Kevin Cassidy – The good and the bad of the GAA

The Donegal senior football championship got under way last weekend and I must say it was a great relief to get back on the pitch. Anyone who has played or watched championship football will know that there is a real buzz around at this time of year. Looking back a number of weeks ago it looked as if we may have to wait until possibly next year before we saw some action but thankfully most club championships are underway now. The race to the top has begun.

My own club played Four Masters at the weekend and although it wasn’t the perfect performance we were delighted to get out of there with the two points. Donegal town has always been a tough place to go and in the opening exchanges they gave us our fill of it.

Having played a number of league games and a few challenge matches here and there we felt that we were in a decent position going into the game but championship football is just a different animal. It took us the best part of the first quarter to settle the nerves and to start to find our rhythm. Driving down the road I suppose we were happy enough that we got the two points but we realise that we have a lot of work to do.

We now play Killybegs at home this weekend in our second group game and if we are honest with ourselves we probably need to pick it up 10 or 15 per cent. We played Killybegs in a challenge match a number of weeks ago at home and they managed to get the better of us that day. They looked really sharp they were well organised and were difficult to break down. They are under the guidance of John Cunningham and Rory Gallagher this year so it goes without saying that they will be very well prepared. They suffered a shock defeat last week at home to Glenfin so they will be coming to Gaoth Dobhair on Saturday looking for the win.

To win any championship you have to build momentum so our approach will be to improve every week. We will analyse last week’s game and hope to improve on the areas where we felt we Let ourselves down.

The way our championship is structured this year means that we play four weeks on the bounce and you will need to win at least three of those games in order to qualify for the quarter-finals so each game is extremely important. Most of the other games last weekend went as expected with all the so called bigger teams taking the points. This weekend without doubt the clash of the round will be the meeting of heavyweights St Eunan’s and Kilcar. Both of these teams will be up there when favourites for the competition are spoken about. St Eunans are at home which should give them the advantage but this one is really too close to call and it could go either way. It’s not ideal for both of these heavyweights to have such a big game so early on but they will just have to cope with it. No doubt all the rest of the teams will be keeping a close eye on this counter to see how these two are shaping up.

The game is also live on TG4 on Friday night which is fantastic for the neutrals as they will get to watch this game live.

Last week our club was caught up in a bit of controversy as some of our board members were handed hefty suspensions.

Long story short a player applied to transfer to us and the transfer was granted by the CCC on the basis of the evidence he produced. From what I gather there was a lot mistakes made on the part of the County board and CCC in the days that followed. I am sure this will all come out in the weeks to come but my grievance is the way that they have dealt with the whole issue. Before I go any further I would like to point out that unlike a lot of other clubs our club has never gone in search of any players.

Since the club was founded I think only one other player has transferred to us as it’s just something we do not do. The young lad in question is now living here and wants to play for the club. This lad has now been banned for 12 weeks which means he will play no football at all this year. Our Chairman and secretary have also been handed 12 week bans.

Our Club appealed the decision to the hearings committee and the hearings committee said that the CCC should not have granted the transfer so the bans stood. The player then resubmitted the transfer and waited. The CCC granted the transfer again last night. You really couldn’t make this stuff up.

To me as an association this is just wrong as this whole thing could’ve been dealt with with more compassion and more common sense from all parties. If I have one gripe with our association it would be the way in which county boards handle their affairs.

To me on the outside looking in it just looks like a circus.

This will have no major affect on us as a team or a club it’s more to do with how they treated the young lad and the two club officers and to be honest doesn’t paint the current board in a good picture.

For now our focus will remain on the football but at some stage over the next few weeks I would like to really delve into this and if there are any shortcomings then they should be exposed and the people responsible for them should be named.

I really do feel that sometimes the people in charge of these boards let themselves and their counties down a mile. Is it that hard to be fair and transparent on all issues? It would seem so.