“I am very fortunate with the group I have: they are all pushing to make the first 15 and I don’t think anyone will rest on their laurels. But it is important to take time out and enjoy this, particularly for the younger players, it is their first Connacht title.”
Corofin manager Kevin O’Brien need not worry about being able to give his players time out, his teams next game is on Saturday 11th February, 11 weeks after Sunday’s Connacht final. I’m tired about writing about tired old GAA traditions, but this is probably the most bizarre one of all.
The club championship is called the toughest for a reason; it’s such a long journey from start to finish. It has been an exhausting year up until this point, now management teams have to contend with a huge gap before an All-Ireland semi-final.
There are a lot of pitfalls, and I wouldn’t recommend the approach I took one year. Back in 2004, I captained Portlaoise to the Leinster club title. We beat Rhode, Kilmacud Crokes and Skryne in Leinster and were really playing well. We had confidence, momentum, an excellent management team and great team spirit. We won the Leinster final on the 5th of December but didn’t play Crossmaglen in the semi-final until 20th February, 11 weeks later.
When we came back after the break we just weren’t the same team. We beat Crossmaglen and lost the final to Ballina by a point. We didn’t perform near our pre-Christmas levels after the 11-week break.
I know why I didn’t perform. I foolishly went to Southeast Asia for seven weeks after winning the Leinster final. I planned on going travelling that September and was putting it off because of our extended run. My friend was in Thailand waiting for me and the Portlaoise management were giving the lads the rest of December off so in my head I was only missing three weeks’ training in January and still had over three weeks when I got back.
I did some training myself while I was away, but when I got home I tweaked my hamstring meaning I missed nearly two really important weeks training. I played badly in the semi-final which knocked my confidence. I began questioning the decision to go away and didn’t regain my form. I was poor again in the final.
The decision to go travelling around Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, effectively in mid-season, was just another stupid decision I made in my football career, but the option should never had been there to begin with. I went from winning Laois and Leinster club player of the year to not performing in the last two games when I was needed the most.
What are management teams supposed to do? The 11-week break is such a difficult thing to get right. It’s a long season and players need a break but giving them too much time or not enough time off are both mistakes. Starting preseason training in January for an All-Ireland semi-final is just plain weird. Teams generally do short, sharp speed work and tactical work in advance of a big game, but because there is an 11-week break management is left with no choice but to start back with some stamina work after Christmas.
It’s also very difficult to get challenge matches because every other club team in the country is not back training yet while the inter-county and college teams have the January cup competitions.
We actually played the first round of the 2005 league in Laois while we were in the 2004 All Ireland club final which was played in 2005. Just writing that made me laugh. We gave Portarlington such a beating I felt bad for them. They were starting out their season, unfit, and we were preparing for an All Ireland final. Because we found it difficult to get challenge games we played our full team and treated it like the final. It was a complete mismatch.
In fairness to the GAA hierarchy, they are trying to fix this farcical situation. Based on a recommendation from the Football Review Committee (FRC), and support from Pauric Duffy, Central Council accepted the proposal to complete club championships in a calendar year and set up a work group to examine how the FRC proposal could best be implemented.
In his annual report to this year’s congress, Duffy said “The rationale for most of the FRC proposals was the creation of a more favourable environment for the playing of club games, particularly during the summer months. In this regard, its most significant proposal was that the All-Ireland club championships should be completed in the calendar year, with the intention of pressurising counties to complete their championships during the summer months so as to ensure entry for their clubs to the provincial competitions.”
One of the proposals brought to this year’s congress was to move the All-Ireland football and hurling finals forward by a mere two weeks to make room for the possibility of the calendar year club championship. Shockingly, that was defeated 61 to 39. I’ll give you a depressing example of what we’re dealing with at congress – Cork GAA opposed the motion saying ‘September is Gaelic games month in Ireland – we should keep it that way’.
The attitude is: It’s always been that way so we don’t want to change it. In soccer in England, some people are lobbying for a winter break. In GAA, we have a winter and early spring break every season because of the traditionalists.
Why older, traditionalist county board members are allowed vote on motions that affect player issues like this I’ll never understand. As I’ve said before, most of them are so far removed from the life of a player they have absolutely no idea of the issues they face. Their opposition to change is holding the GAA back.
Four of the five teams left in the club championship have all been in this position before. They will know what worked for them during the 11-week break and what didn’t. I’m sure that makes it easier but it’s still a real challenge. If Rhode do the impossible and beat St Vincent’s in the Leinster final on Sunday, I’d have only one bit of advice for their manager Pascal Kelleghan: put his players’ passports under lock and key.
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