GERARD O’KANE: The GAA season remains alive

‘SOME might say’ that the GAA have sold their soul a little due to the fact that the split-season means that the county game is wrapped up before the end of July in football and hurling with ladies football and camogie being finished up in the two weeks after.

It means there won’t be a ball kicked or a sliotar pucked in anger at Croke Park until at least February. This was magnified all the more by the fact there were two Oasis concerts in the venue a few weeks ago and Robbie Williams headlined there on Saturday night, although tickets were easier to come by for that one.

I suppose my take on it is if you want to see your county stars in action, you only have to travel 20 or 30 minutes within your own county and pay an entry fee of £5 to see them in thrilling for their club. It might be a bit old-school, but for me the club is where it is at and the proof is in the numbers.

Only five per cent of our playing population represent the county set ups, the other 95 per cent – and those five per cent playing county – make up the club scene.

Look across the Ulster counties last weekend and for the next number of weeks coming. Last weekend alone, there were 42 championship games played across six counties at senior level. If you add in intermediate and junior level I am not sure what number this brings it to but in Derry alone there was a glut of games available for the avid GAA follower.

I know people who from Wednesday through to Sunday went to a total of eight games. Sure isn’t that what the GAA is all about? Just to add, in Derry there is the availability of a season pass for £80, sure it’s nearly paid for over the first weekend.

People will argue that with kids going back to school that their county player should be visible on the big screens, especially with the Premier League starting back. In my eyes, with so much GAA to be played in both football and hurling across 32 counties, it is great to give county boards the freedom for the month of August to start their championships in good weather as opposed to rushing it off in four to five weeks later in poorer weather and darker nights.

For any county board that hasn’t started their championship until later in the year, that’s their prerogative but don’t let the narrative of ‘the GAA season is as good as over until next year’ fool you into thinking that there is nothing taking place. And it’s definitely not too hard to find if you really want to look for it.

I can see the argument for pushing back the finals by two to three weeks maximum to the middle of August maybe, just even to allow more time for the build-up, the press, to take the pressure off county boards and allow a nice, measured run-in where it doesn’t feel rushed. However, to go back to the old way that allowed three to four weeks between the quarter-finals and the semi-finals and then the same for the semi-finals and the final for the sake of four teams is madness.

County players themselves don’t want their season to be dragging on. I gather a lot of the Derry players were able to get a week’s holiday post their season ending and even the Donegal lads were taking a break even though their club championship had started, but sure a week away will do any player at this level more good than harm at this stage.

In Derry, with the championship now in full swing, it will give the new manager Ciarán Meenagh the chance to run the eye over a number of players.

Indeed, I saw the u-20 manager Damian McErlain at some of the games too and they are both getting to see potential players in a championship environment in decent weather.

There’s a new system in Derry this year. The group stage of last year is gone and there is only one second chance with the backdoor system. With that in mind, there was a notable bite in all the games last week and long may it continue.

While it’s hard to get the perfect system across the board in each county, Derry have tinkered back and forth over the years with different systems and hopefully this year we get to see more full-blooded games like last weekend with all the county stars in action.