Go easy on the mince pies, sherry, selection boxes and, well, everything lads.
Earlier this week, we ran a piece lamenting the fact that two intermediate football teams in Waterford had to play their county final on Sunday, November 27.
We put out the question – are these the last two teams to contest their county final in 2016?
They were not. Not by a long shot.
We were inundated with tweets, emails, messages and Facebook comments. There are a bevvy of county finals up for decision this Sunday and more in mid December. One SportsJOE reader wrote:
‘Not sure if you’re limiting this to adult codes but Dublin’s Minor B county final is 11th of December in O’Toole Park.’
That took us aback but a comment we received from Paddy Carroll topped the lot:
We looked into the matter and, on the Laois GAA website, discovered that Paddy was not exaggerating.
There, in black and white, was a fixture for the Laois Junior C Football Final at 2pm on December 26. St Stephen’s Day. That’s right – the day after Christmas.
And look at the dates the semi-finals took place – July 26 and 27. Errill smoked O’Dempseys by 14 points and Rathdowney had four points to spare over Castletown back in July. By the time they finally play their next game, the flipping final, it will have been 153 days since their semi-finals.
Only 152 for Rathdowney. You’d have to worry if they’ll have anything left in the tank…
These two sides are close, close neighbours in Laois – they actually have a joint hurling team. One imagines that many of the players involved will be taking it handy [enough] on Christmas Day.
We were then contacted by Alan Holohan, who told us:
‘Hurling is, by far, the centre of attention in our neck of the woods. The clubs hold there own identity in football.
‘The clubs kept putting the game off because all their attention was on the hurling calender. There’s usually some form of charity game on Stephen’s Day anyway, either in Rathdowney or Errill, so why not just play the county final that day instead. Both teams will drink together and have great craic regardless of the outcome.’
It seems like Laois is not the only county engaging in this festive ‘tradition’.
always guaranteed one or two final in kerry on Stephen's day
— jason foley (@jasonstar54) December 2, 2016
How did we get to a stage where a two Junior C sides have to wait five months to play a final?
Sure what else would you be doing…
*Updated from piece first published on December 2
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