GAA: ALLIANZ FOOTBALL LEAGUE FIVE THINGS WE'VE LEARNED: KEITH DUGGANassesses the signs of spring, while recognising that teams can discard league form like a winter coat
IT MATTERS MORE WHEN THE DUBS ARE WINNING
Dublin made this league. Pat Gilroy set the tone when he had his squad set the alarm clocks for 6am training sessions and the Metropolitans have not looked back. Even in the league, the Dubs are a target victory for all other teams: that none have succeeded has made their progress all the more significant. They have set about the league with flair and intensity and raised anticipation of a big summer.
The Spring Series was a strong innovative step to keep the turnstiles clicking and it presaged the threat and the hype that will revolve around Dublin this summer. Coming to Croke Park sharpened the minds of visiting teams. Even so, the Dubs have been rampant: hence the sight of the sky blue team rattling three goals past Kerry in a Saturday night humdinger of a match.
Earlier in the month, they stung All-Ireland champions Cork for three goals. It is never too early to get in some practice at beating the giants of Munster football in Croke Park. The Dubs may or may not go on and win the competition but when they go all out for it, the rest take notice.
THERE ARE NO HIDING PLACES
The league has become a sprint rather than the leisurely cross- country jaunt it was for so long. A strong start is crucial if teams wish to avoid the high drama of last-round relegation, which will play itself out tomorrow.
Management teams find themselves under scrutiny from the beginning. So it has been a turbulent few months for Tomás O’Flatharta, whose Galway team leave themselves with a slim hope of staying in Division One if they can manage to inflict on Dublin a first defeat of the league.
Meath need a result against Tyrone in Navan tomorrow if they are to avoid to dropping to Division Three.
The league brings its own anxieties which is why Kieran McGeeney could be heard describing Kildare’s recent performance as “an embarrassment”, why Fermanagh are in the midst of a players dispute, why Meath chairman Barney Allen has already given the vote of confidence to Séamus McEnaney, why a talented young player like Cork’s Kevin Hayes opts off the panel.
Hayes, a starter against Kerry on the opening day but having seen little action since, sized up the situation and opted against another season on the fringes. Conor Counihan, his manager, was sympathetic but realistic. “It’s a difficult place to be as a player,” he said. The league matters.
GOALS MEANS POINTS
Fourteen goals the Dubs have scored. It is a whopping, flamboyant statistic and if they can keep the nets busy in the summer, then they are going to be hard to stop. When the gaps open and they have a sniff, they are as single-minded about converting goal chances as the Kilkenny hurling team.
The delight in Alan Brogan’s face after he scored the injury-time goal which defeated Down last Saturday night was about the patient build-up to the goal – which involved all three Brogans – as much as the victory.
Goals are strange too. Clare will wonder how they can have bagged 13 goals and coughed up just two and still be third from last in Division Four.
Gilroy might be bothered about the three goals his team conceded to Mayo in less than 22 minutes of play. Of Mayo’s eight goals, six of them have come from a man playing in his first league, Jason Doherty. Can he keep that up?
Funny thing about Kerry is they have spent this league cobbling together a defence – un-retiring Eoin Brosnan and playing him at centre back, luring Tom O’Sullivan back for another year and rotating a reserve of young defenders – and they turn out to be the stingiest unit in the land, giving up just 4-63 to date.
THERE ARE NO EASY GAMES
GAA managers are loathe to look back but if the Sligo back-room team reviews this season, they may rue that opening game against Donegal, when they had an eight-point lead and somehow managed to only draw. If they had bagged a win, would things be different? On Sunday, they face a testing trip to Kildare and, depending on the fortunes of Antrim and Meath, will require something from the game to stay in Division Two.
Donegal have set the pace in Division Two, where five teams go into tomorrow’s last round in contention for promotion. Survival in Division One is a tricky business but it is becoming equally ferocious in the second tier, where Tyrone have rallied after a shaky start and where there is no middle ground: teams are either scrapping for the top two spots or locked in a battle for survival. Only Roscommon, whose marksmen have kicked more points than any other team in the land in this campaign, have secured their promotion before the last game: already, Fergal O’Donnell is preparing his team for the defence of their Connacht title, which begins in New York in just over three weeks. Just like that, the season opens up.
IT IS ALL SMOKE AND MIRRORS
Who is to say, though? Who can guess the mindset of Meath by the time they come to play Kildare or Wicklow in the championship? And if Fermanagh patch up their differences, who is to say they won’t click when it matters? Teams can discard league form like a winter coat. The league just gives signs. The biggest consequence of the league for Cork may be the loss of Colm O’Neill, one of the classiest young players in the game.
The league has demonstrated that Kerry are not yet decided about their midfield, Galway will be an entirely different proposition with Pádraic Joyce as puppet master, Down’s summer was no lightning flash and that Kilkenny men prefer hurling.
The one thing managers loathe is to show too much in the league. You don’t want to look invincible in April. So a riveting Sunday beckons and the slide into lower divisions confronts many counties. But in a week or two, that will be behind them.
Jimmy Smyth (Broadcaster & former Armagh All-Star)
Should the league be split either side of Christmas?
The current format means the league is an extension of the championship in terms of preparation. Splitting it would take away some of the pressure.
Do Saturday night games work?
By and large yes. They certainly work in Croke Park, with the razzmatazz. But the Derry-Donegal game, for instance, had a very small crowd and suffered.
Has the league become more important?
Teams are treating it seriously. It's become important for players to prove themselves. If you aren't getting a game by the latter stages, you know where you stand.
Has the league produced new All-Ireland contenders?
I really don't think the bookmakers will be looking much past Cork, Kerry or Dublin on what we have seen in the league.
Martin Carney (Gaelic football analyst)
Should the league be split either side of Christmas?
The current way has the advantage of keeping the competition within the calendar year but I do feel the GAA cedes grounds to other sports in the autumn.
Do Saturday night games work?
Absolutely. There have a great atmosphere to them, and economic benefits. People don't stay around after a Sunday tie. They would do on a Friday or Saturday night.
Has the league become more important?
It has become more important because of the restructuring. Managers field their strongest players in league games now.
Has the league produced new All-Ireland contenders?
Down, the big surprise from last year, certainly have not regressed. But have they progressed enough? It is hard to look past the old chestnuts.
Tom Carr (Former Dublin player and manager)
Should the league be split either side of Christmas?
No. I think that other fixtures may need to be moved, but the league is a good league as it is. To revert to the old format would seriously dilute it.
Do Saturday night games work?
Yes, absolutely. I have always been an advocate of night games and I think this league has highlighted their advantages.
Has the league become more important?
It has, much more important. The league is a good indicator of where a county team is right now – in a way that wasn't always true.
Has the league produced new All-Ireland contenders?
If you are talking about new All-Ireland contenders, then Dublin are the only team that have really impressed. After that, you are still looking at Cork and Kerry.
