Everyone needs a game: The importance of county panelists being released for club action

By Michael McMullan

WE are bang in the middle of the biggest league weeks of the season. There is movement everywhere. Towards promotion or away from relegation.

For Down or Westmeath, Cavan or Tyrone, the bounce of a ball could be a passport to Sam Maguire football or not. That’s where the plates are spinning on a collective team level.

This is also the time when we can see movement within panels. Players not getting game time will get itchy feet. Should I stay or should I go?

That’s why Padraic Joyce’s reply to Maurice Brosnan’s query about John Daly playing a club game last Saturday was interesting.

Having not featured since his 67th-minute cameo against Down last year, he struggled with injury during Mountbellew–Moylough’s season.

Rogers kicks Derry to first victory

Daly has been back in full training in recent weeks and played a club league game 24 hours before Galway’s win over Monaghan last weekend.

In the new-look game, Daly’s passing ability could be the glue if Galway are going to employ a kicking game. His positional sense is perfect if there is a role to sit tight.

“It’s a decision we make as management,” Joyce told Brosnan. “Do you bring him up here (Inniskeen) and give him five minutes or do you give him a full league game?”

To me, it’s excellent management. Micheál Burns came on for Dr Croke’s at the weekend having not started the last two games for the Kingdom, the day after getting 23 minutes in their hammering of Mayo.

Brian Ó Beaglaoich was in action for An Ghaeltacht, coming off the bench, having yet to return to Kerry since their club success.

It was the same in Antrim recently where Mark Doran released some players for the opening round of league action. Ronan Quinn and Ruairi Hagan played in midweek, with the latter coming on in the Saffrons’ win over Waterford.

Quinn hadn’t played since Antrim’s defeat in Tipperary back in February. Hagan’s two substitute appearances in the league add up to a sum of 34 minutes.

Jim McGuinness released Caolan McColgan to Uisce Chaoin on the eve of Donegal’s Ulster opener with Derry last year. He kicked points but was on the Donegal bus the next day.

As the summer deepened, he was given the job tracking Aidan O’Shea, was a regular and played in the All-Ireland final.

It is important for players to be getting regular football in order to keep sharp, develop their kicking under pressure. Every bit helps.

Mark Doran has released Antrim players for club action

I do understand a club league game will not have the same quality in the middle of a county season as an in-house game where a forward is trying to get the better of a defender also looking to impress.

Armagh’s Aaron McKay spoke of their inhouse game before beating Kerry on their way to winning Sam. The ‘B team’ hammered them.

I get that county training is more competitive, but a county player dipping back into club action has other benefits.

There will be that freshness of pulling on a club jersey and wearing a number lower than 16.

The opposition are going to put their best player on you, maybe sometimes two. There will also be a desire to excel for word to filter back.

On another level, it keeps clubs onside. A prominent voice at this time of year is the club man whispering in a player’s ear. The lack of county action will be mentioned and how the club need them. Players begin to wonder.

That’s why what McGuinness, Doran and Joyce have done, as mentioned above, is so, so important.

Ciaron O’Hanlon wasn’t making the Armagh matchday 26 last season but was released to play for the club and he helped Killeavy win the league.

Cian McConville would have played the odd game for Crossmaglen. As well as the belief that Kieran McGeeney was leading them towards an All-Ireland, it may just have been enough of a carrot to make sure he stayed with Armagh.

Fast-forward to now and he has played all but two minutes of Armagh’s six league games, missing the dying embers of their loss to Donegal.

Would they be going into the final weekend with a chance of retaining their Division One status without his 1-22? I think not.

Will his rise in form be a help to Crossmaglen in the autumn? I think so.

There can only be one reason why a player returning from injury should not be back playing for their club to get match sharpness. If the county physio doesn’t sign off on it.

This is where the GAA should make a ruling on it all. Some managers allow players back to get club action. Some don’t. We need to have a rule to make sure everyone treats it the same.

Caolan McColgan was released to play club games last year

In his Gaelic Life column two weeks ago, Shane Rice stressed the need for everyone on the panel to cover the yards on match day. He is much more qualified on the subject than me and his data made perfect sense.

I just think players would be better served by playing club games, as long as it is signed off by the medical team.

There would need to be an agreed set of metrics. Perhaps the GAA could assemble a task force of a former county manager, a former player and someone from the conditioning side.

Anyone who hasn’t played more than an agreed number of county minutes must then be released to the club.

The last thing a county manager wants at this time of the year is a player who has trained all year only to step away because they can’t get a game of football.

Allowing players to get club games will get clubs onside and in the long run everyone wins.

Ah, but what if a player gets injured in a club game? Two things. They are already down the county pecking order anyway and sure they can get injured at training.

At the end of the day, all a player wants to do is play. A county regular, a club player or those falling between the two stools.

At the end of the day, Joyce wants to have a fully revved Daly when the summer fat is in the fire. Does it matter what track he revs his engine on?