This summer is going to be something else.
You can complain about the ill-effects of the new championship structure all you want. You can complain about how it lengthens the divide between the club and the county player, you can complain about ‘the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer’ as the bigger teams look set to widen the gap between themselves and the weaker counties.
You can complain about all of that and more because there are plenty of faults in this new arrangement, both in football and in hurling. Nobody is doubting that.
The one thing that there’s absolutely no denying, however, on the back of a seismic increase in the number of competitive games being played in both codes, is that’s this championship is going to be one of the most entertaining ever.
And it’s only a few weeks away now so it’s about bloody time we started ramping the hype up.
For God’s sake the GAA championship is the pinnacle of the Irish sporting calendar. Nothing tells you it’s summer like two heavyweights slogging it out on a sunny Sunday in Clones or in Semple Stadium.
This year is going to be better than ever with extra games taking place every single weekend.
It’s going to be like something straight out of a Soccer Saturday episode on Sky Sports. That’s because there are going to be eight extra quarter-finals in football, while hurling counties will also be out almost every weekend from May onwards due to introduction of the Round Robin system.
It all gets going on the first weekend in May with the Connacht football quarter finals taking place.
A real taster of what this summer is going to be like will arrive the following weekend. The Leinster senior hurling and football championship kick off on the Saturday evening (May 12) and then the next day, more Leinster and Ulster games will be taking place at the same time as each other
It’ll be like the last League weekend of the year where the results are coming at you thick and fast from all corners during the day and then you’re buzzing to catch up with it all that night.
The fixtures remind us just how good it’s going to be.
Hurling
Hurling supporters will be treated from the second weekend in May onwards with class games taking place in Leinster and in Munster every single Saturday and Sunday.
Just look at the hotly contested games in both provinces taking place on the same days.
Graphic credit: RTÉ League Sunday
Football
The football championship will be the same as other years in its provincial stages, meaning there will be many one-sided games, but there will also be some early season classics.
The best day of the month (May 27)
The last Sunday in May (27) will be different gravy. Teams will be falling, others will be soaring all over the country. We’ll be scrolling up and down our Twitter feeds like mad, we’ll be living the dream.
The Leinster SFC may be a foregone conclusion, but the quarter finals will still be interesting, at least the ones Dublin aren’t involved in.
They will all take place on that Sunday across the grounds in Leinster.
Leinster SFC quarter-finals
Wexford or Laois v Westmeath.
Carlow or Louth v Kildare.
Offaly or Wicklow v Dublin.
Longford v Meath, Pearse Park.
The always competitive Ulster championship will be set in motion with a grudge clash between the winners of Donegal – Cavan taking on Derry.
Ulster SFC quarter-final
Derry v Donegal or Cavan, TBC, TBC
Meanwhile in the hurling, League champions Kilkenny will be travelling to Pearse Stadium, starving to usurp reigning All-Ireland champions Galway.
Leinster SHC round 3
Galway v Kilkenny, Pearse Stadium, 4pm.
While there are two titanic hurling clashes in Munster, one after another.
Munster SHC round 2
Tipperary v Cork, Semple Stadium, 2pm
Clare v Waterford, Cusack Park, 3.30pm
In the middle of it all, the under-20 championship will get underway with Donegal taking on Cavan in Ulster.
Bring it on.
