We’ve shined up our O’Neills-style crystal ball and we’re gazing into the future.
And, before you ask, we don’t have the numbers for the bumper jackpot in the local GAA draw. What we do have is a list of various things we’d like to see happen in 2016.
1.The fixture mess at club and county is finally sorted.
Talking is fine but what GAA players want is action. Paraic Duffy’s ambitious proposals to reform the club and inter-county calendar will come under closer scrutiny in the early part of 2016. Hard decisions need to be made at club, county, and provincial level. Everyone deserves better.
@Galway_GAA hurling co. board fixtures mess up. Junior hurling semi cancelled again. No respect grass roots. Why playing in November? #Gaa
— Aonghus Ó hEochaidh (@Aonghusohe) November 28, 2015
2. Referees are mic’d up for all games.
The All-Ireland Final Day documentary proved one thing. If player realise they are audible, even if it isn’t live, then they won’t be as abusive to officials in future. A camera on their shirts could help too.
3. Mine a new source of revenue by having an offical timekeeper.
The GAA may not be sexy enough for Tag Heuer, but helping referees not to worry about additional time at inter county level would go along way to making their life much easier. And we could finally see how long it takes Stephen Cluxton to walk up to take frees.
4. Have enough sense not to go up against the Euros and the Olympics.Â
Ireland’s European Championships campaign will be an early highlight of next summer. Everybody in the country will want to see the games. GAA secretaries at club, county and provincial level, FFS, don’t fix games at the same time as the Ireland team.
5. Jim Gavin’s Dublin side suffer a loss in the Leinster championship.
Dublin need a trip through the back-door. The direct route is the best of course, but if they are going to be shocked, it may be in Leinster. Imagine the buzz of Dublin rocking up in Fraher Field for an All-Ireland qualifier. It could just be the shoe up the rear-rend they need to win back-to-back All-Irelands.
Dublin have lost only two games in the Leinster Championship in the last 10 years, to Westmeath in 2004 and Meath in 2010.
— Richard Wilson (@RichWilson122) July 20, 2014
6. Donegal find someone to take the pressure off Michael Murphy
The frontline talisman is one of the best footballers in the country, but he fails to perform, Donegal are in trouble. If Rory Gallagher is to be successful he needs a player like Patrick McBrearty to really come off age in 2016.
7. Mayo win the National League.
Winning Connacht is all well and good but Mayo need to win a final in Croke Park. Stephen Rochford should target a positive spring campaign, get players up the steps of the Hogan Stand, and plan for August. 2001 is along time to wait for a national title. The league is not just the league anymore.
@OwenMcConnon1 dead right Owen #mayoforsam2016
— Ciaran O Malley (@SuggsCiaran) November 30, 2015
8. Gaelic Games 3 for the Playstation or XBox.
If they can fix it so you can score without having to run in a straight line then we’re on for a rematch.
9. James O’Donghue doesn’t suffer another shoulder injury.
The Legion man’s injury problems are well known but if Kerry are to be successful the fleet-footed ace needs an injury free championship.
10. Ladies Football and Camogie actually sit down and sort out player welfare.
Too many times in 2015 the best ladies footballers and camogie players were forced to play games in both codes in the space of a few hours. It’s not right, it’s not acceptable and it’s damaging to both associations.
https://twitter.com/Ellen2me/status/618363215332929536?s=03
This attitude from the Camogie & Ladies Football associations that women can play two champ games in 1 day is ludicrous!!
— Lisa Lawlor (@Lisa_Lawlor) July 7, 2015
11. Donal Og and Davy Fitzgerald become the biggest bromance story of 2016.
Just imagine all the best male duos of all time; Ant and Dec, Bert and Ernie, Joey and Chandler and now Donal and Davy. Perfect.
12. RTE rejig their TV panel for live games.
No Donal Og means Henry Shefflin can step up to the marker for analysis. The autum of 2015 also gave us a glimpse of a world without Joe, Pat and Colm. It is a world we would all enjoy.
Watch out Brolly! GAA fans fall in love with new-look Sunday Game panel http://t.co/TtzhsuSEep pic.twitter.com/kI59RgjwKh
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 13, 2015
13. Galway hurlers show the country that the heave was right.
Anthony Cunningham won’t be the only man to be wondering what it was all about if Galway fall flat on their face in 2016. The players need to prove to the new manager that just a little push in the right direction will see them lift Liam MacCarthy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LMUz5PbZm4
14. Noel McGrath returns to being one of the best hurlers in the countryÂ
The GAA moment of 2015.
15. Discipline procedures are cleared up.
Diarmuid Connolly and Tiernan McCann were just two men to fall foul of the GAA’s various shadowy meeting rooms and the men that inhabit them.
Decisions need to be made quicker, they need to be more transparent and crucially, not open to multiple appeals as GAA players lawyer up. Closing the loopholes would be good start for 2016.
https://twitter.com/nbrez/status/640064150337658880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
16. Enjoy the bloody thing.
Players and fans want to be entertained. They also want success. But ultimately it is still only sport. There’s no need to attack refs. There’s no need to go abusing players or issuing death threats on social media.
Dessie Dolan on the abuse of Meath's @PaORourke89 – "It's not on that players have to deal with these issues. It's dangerous." #SundayGame
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 28, 2015
Chill.
