Split season threatens the League’s standing
WE’RE facing into a National League semifinal in March and for Wexford and Waterford, it’s been an encouraging campaign. With Darragh Egan taking over from Davy Fitzgerald in Wexford, I’d imagine he had his own ideas about how he wanted to approach the job. Davy is a big personality. Wexford had ups and downs on his watch and it wasn’t going to be easy to fill his boots. The people Egan brought in – the likes of Billy Walsh and Gordon D’Arcy – have helped. And yet it started with a terrible drubbing by Dublin in the Walsh Cup final the week before the League started.
Your initial reaction is, it’s very early days but is this going to work out? Could it end terribly? And they’ve gone on to win five from five, top Group A and reach the play-offs. Rory O’Connor’s game has gone to another level. He’s always been a fantastic talent but he has taken off under Egan.
Winning a trophy would be a big thing for Wexford and Waterford, it’s a national competition after all but I guess everybody is wondering whether counties will be going all out.
Waterford have been one of the top teams in the country this last few years under Liam Cahill. He started the campaign without the Ballygunner lads and is building a strong squad. Tadhg de Búrca being back in full flow has really helped. They had a good League and it’s worth noting they were basically through before losing to Kilkenny last weekend.
You have to be careful about reading too much into League form in any normal year.
This year is the first full year of the split season so it’s particularly hard to get a handle on.
So much is different. First of all, the minor championship started last weekend. It’s so early. You’re going out of this League campaign then into the Munster and Leinster Championship starting on Easter weekend in the middle of April.
The planning, timing, how you prepare – it’s new for everybody. You’d have to have one eye on it already. Altough the League is the second most important national competition, the question is being asked: do you want to go and win it with such a short gap to the Championship?
It will soon be evident as the Championship develops and we see how it worked for the teams in the play-offs and in the final.
The champions Limerick haven’t been themselves. Manager John Kiely has always understood the importance of recovery. He let Cian Lynch off to play for NUIG in the Fitzgibbon Cup.
I would be very much of the view that Limerick started training with a view to the Championship, not with the League in mind at all. Most teams have a light session on a Thursday ahead of a game. I wonder was that the case for the champions ahead of the game against Galway when they faded for the last 10 minutes.
That’s going to happen if you trained heavily in the build up.
I believe they looked at the group – and no disrespect to my own county – saw Offaly in the last match and felt they should be safe from a relegation playoff.
Most counties have used the competition to blood players.
Last Sunday Limerick had the likes of Mike Casey back, had Dan Morrissey back out to wing-back. Does Kyle Hayes stay wing-back then or go to centre-forward like before? That only increases their options.
Does Cian Lynch switch from 11 and replace Peter Casey inside, maybe play a roving role to leave Aaron Gillane and Seamus Flanagan in the full-forward line? You have two All-Stars in the middle of the field in Will O’Donoghue and Darragh O’Donovan and a potential halfforward line of Gearóid Hegarty, Kyle Hayes and Tom Morrissey. I think they are in a really good place.
I still think if I was the Wexford or Waterford manager I’d be going all out to win a trophy. They have big panels so you mightn’t have to show your full hand.
I only won one National League in 1991. We won it with a young team and it took us three years to win All-Ireland. The same year we lost our first round against Dublin. That was in May and it felt early.
Looking forward to the All-Ireland in July, it’s really strange.
If a team wins the League and loses the first round of the Championship, it’s going to undermine the competition somewhat.
This format is tough for any team coming up from Division 2A. I think I’d prefer to go back to a Division 1A and 1B. Offaly are going from playing third tier Christy Ring and the likes of Sligo and Wicklow to facing Tipperary, Galway, Cork, Clare and Limerick. That’s a huge jump in standard.
If they were in a Division 1B group with two or three others trying to make their way, it would be easier.
I always felt the League could do with more marketing, maybe have a team holiday for the winners. People are looking at the negatives, like with the second tier Tailteann Cup that will be in place for football this summer. Why not have a Tailteann Cup All-Stars and promote it better.?
It will be interesting to see if there will be consequences from the new calendar. As teams go out of the Championship early, will we have a big exodus of players to America? We could have players heading away in May.
Most of our teams will be gone out well before the All-Ireland final in July.
The bulk of the inter-county season will be over in June – that’s a long stretch of the year for the GAA season to be carried without it.So there’s all these things to consider. We’re never going to find a perfect solution.
Overall, you have to welcome the club having a proper uninterrupted window from July on.
We’ll only know how well it has all worked by the end of the year.