St Patrick's Day rich with potential significance

THE CLUB finals at Croke Park on St Patrick's Day have become a part of the GAA calendar's structure, a significant date that closes off the first part of the year and marks the quickening pulse of the intercounty season. Finals day can also have elements of significance that don't fully emerge until time has passed.

One obvious connection is that between club success in March and the wider county's winning the All-Ireland the following September. This has happened seven times in both hurling and football - with varying degrees of cause and effect - and those precedents are a matter of great encouragement to Galway's hurlers as well as Dublin's footballers.

It has happened previously. Galway's breakthrough All-Ireland in 1980 was preceded by Castlegar winning the county's first club title. Of course given the enormous success of Galway teams in the 20 years since the county last won the MacCarthy Cup - Monday was the eighth club All-Ireland in that time - Ger Loughnane will not be jumping to conclusions just yet.

He will obviously be anxious to get Joe Canning's senior career off the blocks. Such was his strength in winning ball and the power of his striking it's hard to credit that he's still a teenager.

Loughnane would presumably also be interested in securing a break in Ollie Canning's retirement given the latter's ability and organisational presence in defence.

Dublin might get more excited by the achievement of St Vincent's. Five times - 1973, 74, 89, 95 and 98 - a club football All-Ireland has heralded a breakthrough (here meant as the first in at least over a decade) success in September. Dublin also has the best club-to-county conversion rate in All-Irelands. Three times out of four, the county won both in the same calendar year.

Experience is mixed on whether the county success was consequent or subsequent. Vincent's first All-Ireland in 1976 featured a gallery of A-listers from the county team but on the other occasions that connection wasn't as strong. UCD in 1974 predictably had hardly any Dublin players let alone members of the county panel.

It's 13 years since Dublin last won either All-Ireland. Surprisingly, Kilmacud Crokes had just one player, John O'Callaghan, even on the panel that kept the Sam Maguire in town in September 1995. Were history to repeat itself, the club representation would in all likelihood be higher.

Captain Tomás Quinn has displayed leadership nerve in kicking important scores, Ger Brennan will resume his burgeoning county career, and others like Diarmuid Connolly may also get chances to stake a claim.

For this week's losing teams there isn't much consolation. That's primarily because Birr and Nemo Rangers are top of their respective rolls of honour so there's no real sense of achievement in simply reaching finals. Birr did undeniably well in doing so but they won't have the torture of a wafer-thin defeat like Nemo.

Monday was reminiscent of the final 10 years ago except with the positions reversed. Then Birr, in their pomp, took on the Galway champions Sarsfields (who were back trying to add to the two All-Irelands won earlier in the 1990s) and sharply dismissed any notion of further recognition for Joe Cooney.

It was a poignant moment for everyone when what is likely to be Brian Whelahan's last act on the big stage turned out to be a red card late in the hurling final. It was a strange echo of what befell Tipperary's Tommy Dunne in last year's breathtaking All-Ireland semi-final between Toomevara and Ballyhale.

No less than Dunne, Whelahan had enjoyed a career that prioritised skill and technique. He had also graced several finals with "man of the match" displays and would have been a worthy winner of a record fifth All-Ireland club medal. Ending the final as he did won't, however, cloud a magnificent career.

One of the odd aspects of St Patrick's Day - apart from the perennial plunge into temperatures seldom experienced outside cryotherapy chambers - is that the full attendance is never there for the full programme of matches. Whether it's fastidious hurling people whose sensibilities aren't equal to a game of football or simply jubilant supporters who can't wait to get home, the early crowd doesn't hang around.

Monday's figure of 31,246 might not look substantial set against the capacity of the new Croke Park but taken in context it represents a serious crowd. For instance the rugby provinces generally play to smaller crowds.

Obviously there are capacity issues for even the most successful, Leinster and Munster, but when the two provinces met in October 2006 at Lansdowne Road in the Celtic League, just months after their European Cup semi-final, the attendance was 27,252.

There also has to be some recognition that by their very nature the club finals are more localised affairs and unlikely to attract capacity crowds. They are also very dependent on what clubs qualify for the final.

The big attraction of the club championships is their unpredictability. From year to year they can pass from producing hot favourites at an early stage - for instance as soon as Portumna lost the Galway final in October 2006, Ballyhale Shamrocks looked almost certain winners - to catapulting teams with doubtful prospects in their own county onto the national stage in a few months.

So it was with St Vincent's on Monday. The club had gone from being one of the biggest names in the GAA during the 1950s, 60s and 70s - confirming that status with one of the first club All-Irelands in 1976 - to the anonymity of failure and fading memories.

Tomás Quinn provided a striking metaphor for the achievement in winning Sunday's final when he said the black-and-white pictures of success in the clubhouse could now make way for more updated images.

A press release from Boylesports yesterday put Vincent's at 25 to 1 to win next year's title - a reflection of the arduous roads through Dublin and Leinster. A year ago, though, you could have named your own price.