Even by GAA standards the scheduling of 35 intercounty games between today and Sunday, with both All-Ireland club finals tagged on next Monday, makes for a feast of fixtures. It also makes players like Kevin Golden wonder why there’s often a famine, too.
Because for Golden, Monday’s All-Ireland club football final with his club, St Vincent’s, represents the end of a long championship campaign which started with three games in eight days, then wound down to one game in 10 weeks, followed by another four-week break.
At age 32, and one of the survivors of St Vincent's All-Ireland success of 2008, it's just as well Golden doesn't have to worry about any county obligations too. But he admits the early feast of club fixtures, which saw St Vincent's contest the Dublin county final, then a replay, then the first round of the Leinster championship – all in the space of eight days – was hard to cope with.
Real frustration
"It would have been a shame, if we were to lose because of fatigue, at that stage," says Golden. "because I always felt we had a whole lot more to offer, and it was a real frustration of mine that a Dublin club would have to play so soon again after the Dublin championship final. So I think that's something that should well be looked at.
“You train eight months of the year, and then it’s like a rollercoaster, especially the Dublin championship, in that time frame, between September and October . . . We just have to abide by what dates are set. But it is very challenging.
“The fact that the Dublin final went to a replay put us at a serious disadvantage, going into the first round of Leinster. There was huge fatigue, and there were also the two suspensions (Diarmuid Connolly and Ger Brennan). And that is something the Dublin County Board could look at. Because you don’t want your county champions being at a disadvantage going into their first round of Leinster. That was one of the most challenging games we’ve come across so far this year.”
Yet overcoming that challenge by beating Westmeath kingpins St Loman's four days after defeating Ballymun Kickhams in the Dublin final replay has added an extra layer of steel to St Vincent's.
Seven years
They went on to beat Meath champions Summerhill and then Portlaoise, in the Leinster final, before getting that 10-week break before their All-Ireland semi-final date with Ballinderry, on February 15th. After surviving that famine, they produced a minor feast of football to beat the Derry champions 2-14 to 1-13, and now, four weeks later, only Castlebar Mitchels stand in their way of a second All-Ireland title in seven years.
“I think there’s a belief there, since maybe back in 2007, when we first broke through, that if you win a Dublin championship, there is an opportunity there for you to push on,” adds Golden, who along with Mossy Quinn, is one of St Vincent’s elder statesmen. Golden also played with Quinn, at intermediate level, under the late Kevin Heffernan, after both had first emerged from minor level.
“We had such admiration and respect for him. Such a clever mind, and an unbelievable understanding of the game. It was just an absolute honour to play underneath him . . He’s still a massive presence in the club and it’s great this year that we’ve had success so far because he’s an absolute legend in the club and always will be,” he concluded.
In times of feast or famine.
