Decisions leave air of uncertainty in Donegal and Munster

Dissonant noises have been heard just as the end of a captivating football championship comes into sight. Yesterday came the news that there had been a management break-up in Donegal and last Thursday the Munster Council decided to abandon the open draw in the provincial football championship.

Whatever the reasons behind it, the departure of Jim McGuinness’s management team came as a shock at the end of what has been a difficult and turbulent year for the former All-Ireland champions, which was brought to a grim end by Mayo in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

In a way, the county’s fate underlined what an achievement the All-Ireland victory had been 12 months ago. As a two-year project, the success was based on a physically and mentally very demanding system, which was going to be hard to replicate.

The late Eamonn Coleman said to Joe Kernan in 2003 that All-Ireland defences are most commonly derailed by the unexpected and most frequently that came in the shape of injuries. Donegal suffered a great deal from the struggles of key players to regain full fitness and mentally re-engage at the level of last year.

Defending champions have been successful just once in the past 23 years of All-Ireland football championships and Donegal were always going to be under pressure given the relative shallowness of their playing panel if injury or form became an issue.

Increased pressure
McGuinness himself has also been under increased pressure with the developing responsibilities of his job with Glasgow Celtic, which are due to increase this season, as well as a growing family to which twins were just recently added.

It has been speculated in the county that he might have been more inclined to walk away but for the harrowing circumstances of Donegal’s defeat – a 16-point demolition by the team they beat in last year’s All-Ireland final – and the responsibility he feels to restore the county’s fortunes.

That appeared on track at the weekend when his re-appointment was announced in the wake of the clubs’ agreement to defer both the 2014 senior and intermediate county championships until Donegal’s interest in the All-Ireland has ended.

There was an irony in this in that the county championship last year was shoe-horned into the weeks after the All-Ireland success and the relentless sequence of fixtures was blamed for the long-term injury to the 2012 Footballer of the Year Karl Lacey.

McGuinness’s task of reconstruction has nearly re-assumed the proportions of when he took over three seasons ago and the priority will be to restore some stability to the situation. Strangely for a team that so dominated the championship last year and built that domination on careful calculation and methodical planning, Donegal find themselves 12 months later in as difficult a situation as any outgoing champions in recent memory.

In Munster the fact that Limerick was the county to have proposed the dismantling of the open draw is a matter of deep dismay to most of the county’s football community, who recognise the role that the format played in raising the profile of the game in the county.

Limerick had been the biggest beneficiaries of the initiative, reaching five Munster finals in the 21 years – it was suspended for two seasons, 2007 and 2008 – of its operation although to be fair, the county got there in 2003 after beating Cork rather than availing of an easier draw.

Extremely competitive
In Munster finals Limerick were extremely competitive, their losing margin an average of three points – or two and a half if you factor in the 2004 replay.

But it’s not just Limerick. Clare have reached four Munster finals and became the only county apart from Cork and Kerry to win the title in the open era, in 1992. Tipperary have also been in four provincial finals over the same period but have also enjoyed success at under-age level, including the 2011 All-Ireland minor title.

Next month will see the draws being made for the 2014 championship and the outcome will hang over many counties like a micro-climate for the seven or eight months leading up to the fixture. For many medium ranking counties, their whole outlook for the season ahead is defined by that draw.

In Munster particularly, the right side of the draw can mean the difference between on the one hand a provincial final appearance and a decent shot at an All-Ireland quarter-final place and on the other a listless drift into the summer followed by demoralising defeat and loss of appetite for the qualifiers.

Tipperary have been badly affected by four straight years of drawing Kerry in the provincial championship and picking up defeats, the average of which strays into double digits. As a young side with a promising record at under-age, the Tipp footballers would have benefited greatly from the prospect of a Munster final but the luck of the draw deserted them.

Tipperary’s proposal that Cork and Kerry get byes to the semi-finals but that the final four not be seeded appeared to offer the best prospect of compromise given concerns that lower-ranked counties needed to play each other first before facing the province’s big two but instead the format will revert to the past.

The counties may well put their foot down again next year and restore the open draw but it would help were Munster Council not to allow something of this importance to be treated in so volatile a fashion.
smoran@irishtimes.com