It’s that day when a freshly-minted year lays ahead, 365 unblemished (depending on what you got up to last night) days to enjoy.
The GAA season is also untouched and untainted, unless you count the O’Fiaich Cup, which we don’t.
Every county and every team have the same hopes and dreams, even if the majority are largely deluded, and a spring, summer, autumn and winter of possibility stretches before us.
Of course we all know it will probably end with Dublin and one of Kilkenny/Tipperary celebrating so, before they can piss on our chips, we’ve put together our 10 hopes for the 2017 GAA year.
1. Mayo for Sam
As much as the rest of us have enjoyed this GAA soap opera, isn’t it time to put the Westerners out of their misery? Consistently the second best team in the country for more than half a decade and a few dragged frees/rushes of blood to the head from Val Halla, we believe 2017 is going to be their year. If not we can at least enjoy another off-season of managerial exposes, player statements and wicked whispers.
2. Davy for Bob
Run out of Clare by keyboard warriors and naysayers (according to his Dad), Davy Fitzgerald took about five minutes off before deciding to take the Wexford job. Ballsy. Driving the breadth of the country, twice, three times a week, to try eke improvement out of the fourth best team in Leinster is proof Davy is stone mad for hurling. Who doesn’t want to see him shock the world and claim Wexford’s first Leinster title since 2004? That’ll shut up those keyboard warriors.
3. Dublin to give Bus Éireann a boost
The national bus company is ailing. What better way to give it a financial boost than sending the Dubs on a summer tour of the country through the qualifiers? Let Jim Gavin’s men reach the All-Ireland final and lose to Mayo but make them do it the hard way. Defeat to Carlow or Wexford in their Leinster opener would give someone else a shot at provincial glory for the first time in seven years and could see the Dubs out of Croker until the All-Ireland quarter-finals at the earliest.
4. Kerry and Cork to just feck off
How delicious would it be if the 2017 Munster football final, taking place in the refurbished Páirc Úi Chaoimh, featured neither Cork nor Kerry. Clare and Tipperary lit up the summer of 2016 but Kerry walked off with their 967th Munster title. Neither Kerry or Cork really give a shite, wouldn’t it be great if Clare emulated the men of 1992 (above), or Tipp or Limerick (or Waterford) for that matter.
5. Joe Brolly to take first step of political career
The voluble pundit kicked up quite a shitstorm before Christmas with his criticism of GAA president Aogán Ó Fearghaíl and his less than substantial comments regarding the national anthem, the tricolour and a hypothetical situation. Is it time for Brolly, like the best of hurlers on the ditch, to take his first steps towards real power? A political creature, can we not all imagine the Derry All-Ireland winner climbing the GAA ladder? We reckon he should start off as Derry PRO – that would be fun.
6. Austin Gleeson to invent a new move
This young Waterford team seem capable of anything, such is their brio and confidence. Championship silverware seems inevitable but what we would really like to see this year is boundaries being broken down by their supremely talented talisman. The hurler of the year is always pirouetting around the field, but he needs to nail a signature move, trademark it, and roll it out in an All-Ireland final. We’re imagining using the hurl as a pogo stick before nailing a shot into the top corner off the handle. Something like that.
7. Marty Morrissey to present the Rose of Tralee
His patter on RTÉ radio over Christmas convinced us, he is the housewives’ favourite. Just give him the gig.
8. Jim McGuinness to just unload
The world and his dog has an opinion on Sky Sports’ GAA coverage, with most outside Croke Park and the Sky Sports’ payroll seemingly opposed to the five-year deal. One thing we can accept however is, with the likes of Peter Canavan and Jim McGuinness they have the potential to produce some top class punditry. Particularly the Donegal All-Ireland winner – a great football mind he seems to be hamstrung by bland generalisations. Wouldn’t it be nice to hear him deconstruct a few gameplans in a cold, calculated manner.
9. Jim Gavin to do a ‘Joe Kinnear’
Along the same lines. The Dublin manager is a bit of a cold fish and rarely gives of himself in public. We assume he is repressing quite a bit of emotion. We want it to come out like this. Can you imagine?
10. Players to club together
The Club Players Association officially launches on January 9th. It is an opportunity for players to take control of their own calendar and their own careers. The long waits, cancelled holidays and absent intercounty team-mates tend to fall off the news agenda in the new year, every year. Maybe this year will be different.
Of course this is not a comprehensive, or even acceptable, list for some (all) of you. Let us know what are your hopes and dreams for 2017. Get in touch on Facebook and Twitter.
