A year ago, when the new football season format was unveiled, it promised to enhance the importance of the league, which now determined championship status. That grim interface at the bottom of Division Two and top of Division Three could have a big impact on a county’s summer.
Adding to the anxiety was the fact that consequences might not emerge until it was too late to do anything about them. A team’s league placing is finalised in March but their championship status mightn’t become apparent until the end of April when the provincial semi-finals would conclude.
Those pressures continue but has that become the most compelling aspect of the competition: mid-range counties struggling to keep their heads above water?
For much of this century, the league has enjoyed arguably its most prestigious era, being won by the best teams and honoured by the outstanding county of the past decade, Dublin, when going unbeaten for over two years.
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Counter-intuitively, with the competition assuming existential importance at one level, is its allure wearing off at the top? For the past 11 years, the league title has been shared by Dublin, Kerry and Mayo, consistently the strongest championship performers.
For all this outstanding competitiveness, there has recently been an underwhelmed air to discussions about Division One, a return of the shrugging shoulders and “no All-Irelands being won in March”.
On a fundamental level, should teams want to win it any more? This has been partly conditioned by Mayo’s experience last year, winning the final and losing to Roscommon in the Connacht championship a week later. There was some whistling in the dark about how it would be great for them to have a few weeks off to prepare for the All-Ireland group stages.
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After they had beaten Kerry in Killarney, this looked justified but in retrospect it simply provided evidence of a new and deadly problem for Mayo, wild inconsistency.
This provided the fuel to beat both of the 2022 All-Ireland finalists, away from home, but also undermined them with mood swings ending in defeat by Cork and nearly by Louth before getting walloped by Dublin.
Whatever happened to Mayo’s summer, losing to Roscommon could not in retrospect be written off as a welcome opportunity for a few weeks off to reset.
The continuing refusal of Central Council to abolish the final has meant that an extra weekend is necessary at the end of the league in the tiny gap before championship begins.
In an attempt to make additional space in the calendar, the Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) had recommended that the title be awarded to whoever finishes top of the table – like a normal league. Twice, this has been shot down.
Accepting such a resolution would remove one reason for disparaging the competition, which is effectively what happens when counties question whether it’s worth their while winning it.
Already, Mayo and Galway have their alibis in overseas trip within a week of the league final to New York and London. That’s two counties with their reasons not to progress.
Monaghan can be added to the list, as reaching the final would require, as well as the usual miracles of husbandry, being ready a week later to face neighbours Cavan in the Ulster preliminary round.
Dublin manager Dessie Farrell’s comments after a second one-point defeat in two weeks after the match in Castlebar also sounded a discordant tone when a question was posed about the dangers of relegation.
“We have been in Division Two and it worked out well for us. Not going to put a gun to our own heads in terms of Division One status being crucial or paramount to us.”
This was a striking admission for a county that had won half of the 11 titles under review – sharing the 2021 league with Kerry – while at the same time winning eight All-Irelands.
With reasons mounting for a variety of counties not to challenge for the league, the greatest support for the beleaguered competition comes from the most experienced managers. Jack O’Connor and Mickey Harte have been long standing advocates of league advancement being a great preparation for championship.
In O’Connor’s case, that advocacy has been practical in that his four All-Irelands have come in years when Kerry first won the league.
Harte’s comments after his Derry team had soundly beaten his old charges, Tyrone, were a more explicit challenge to the current drift towards indifference.
“I don’t really enter competitions to lose them, so we have to do our best. I’m not sure it’s as definitive as that – that if you do well in the league it wrecks your championship hopes. I never subscribed to that school of thought.”
Indeed, he hasn’t. Back in 2003, after he had taken Tyrone to a first All-Ireland, Harte sounded an unusual – for the time – clarion call on behalf of the league, which his team had also won.
“The other interesting statistic is that yesterday was our 21st match and we never played a single challenge in the entire year. I think it’s very valuable to be playing in the national league up to the concluding stages.”
Derry and Kerry are also clear for take-off in that they each have three weeks between the scheduled date for this year’s league final and at the end of March and their first championship matches.
Good luck to them. If whoever wins the league, adds the Sam Maguire in July, it will keep everyone honest next spring. Central Council could of course help by sorting out the daft scheduling.
