Kerry GAA’s fixtures plan seems a sensible one

Damian Stack Kerry GAA County Board’s draft plan is a really good compromise for return to play

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OUR long national nightmare is over... well, almost. As the weeks go by we edge a little closer all the time towards something approaching normality. We say ‘something approaching’ because it does seem like the new normal is going to be distinctly different to the old normal.

All the same, the return to sport will do much to reconnect us with our former lives. When the GAA announced its roadmap the week before last there was a collective sigh of relief across the land. After all the doom and gloom, and the many prognostications suggesting we might not see a ball kicked at all this year, finally there was an end in sight.

Where Croke Park have led the County Board have followed, taking the superstructure provided by Headquarters – the almost three months set aside for club competition – and filling in the blanks with a comprehensive programme of games and competitions.

Looking at the draft proposal which emerged last week – and we must stress that it’s a draft, subject to change and yet to be ratified as of the time of going to press – we’ve got to say that the County Board and its Secretary, Peter Twiss, have done a really good job.

That probably shouldn’t be altogether that surprising. Mr Twiss has shown a real capacity for forward thinking when it comes to fixtures planning. The

Kerry domestic calendar has been one of the better structured and organised in Munster (if not the entire country), and that’s reflected here in this draft proposal.

It seeks to strike a balance between competing interests and for the most part we’d have to say that it gets it just about right. Of course, it’s not without its flaws and not everyone will be happy with every compromise taken, but you do have to consider that these are extraordinary circumstances. Now is not the time to let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

It was ever thus, of course, every set of fixtures is a compromise of sorts. For the most part, though, we’ve got to say that what’s been proposed here is quite sensible. There’s room given to the club championships, to county championships and, indeed, due consideration is given to more recreational footballers with the Junior Cups being given the opportunity to be played this summer / early autumn.

The County Board have gone out of their way to ensure that there’s no clashes between the County Hurling Championship and its big ball counterpart. Of course, it won’t be easy for any dual players should all their teams (it could be as many as three for some dual players) advance to the latter stages of their respective competitions.

Probably the single biggest issue we would take with what’s been proposed is the decision to split the club championships basically in two, with the semi-finals and final being played over a month after the group phase.

The fact that during the April club month these championships are now played from start to finish essentially, without interruption – bar a rest week – has done wonders for their credibility and, indeed, the integrity of the competitions in our view.

In April you can follow these championships from start to finish, assess teams’ form and watch momentum gather, wax and wane. Breaking them up like this undoes a lot of that, but as we said we’d be loath to be too critical. Rather Mr Twiss and his colleagues than us, we’ve got to say.

Some of the larger issues are probably those over which the County Board have less control. It was Croke Park which decreed that inter-county training can resume in the middle of this club window and, even then, Headquarters could hardly do otherwise. Inter-county teams need to prepare for their return to action too.

It’s not ideal that Peter Keane will be taking his first tentative steps back in collective training the week of the County Championship semi-finals and it’s not ideal that Fintan O’Connor will be doing likewise just a fortnight ahead of the County Hurling Final, but it does seem fairly unavoidable. In our pre-Covid past county training continued to a greater or lesser extent throughout April – this isn’t any different to that.

The proposal to play the club championship finals after inter-county action resumes might seem a little bit problematic, but it seems likely enough that inter-county action will resume with the remaining rounds of the National League making it just about possible to play both with relatively minimal disruption.

Of course, all club competitions stop at the county bounds this year. There will be no Munster or All Ireland competitions, which should offer the County Board a little more leeway.

Due consideration has also been given to the District Board championships and room has been afforded to them to be played with county players available. Whether that turns out to be wholly feasible in practice with so many other competitions being played at the same time, we’re not sure, but they could end up being played without county players later in the year.

Overall, as we say, this is pretty damned good. Given where we were a few short weeks ago, it’s nothing short of miraculous.