Donegal are right to speak up.. both now and in future
IF Donegal stand accused of waking up to the consequences of the ‘Super 8s’ format belatedly, then they’re in pretty good company.
At Croke Park on April 17, during his official unveiling as the GAA’S new director general, Tom Ryan was asked whether Dublin would enjoy two home games if they made it to the last eight.
“I’m not really sure, to tell you the truth, how the fixtures and venues will pan out,” he replied. “There will be all manner of nuances there.
“The objective is to have as many games out of here as possible, which I think is a good thing for a start.
“As with all those things, we’re going to be constrained a little bit by the practicalities of particular pairings and so on.
“In terms of es- pousing a principle, the idea, yes, is to have games outside of Croke Park.”
Taking Ryan at his word, even the GAA’S most influential administrator wasn’t sure as to the devil in the detail despite it being passed at Congress in February 2017, 14 months earlier.
So it’s hardly surprising the voluntary officials across the country weren’t fully tuned into it either.
Yet Ryan’s predecessor Paraic Duffy was, having essentially drawn up the format himself. He flagged the Dublin anomaly in advance.
“The proposal guarantees that Dublin must play one game in the All-ireland series outside Croke Park,” wrote Duffy when the idea was first put forward. “At present, this cannot happen as all of these games are played in Croke Park.”
As sidesteps go, it was unconvincing, but still, the issue didn’t feature in the Super 8s debate at last year’s Congress.
The spirit of the new format is that each county has one game at a neutral venue, one at home and one away but now Dublin will have two at home and Donegal two away.
Critically, there is no mention of ‘neutral venue’ in the ruling, only Croke Park.
So while the Central Competitions Control Committee was bound by its own regulations when capitulating to Kildare last week, this time the law is on its side.
That doesn’t change the fact that the law is an ass in this instance, however.
There have been laughable efforts to deny the fact that Croke Park is Dublin’s de facto home ground.
Given that they’ve played all of their home League games there since 2011 and the vast majority of their Championship games, it’s not up for discussion. Suggestions that Dublin should play their designated home game against Roscommon or Armagh at Parnell Park are as risible as, say, Kerry playing a game each in Killarney and Tralee.
Moving the Dublin-roscommon/armagh game to a neutral ground would create another imbalance as Roscommon/armagh would then have no away fixture on their roster.
So, the problem lies exclusively with the Dublin-donegal tie not being played at a strictly neutral venue.
Donegal seeking clarification with GAA headquarters is an early indicator that Kildare’s stance of last week has emboldened others.
Dublin have even been the victim of questionable venue choices themselves in recent years, with their less fashionable hurlers twice sent to Thurles to play Tipperary in knockout Championship fixtures.
Perhaps they’ll be more belligerent the next time they’re placed in such a position.
For now, though, it appears Donegal are going to have to suck this one up.
They, and others, were too silent when the format was passed. That doesn’t mean they should also keep quiet now, however.
But the time to shout loudest is at next year’s Congress.
There have been laughable efforts to deny the fact that Croke Park is Dublin’s de facto home ground