JOYCE HITS OUT AT GAA ‘AGENDAS’
Galway boss fumes at Championship format
GALWAY manager Padraic Joyce has accused the GAA of having ‘another agenda’ in not allowing a back door in this summer’s football championship.
Two seasons into his reign as manager of the Tribesmen, Joyce is facing into what will be just his third Championship game when his team take on Mayo in this Sunday’s Connacht final in Croke Park.
Last season, Galway received a bye to the final when Covidstricken Sligo were forced to withdraw from the Championship, but this summer there have been increasing levels of discontent in football circles at the imposition of back-to-back knock-out championships while hurling has been facilitated with a qualifier safety net for those teams beaten in the provincial championships.
Croke Park fixture bosses had estimated it would take an extra three weeks to accommodate a back door in the football championship.
However, Joyce is adamant that time should have been found, arguing this year’s format has done nothing for the development of football panels around the country and suggested different factors at play.
‘For the sake of the extra three or four weeks required they could have fitted in a backdoor. It has been in hurling last year and this year. I don’t see why not.
‘There is obviously another agenda as to why there isn’t a backdoor in football.
‘It is unfortunate to see teams knocked out in June and July, then not kicking a ball again until next February or March. There is no way they can try to develop as a squad. It is very, very tough on them. In hindsight it is the wrong decision they have made,’ insisted Joyce.
One of the theories is that backto-back knock-out championship’s will whet the appetite for Championship reform ahead of a special Congress in the autumn, however the early indication is that GAA administrators favour a tweaking of the current provincial system.
This would see an equalisation of the provincial system — four groupings of eight — rather than the League-Championship proposal that has gained traction amoung inter-county managers and players.
Joyce insists that the evidence from the early rounds of this year’s Championship means that the GAA will have to opt for meaningful change in the long-term interests of the game.
‘It’s not just this year. It’s unfair. You see a Division 1 team up against a Division 4 team, there is only going to be one result unless the Division 1 team plays really poorly and the Division 3 or 4 team play out of their skin.
‘There was a couple of surprises in the championship last year but the time of the year was a bit of a leveller, but this year with the fast ball as well, there’s been a lot of hammerings handed out. ‘They know now that something needs to be done because it can’t continue the way it’s going. ‘It’s very hard for underage people in the Division 3 or 4 counties getting these hammerings to aspire to play for these counties because where is the carrot at the end of the tunnel for them? ‘They need to be playing among their own teams to develop and then gradually build up and build up.
‘Take Derry this year, they’ve come all the way through the ranks and are in Division 2 next year and they ran Donegal very, very close in the championship.
‘There are teams coming up that can do it and will do it,’ argued Joyce.
It is precisely that question that now hangs over his own team as they face the prospect of being knocked out of the Championship for the third successive year by their neighbours and arch rivals - Mayo beat them in the 2019 qualifiers as well as last year’s onepoint Connacht final.
The experience of the latter game, particularly given the transitional nature of his team which
has been accelerated with the introduction of the exceptional Mattie Tierney this season, should stand to his team on an occasion that has lost none of its appeal for Joyce.
‘It’ll definitely help, that bit of experience. But Mayo would be in the same boat as well, they’ll have got it. They’ve won it, our lads haven’t won it. We’d be hoping our lads have a bit more hunger for it when the time comes around again.
‘As I said to the boys before, it’s an honour and a privilege to be playing for Galway and being involved in Galway.
‘A Connacht final is a big day for us. Other people might frown upon the provincial championships at the minute but it’s a huge day, it’s a huge occasion.
‘We’ve great rivalry with Mayo. It’s a healthy rivalry and there’s never much in it in the Championship, the kick of a ball. We’re expecting the same again on Sunday.’
‘We’d hope our lads have a bit more hunger for it’