Castletown, Shels and Martin’s the early pace-setters

THE RETURN to serious club activity over recent weekends was a welcome diversion from the inter-county scene, and the only pity is that the football championships will be put on hold now, just at a juncture when teams were starting to build momentum and the interest was heightening.

It will be the turn of the hurling clubs to take centre stage from Friday through to Sunday, although there isn’t a window of opportunity there to play a second round before the Wexford teams have their first outings in Leinster.

That will be a frustrating state of affairs for participants, mentors and fans alike, because we need a vibrant club scene to keep the games to the forefront in our parishes.

Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done in the current climate where inter-county activity reigns supreme over everything else.

A lot of pious platitudes will be heard about the important role of the club in the G.A.A., but the empty words are long since ignored at this stage by those at the coal-face who are trying so hard to maintain interest.

What did we learn from the first two weekends of football action? Well, the Ross District-dominated Group B of the Tom Doyle Supplies Senior football championship has lived up to all expectations so far, although the sole ‘interlopers’, St. Martin’s, are the only team with full points at this early stage.

O’Kennedy Park played host to a couple of very enjoyable double-headers over successive Sundays, with holders Gusserane winning a tight affair before losing in similar circumstances.

It was a similar tale for St. James’ who join them on two points, while Fethard are one better on three after their draw with Taghmon-Camross on Saturday.

Horeswood may be propping up the table right now, but I will be very surprised if they don’t collect points in some, or perhaps all, of their three games to come.

As for Group A, the early pace is being set as one would have expected beforehand by Shelmaliers and Castletown, but perhaps the biggest surprise thus far has been the failure of last year’s unlucky beaten finalists, Glynn-Barntown, to secure a win.

St. Anne’s and Starlights have both collected two points at their expense, while Sarsfields will have it all to do to work their way up from the foot of the table.

If there was an award given out for the best team across all grades after these two rounds, St. Mary’s (Maudlintown) would be strong contenders after two runaway Intermediate victories over Ballyhogue and St. Joseph’s respectively.

Ferns St. Aidan’s, Duffry Rovers and St. Mary’s (Rosslare) also boast one hundred per cent records in that grade, while Naomh Eanna, Réalt na Mara and Crossabeg-Ballymurn will be very happy with their successes in the Intermediate ‘A’ competition.

I watched eight matches over the first two rounds, and feel I must comment on our referees. First and foremost, I acknowledge that the job they have at these games is a lot more taxing than mine.

Then again, they get paid for their involvement so certain standards should be expected as a minimum requirement.

The difficulty as I see it is that some referees are very selective in the rules they choose to implement. Either apply all of them or forget about it, put away the whistle, and contribute in some other form to the G.A.A.

This is particularly galling when it comes to off-the-ball incidents which are routinely ignored, leading to understandable frustration from those on the receiving end. If I can see jerseys tugged, arms held, knees driven into the back of an opponent’s leg, and studs raked down calves, then I don’t understand why some of the seven people officiating at all of these games cannot do the same.

The referees’ committee would be doing the forwards in this county a great service if they invited Brian White down from Clonmel and asked him to give an insight into how he used to police these antics back in the day when he was considered the top football referee in the country.

I don’t expect us to produce an official of his calibre ever again, but full implementation of the rules isn’t too much to ask for from anyone.