August 28 and Kerry don’t have one clue where they’re at.
They’re heading into an All-Ireland semi-final against either of the two fiercest championship teams in Donegal and Dublin and they will go in having played three games in 10 weeks against two teams.
How is that acceptable?
Who cares about tradition or history or how it’s always been, it’s a fatal problem and it needs addressed urgently. It’s a joke.
No, it’s not fair on sides like Donegal either who, if they want to reach the same stage as Kerry, they’ll have had to face tests against Fermanagh, against Monaghan, Monaghan, Tyrone, Cork, and Dublin. Crying about the standard of opposition, whilst slightly valid, only detracts from teams who earned the right to face the Kingdom but the imbalance of actual rounds some teams have to go through to advance is not logical or fair.
Mostly though, it’s not fair on Kerry.
Seven weeks ago, they beat Clare by 12 points. Four weeks ago, they beat Tipp by 10 points. On Sunday, they beat Clare by 11 points.
After the game, Donnchadh Walsh looked ahead to the All-Ireland football semi-final. “There’s plenty of competition among ourselves in the A v B games,” he said. What else could he say? What else could Kerry really do?
They’re hamstrung by the current format. They start in the provincial semi-final – like other counties in Munster and Connacht do – and, if they win two games, they’re at Croke Park.
Then, when teams like Clare go on a wonderful run and hammer their way into the last eight, there’s every chance that Kerry can face them again. That’s the way it is with this structure and that’s the way it will always be if it stays the same.
The team that stands to lose most is the team that’s actually benefitting from it most. Sure, they get a nice path into the last four of the All-Ireland out of it but they have the added disadvantage of having sleep-walked their way into battle. When they wake up, men like Michael Murphy and Diarmuid Connolly are looking to maul them alive and organised, merciless, brute warriors are hounding their every move in any direction.
You can’t prepare for body blows until you’re actually against the ropes taking them.
A World Cup-style format might throw up some damp squibs like we have already – like every sporting tournament has – but at least it would guarantee balance and fairness. At least it would guarantee the same amount of games with teams playing respective opposition of the same standard every week.
You don’t get a free pass into the quarter-finals then. Every team plays four games to get there and you definitely do not go into the All-Ireland semi-finals knowing absolutely nothing about yourself.
By contrast, Clare walked through Kerry’s defence at their leisure on Sunday. They could’ve had at least three goals if the inside of the post, poor finishing, and Aidan O’Mahony on the line weren’t there to scupper them.
Clare have not scored a goal.
Do not ask how.
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) July 31, 2016
But you couldn’t really judge Kerry on it or for it.
Yet again, they were in cruise control, they had emptied the bench, and they were pushed up playing man-on-man football because it guaranteed a comfortable win in this fixture.
The players didn’t need to shut out Clare. They didn’t need to protect their goals with all their might and they sure as hell didn’t need to come out of second gear again. They won’t have to do that until August 28.
By then it could be too late.
Until then, they’ll just have to depend on their A v B games.
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