It’s probably an understatement to point out that Meath’s defeat of Dublin in the 1975 NFL Final was a major turn up. With it being well before my time, I’m not sure what division of the league Meath were in at the time.
What is of course known is the fact that Kevin Heffernan’s side were the defending All Ireland Champions at the time they were outfoxed by the great Mick O’Brien and his crew. Chief among them the manager’s brother, Ollie.
This was a Dublin team lared with galacticos of the day like Paddy Cullen, Gay O’Driscoll, Robbie Kelliher, Brian Mullins, Tony Hanahoe and Jimmy Keaveney.
The thing is, despite it presumably being the big sports story of the day, the prevailing media mechanics of the day meant that, in terms of serious analysis of the match, one had to wait until the following day for the verdict of Paddy Downey, Paddy Hickey or – most importantly – Con Houlihan.
The poet Brendan Kennelly once said “Sam Beckett wrote about Waiting For Godot, but in Kerry they’re waiting for Houlihan”. Denoting the queues which would form in country towns every evening anticipating the delivery of the late print of the Evening Press to peruse the musings of the giant from Castle Island on whatever sport had just taken place.
As for the first major story I can actually recall surrounding the league the would’ve been Mick O’Dwyer getting Kildare to the final thereof in 1991. Thereafter, it would have had to be Westmeath’s usurpation of the All Ireland title holders Derry in the spring of ’94.
You see, it was a different National League then. A better one? You could debate that from here to Timbuktu and still not reach a consensus. In the context of this offering though, inclination is definitely in the negative column. Yes it gave teams from the lower divisions the opportunity to tackle, and, in the case of Westmeath, defeat teams more vaunted than themselves, but it was very much the exception rather than the rule.
At least with the restructure which inculcated League Finals for all four divisions, it meant that there was actual tangible reward for teams who do well at the end of a given campaign. Perhaps the greatest carrot of all though has been the guarantee of an outing in Croke Park if a team manages to finish in the top two in their division. While it’s probable that each of the 32 counties – plus London and New York – have played in the big field at some stage in their history, to be gracing the hallowed turf with a genuine chance of winning something is an entirely different scenario.
As it happens, it was actually the presence of Leitrim on Jones’s Road which struck a very emotional chord with the occupant of this seat. Mostly owing to the number of those from the lovely county held near and dear who have gone to the football field afar. Sean Nealon, Tom Gilooly, Paddy Earley, Fergus O’Rourke and Shane McGettigan. Not to mention Paddy Gallagher (Donegal), Wilf Kelly (Down) and Paul Mulcahy (Dublin).
One need only see the kick supporters of counties like Clare and Louth and Sligo and Cavan and Westmeath get out of seeing their county lift a trophy in, as Jarlath Burns rightly described it, our National stadium.
No, there’s no reason to adjust your TV sets, I genuinely do find myself agreeing with Mickey Harte. In his vehement opposition to talk of league finals being done away with.
I recall the first named on the above assembly of legends telling me he cried like a child when Leitrim ran out onto the sacred sod. I’ve no problem admitting that if I’m ever lucky enough to see Meath win something in there again there will be waterworks here too.
Mind you, even allowing for the GAA’s penchant for shooting themselves in the foot, proponents of the latest hideous meddlesome idea surely got notice to hoist the white flag if they have an ounce of gumption within them after a truly extraordinary weekend of football in Bishop Croke’s field.
Take the league finals out of the equation and the entire inter county football season becomes tedious humdrum until the All Ireland semi finals at least. That can hardly be afforded as the Association have already dormented the best months of the year. Leaving stadia for pigeon grazing and making travel agents a fortune.
It would appear there are an amalgam of people – in which yours truly would absolutely not number though their viewpoint is understood – who have no interest in club fare at all but are staunch supporters of their county teams. They feel their summer’s entertainment is being wrecked by everything finishing up early. Have they a point?
Look, we know the line has been peddled ad nauseum about the club being the centre of not only the GAA itself but the communities in which they are based. Nobody would dispute that. However, though it may be an uncomfortable truth for some, the fact is that if it wasn’t for the money Co Boards get on foot of the inter county action which is then re-directed to clubs, the whole system would struggle to function at all.
Everything is inter linked. Put games like the league finals on – teams of commensurate ability competimg against each other – and the crowds will come. Then the whole system runs like a well oiled Cummins engine. If it aint broke leave it alone.
Fág freagra