Midweek Meanderings
For reasons that hardly need elaborating, there are those who think I have my knife in the GAA at large presently. For said reason and that alone, a guilty plea will readily be entered. However, outside of the aforementioned subject area, even the most steadfast Gael must surely on occasion admit that the Brains Trust of the Association have the unhappy knack of going into the woods and cutting the stick with which to flail themselves.
Exhibit 6430: Playing the All Ireland Final of arguably the most important football competition the organisation stages on a midweek night at a country venue must rank as one of the most hideous, senseless decisions ever come up with.
That is not, in any way, a dig at the Athletic Grounds in Armagh which is by some distance my favourite venue in Ulster. With the exception of the gargantuan speed ramps in the carpark! But, a midweek All Ireland Final just felt wholly disrespectful. To the competition, the trophy for same, the two teams partaking therein.
No doubt the genii behind the midweek mayhem will pinpoint fixture congestion and the demands on players. But the latter aspect of that would be laughable if it wasn’t completely contradictory. The official line will be that the match had to be fitted in at some point due to the involvement of Eoin McElholm as the fulcrum of the Tyrone U-20 team which captured the O’Neill County sauntered to a third All Ireland U-20 FC title in four years.
You see, the crux of the matter is that the dazzling half forward is also rapidly rising in terms of influence and status within Malachy O’Rourke’s senior setup. But surely a more favourable turn of events would have been to (a) suggest that Tyrone field without McElholm – though that’s something I’d vehemently oppose as surely the underage team should take priority.
Secondly, there was surely the option of holding the U-20 FC final back until Tyrone’s involvement in the SFC has concluded. I mention the Red Hand county specifically simply seeing as from what I can gather, there are none of the youngsters from the Wee County who took on Paul Devlin’s charges involved with Ger Brennan’s senior champions.
Mind you, having watched – either live or recorded – all bar one of Fergal Reale’s team’s matches during their season, it can be attested that it won’t be long until the former Dublin defender is seeking them out.
The sheer quality the young Lenister lads have shown throughout the campaign during which they dethroned Meath as Seamus Flood Cup holders was thee for all to see in the resting place of Brian Boru for what could be estimated to be about 85% of the contest.
During which time Tadhg McDonnell, Sean Callaghan, James Maguire, Pierce Grimes-Murphy, Adam Gillespie and Tony McDonnell amply demonstrated why Brennan will surely have them on speed dial shortly.
However, collectively, Louth were left to rue the 15% of their machine that was out of sync. Put simply, McElholm and the equally imperious Noah Grimes ran through them like gone-off sausages through their unfortunate consumer!
Which meant that, even though the underdogs recovered from a 0-08 to 2-07 interval deficit, every time Reale’s redoubtables appeared to be about to make momentum swing, McEholm, Price and substitute Shea McDermott plantrd three more ‘Majors’ – leaving them level with Rory McIlroy in that regard!
Thus the victors added to their astounding level of achievement in the grade. Conversly, though, perhaps it might appear a tad strange, Louth lost little in defeat and gained plenty from the campaign overall. They are the two counties you wouldn’t mind trading places with presently.
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