We live in confusing times.
Had we not all agreed to be anti-provincial championships? Because the lads in the pro-lobby brigade are now chirping about their numbers swelling.
Weren’t we all liberals and progressives just a few weeks back, eating hummus wraps and striving for a fairer more equitable football championship format. Didn’t we suggest the provincials could be played off in January, in a blitz, over one weekend in Athlone? A festival of provinces.
But now we’re back washing down doorstep ham sandwiches with flasks of milky tea again while shaking our heads and muttering, “66,000 at Louth-Meath, jaysis, that’s a hoor of a crowd.”
The end of the blue shirts in Leinster, a red wave rising in the east after 68 years, right wing, left wing, outside the arc, inside the square, orange flags, black cards, it’s hard to keep up with it all.
It might be best just to enjoy what the provincial finals served up rather than getting tangled up in what it all means for the broader issue of the intercounty Gaelic football season.
But it feels like this has been a landmark year for the future of the provincial championships. It’s worth a pause. The four senior provincial football finals combined attracted a total of 134,892 spectators.
The attendance of 65,786 at Croke Park to watch Louth and Meath on Sunday was the standout figure but Donegal and Armagh (28,788) sold out St Tiernach’s Park on Saturday while the previous weekend a crowd of 27,137 turned out in Castlebar for the Connacht decider between Mayo and Galway.
Kerry and Clare was the only disappointing final in terms of excitement and patrons through the turnstiles – 13,181. But to have attracted well over 100,000 across the four finals, coupled with the drama in three of the fixtures, those praying for the demise of the provincial championships can forget about seeing any white smoke on that particular issue in the near future.
The provincial councils weren’t inclined to budge anyhow, but their hand has been significantly strengthened now. The last two weekends confirmed provincial titles still matter to players and supporters.
Walking back to the car on Saturday night after Donegal’s win over Armagh, the streets of Clones bore the scars of a town that had thoroughly enjoyed its day in the sunshine.
There were still plenty of stragglers around, ruddy-faced young lads searching for a phone signal and cowboy-hatted young wans searching for their bus home, but the sense something big, something memorable, had happened was unavoidable.
The people lining the streets in Ardee and Drogheda and Dundalk on Sunday night as Louth brought the Delaney Cup to the county for the first time since 1957 were overflowing with joy and warmth and appreciation.
County teams (and club teams) provide us with that sense of place and identity which can be hard to find elsewhere.
All politics is local and there are few more satisfying afternoons as a supporter than those when you put one over your neighbour. Local rivalries fuel the passion.
Indeed, if ever a book of GAA commandments is commissioned, top of the list would be: “Thou shall endeavour to beat thy neighbour before offering up these words of comfort, ‘Hard luck, ye have a couple of nice little footballers there.’”
Which is an especially lovely line to deliver when both of you know they don’t.
Jim McGuinness has been a card-carrying supporter of the provincial championships throughout his two spells as Donegal manager. He also wrote about it during his time as a columnist with The Irish Times. It matters to him and you could clearly see it mattered to his players and the Donegal supporters last Saturday. He recalled childhood memories of attending Ulster finals. Layer upon layer of history.
It has been said for many years now that the Ulster competition has saved the provincial football championships from the scrapheap. And there is probably some truth in that because the other three have drifted in and out of relevance.
The Leinster SFC has been on life-support for two decades now. It took Dublin winning 19 of the last 20 Delaney Cups for decision makers to finally take action and move games away from Croke Park.
Over in Connacht, the pitch invasion to mark Galway’s fourth title on the bounce not only demonstrated their delight at staying kings of the province but just as importantly it provided them with the bragging rights that comes with keeping their foot on Mayo’s throat.
The provincial championships, like them or loathe them, provide the battleground for local rivalries to remain alive and continue to grow. Without the history, it’s just another game.
The problem is not the provincial championships, the problem is the imbalance when they are linked to the All-Ireland SFC.
Donegal have been rewarded for winning Ulster with top seeding in the All-Ireland round-robin series. They beat Derry, Monaghan, Down and Armagh to get to this stage. In the group they will play Mayo, Tyrone, and Cavan.
Kerry have also been rewarded for winning the Munster title with a top seed in the All-Ireland series. The Kingdom beat Cork and Clare to get to this stage. In the group they will play Meath, Cork, and Roscommon.
The provincial championships are not going away but clearly the link to the All-Ireland remains a problem – the pathway for some is far less treacherous than it is for others. League placings is a much more legitimate barometer.
A new championship format will be in place for 2026 where again the eight provincial finalists will supersede all other teams in terms of gaining a spot in the Sam Maguire competition.
The conversation needs to move away from whether or not the provincial championships have a future. They clearly do.
But it is perhaps time to genuinely examine if they could continue to hold the same appeal as standalone competitions with no link to the All-Ireland.
