DISPENSE WITH THE safety net!
Farewell to the parachute!
Ta-ra to poor-mouthery such as; ‘it’s only the league/provincial championship.’
Bye-bye shadow boxing. Au revoir for squad rotation and getting some gametime into the legs. Adios to experimentation, because this weekend, this weekend, ladies and gentlemen, we enter the phase of the All-Ireland championship where teams can be knocked out – (yes, we aware of Clare’s situation).
And it only took us a piffling 41 games to get there.
Preambles aside, we begin in a Holly Willoughby voice with enough insincerity that it could make Philip Schofield whip himself into such a rage he might, ooohh, I dunno, kick over a waste paper basket.
Right. Deep breath. Firstly, are you ok? Hope so. Seems very strange sitting here without a straight knockout format.
I imagine you might be feeling a lot like I have. Shaken. Troubled. Let down. Worried for the wellbeing of people on all sides of what’s been going on. And full of questions…
Enough! How have you coped without the word of the summer; ‘jeopardy’? Has it been fine? Are you glad there’s been no ‘dead rubbers?’ Are you entertained?
Are you ok?
All of the unpleasantness will soon be over. There, there. Onto the real stuff now.
There are four groups of teams bidding to be in the pot for the next two weekends. Only Clare have been eliminated so far in Group 4.
Colm Collins’ men still have to go through with the indignity of fulfilling a fixture against Derry in Longford this evening. They can still have a say in making life difficult for a team in this year’s championship however. Should they beat Derry, and Donegal manage to beat Monaghan, then Donegal would top the group.
That would give them a week off as they advance to the quarter finals proper and fling Derry and Monaghan into next weekend’s preliminary quarter-finals.
Did anyone foresee such a scenario as Donegal limped through their relegation from Division 1, leading to the departure of manager Paddy Carr before the league was concluded?
Their new management team of Aidan O’Rourke and Paddy Bradley certainly believe something can happen. This week, they shut down all access to the abundant media outlets in the county in order to knuckle down to their task. Either way, their zombie season lurches into another weekend.
Come Sunday, some multi-screening may be essential for Groups 1, 2 and 3.
In Group 1, Mayo head back to the Gaelic Grounds to evoke memories of that famous joust with Kerry in 2014. Avoiding a defeat guarantees then a quarter-final place.
But if Kerry lose to Louth and Mayo beat Cork, it leaves Kerry, Louth and Cork all equal on points.
Second place guarantees a home venue for the preliminary quarter-final. If there are just two teams tied, then it comes down to the head-to-head result.
If there are three teams level, then it goes to score difference. If that is equal, then it’s the highest total scores for.
In the unlikely event that doesn’t produce two clear winners, it goes to ‘goals scored for’. And after that, a potential play-off. More games!
Onto Group 2, where Galway, with two wins over Tyrone and Westmeath, need to avoid defeat to Armagh to secure a quarter-final slot.
If Westmeath could turn Tyrone over and Galway beat Armagh, we have three teams tied on two points. The most likely outcome is we will be seeing a Westmeath defeat and elimination.
Finally, Group 3 is the most delicately poised. It might be unlikely, but wins for Kildare over Roscommon and Sligo over Dublin would leave all teams on three points after three games.
We will make life handy for yourself right now. A Dublin win will eliminate Sligo and set up the battle for top spot with Roscommon who are favourites to beat Kildare.
Given that they drew their game, the one point of score difference that Roscommon currently enjoy over Dublin will come under scrutiny.
And with Kildare having drawn with Sligo in the opening round, they also have a one-point advantage in their scoring difference.
Even outlining all of this shows how balanced the competition is as we head into the final round of games.
The system was conceived that way. The GAA Director of Club, Player and Games Administration, Feargal McGill, explained it by stating, “Three places in each group progress is a provision that was inserted precisely to avoid dead rubbers.
“The possibility of games that have no meaning is minuscule in this proposal because each of the four places in a group will have meaning: first place goes straight to quarter-final, second to home preliminary quarter-final and third qualifies for preliminary quarter-final.”
However you feel about it, the new structure has offered players more games than ever before. More chances to keep a panel together and work through things in a championship environment and to ‘go deeper’ into a season.
In doing so, they have acceded to the wishes of the current intercounty players who for years have insisted they would rather play regular games than wait around for periods up to a month between rounds. More games. Less training. Makes sense.
For some, it’s a sacrilege that demeans the very essence of the word; ‘championship.’ For others, it has provided far more games to become engaged and absorbed by.
Has it, and can it even out the playing field?
Put it this way. In 16 games so far in the ‘Sweet Sixteens’, the average margin of victory and defeat between Sam Maguire teams, has been 3.6 points.
Take out Roscommon’s ten-point win over Sligo and Dublin’s nine-point margin over Kildare, and it shrinks to 2.7 points per game.
And then we look at the provincial series. 29 games in all. The average winning margin sits at 7.9 points per game.
Where’s the jeopardy in that?
