There’s no need for these extra games.
Tipperary hurling and football management pulled their sides out of the Munster League and the McGrath Cup respectively in the last week.
The Premier county’s withdrawal from the competitions comes off the back of the Kerry footballers’ decision not to compete in their compettive pre-season campaign either.
The simple reason behind these decisions might as well just be the competitions’ complete lack of relevance – or at least that perceived lack of relevance from a lot of Gaels.
With the Allianz Leagues beginning earlier this year after the GAA’s fixture restructuring plans, they become even more redundant than they already were.
The Tipperary hurlers would have had to play five games in their Munster League. Kerry would only have one week to prepare for the first round of the football league if, like last year, they made it to the McGrath Cup final.
This raises two questions. Why are these competitions even there? Why haven’t more sides dropped out?
The main reason for these competitions is to give players games, more than likely the fringe players. Don’t the majority of these players have Sigerson/Fitzgibbon Cup action to contend with?
Anyway, the National League itself still offers a chance to these players with many of the big boys still easing themselves back into action in the early stages.
Many of them have just finished a long club season. Others are only back from team holidays or are away on team holidays after a long inter-county year, like Dublin were last year when Jim Gavin wasn’t even present for their O’Byrne Cup clash against DCU.
The topic came up for discussion on last week’s GAA Hour, and show host Colm Parkinson completely agrees with Liam Kearns’, Michael Ryan’s and Eamon Fitzmaurice’s decision to take their sides out of them.
“This makes so much sense to me,” began Colm Parkinson.
“The league now is starting a little bit earlier. The inter-county Championships are beginning that little bit earlier. You need January to train and prepare for that,” he added.
“You don’t need to be trying to tog players out of a Sunday for a meaningless competition. They’re a nuisance now because Dublin and Kerry go on their holidays. Donegal play their under-21s, Dublin plays their ‘C’ team. Nobody cares about these so why are they still there?” asked the Laois man.
“Why not give your team a little bit of breathing room in January? Let your few college lads train with their college. Keep that ticking over and show the Sigerson Cup respect.
“We always said we wanted more games, but this is just taking the piss. People came back to me on Twitter saying ‘oh players want games.’ You’re showing no understanding, though, yes they do, but within reason.
“Usually players that make squads, they’re known in their counties anyway. You don’t have to perform in that one-off game in the freezing cold temperatures. It doesn’t all boil down to that. I don’t believe that theory that that’s what they’re there for,” The GAA Hour host concluded.
While sides might want to play a game or two before the league begins, the lack of flexibility with these competitions makes them even less attractive.
