An All-Ireland intermediate championship, eh?
It probably sounds better on paper.
This season, Fermanagh would likely have been preparing for a tilt at a second-tier format. With less enthusiasm. Less buzz. Worse teams than Fermanagh would care even less.
Next season, if the league is what we’re basing it on to begin with, Westmeath wouldn’t be contesting in the senior ranks.
They wouldn’t be beating Meath and making history and they wouldn’t be 70 minutes from an All-Ireland quarter final in Croke Park. Their first appearance in nine years.
Wexford wouldn’t have beaten Down either.
Kildare wouldn’t be beating Laois next year. Antrim wouldn’t even get playing Laois. Sligo wouldn’t have ambushed John Evans’ side and Fermanagh never would’ve celebrated beating that same now-Division One side and, let’s not forget, All-Ireland contenders, Roscommon.
A tiered intercounty system doesn’t have a universal remedy to level the scales of Gaelic Football.
You can’t watch Dublin – one of the finest sides of all time – tear strips off of Kildare and Westmeath and then declare that change is urgent. If a two-tiered system had begun this season, Dublin would’ve been in the same pot of 16 as Kildare and Westmeath anyway.
Offaly were out on their ears after the first round of the Leinster championship. They recovered and beat Waterford and gave Kildare their fill of it but they exited the campaign in the first week of July.
And yet, they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’d like to stay away from things like a junior All-Ireland championship,” Brian Darby rejected the notion that the championship needs to be split. “Counties have a tradition and they might not be at the same level they were at a few years ago, but you’d like to think that you can still make an impact on the big day.”
The big day.
Already in this one campaign, both Fermanagh and Westmeath have restored faith in the magic of the big day.
Pete McGrath bullishly stated after their defeat to Monaghan in the Ulster semi final that his side had targeted August football. Here we are: having beaten Roscommon on the big day, another one to come with the Leinster runners-up, and a place at headquarters at stake, a chance to dance with the All-Ireland champions. In August.
Here we are, on the verge of achieving an ambitious, yet now so attainable, target. On the verge of booking another big day.
Westmeath, on the other hand, well their journey speaks for itself.
“The few big lads who should be standing out, leading, f**king lay down. And that’s the real trouble with this team.”
That was Tom Cribbin’s assessment of his side’s loss to Roscommon back at the start of April. Three championship wins later including a fairytale comeback to beat Meath and write their names into history and their championship place is already justified. It’s already huge. The Lake County were beaten by Dublin in the decider but gave hope to teams everywhere that the capital’s walls aren’t impenetrable.
Now, Westmeath prepare for a game in Cavan that would see them ride into Croke Park again as one of the last eight standing teams in the country.
This is why players like John Heslin come back from Australia. This is why kids aspire to represent their county teams. It’s why people call summer in Ireland, a championship summer, home.
They don’t relate to a second-tier afterthought at this level of the game.
You play for your club and, if you’re good enough, you represent your county. Then we find out who is the best of the best.
And even from the realms of apathy, having been written off just about everywhere, having been told that they aren’t even good enough to compete at this level – to remain in this bracket of footballers – either Fermanagh or Westmeath will lock horns with the champions in a bid to make the All-Ireland semi final.
Ryan McCluskey has already made it that far before. And he wouldn’t trade that dream for a diluted version of the real thing.
“I would take a semi final in the All-Ireland series ahead of an intermediate final medal or junior final medal,” the Fermanagh centre back told us before their league final with Armagh in April.
Footballers don’t want lip service They want their fair crack. They want to stand toe-to-toe and take their best shot.
Offaly do as much training as Monaghan do. Fermanagh do as much training as Kerry do. They want to test themselves and they want their shot at that big day.
Good teams come and go. Bad teams infest every county at some stage, they all have lulls.
But, sometimes, they get it right even when nothing is expected of them. Sometimes, they rise above themselves, defy the odds and they start to dream again.
Sometimes, the big day is seized and the slog and the doubts and the hard times are worth it.
Sean Quigley’s talent deserves the stage he’ll get if the Erne County can oust Westmeath. Tomas Corrigan deserves to show off amongst the big guns and Ryan McCluskey is due another trip back down the Dublin road.
John Heslin and Kieran Martin have already made Croke Park their own. How could they be denied the chance to showcase their trickery with the best of them?
Thankfully, for now, there’s no such thing as a divided championship and that dream that every county and every player has is still alive. The big day is still a thing. Anything can still happen.
And, on Saturday, more supporters from Westmeath and Fermanagh will flock to Breffni Park than would ever have shown up for a shot at the B championship.
Why? Because their counties are one game from the quarters and a shot at the Kingdom.
Becuase their counties still believe in the big day.
