a different debate again, I do think the provincials are on their last leg. The exciting Munster final last year might give them another couple of years.
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Its not a slight on Limerick, Dublin etc. All you said is true but without the financial resources you dont create the environment/culture that allows all of the above to happen.
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Sounds awfully like the ‘PEDs don’t make players more skilful’ argument.
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Are St Patricks beginning to bloom like you say there? I hope so
What are Limerick getting that other counties aint? Kinnerk is probably being looked after alright. But they train, work out, eat like the rest. What winning team doesn’t get a big holiday? The famed academy isn’t in some scientific lab… There’s little between the counties at the top.
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JPs money didn’t make that much of a difference it definitely helped of course. But the power that money gave him to make changes within the county board etc have made a massive difference.
A lot of counties are just really badly run.
Cork have access to way more in terms of resources etc than JP could ever manage. They just need to get their shit together and tbf are slowly doing it while dealing with the shit show they were handed.
Your man Costello in Dublin was as important as Jim Gavin in getting Dublin to those levels.
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Limerick are more skillful and harder working than the rest. It’s as simple as that
Come on. They have the best of the best. When money is no object, there are no barriers to success once you make the right appointments. If you think Limerick’s success would have happened without JP’s backing, you are in denial.
Again, it’s not a criticism. Limerick are a great team.
JP has been firing money at them since the 00s and it made fuck all difference until he insisted they change the structures if they wanted the money.
As he said to Lowry when he asked him about investing money in Offaly. You need to invest in the underage structures
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Do you lads read at all or just see what you want to see?
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I’m not disagreeing with you. Just saying it’s not the money. It’s the structures he made them put in
So he kept firing money at it til he got it right