Is the split season the way to go for the GAA?

As we all know this year is like no other for the GAA with the pandemic forcing the old Association to make all sorts of decisions and take all sorts of unconventional routes that would, in another context, be considered revolutionary, if not outrageous.

One of the fall-outs of the Covid-19 crisis for Gaelic games has been the split season with the clubs getting a chance to play off their championships first - followed now by the inter-county competitions.

That clear-cut division between the club and inter-county championships is certainly something different and we asked a number of people involved in Gaelic games in the county what they thought of the approach. How did it work? Would they like to see it retained?

GORDON McDONNELL (BALLINABRACKEY MANAGER)

What a year it turned out to be for Ballinabrackey as they marched to the IFC title, clinching the deal with a victory over Trim in a thrilling, entertaining final at Pairc Tailteann. Those who watched the action (either at the ground or online) were, no doubt, enthralled as the contest ebbed and flowed.

Gordon McDonnell feels that the high quality football served up in the IFC decider was no fluke; no accident. He is certainly a fan of condensing the club season rather than allowing it to continue on a stop/start basis as it did before Covid-19 turned all our lives inside out.

In making his point on the issue McDonnell talked about how in 2012 he did a Strength & Conditioning degree in Setanta College, Thurles.

"Every aspect of the coaching coaching in Setanta is about being fresh for the big competitions. Nine month seasons are long seasons in terms of using up energy and picking up injuries. Fatigue builds up over nine months," he explained to the Meath Chronicle.

"By accident or design condensing the club season down to effectively a shorter season - as happened this year - I think everybody could see the difference in the quality of the fare served up. Those supporters who were at home could watch the games as they were streamed live.

"There was a freshness there that you don't get in a nine or 10-month season. Often you find by October or so there's a mental fatigue there among the players. Now obviously part of our challenge, as coaches, is to keep them fresh but I would certainly be hoping the wider GAA circle looks at this because it's working.

"I would challenge anyone who has watched county finals from Tyrone to Cork to argue that Gaelic football is not a super game of football - when the players are fresh."

GORDON WELDON (ROYAL GAELS MANAGER)

Last year Gordon Weldon - along with Sean Carolan - managed Nobber to win the IFC title, defeating Trim in the decider. This year Weldon took charge of the Royal Gaels ladies football team. Once again he tasted success, guiding them to an IFC triumph.

The concept of a divided season in both male and female football is something that has preoccupied Weldon for some time. He feels the quality of games served up this year merely serves to augment the assertion that the GAA season needs to be split between club and inter-county.

"There has to be a divided season. There has to be a club season where you start and you end mid-summer into July and when that hard work is done by the clubs and their championships finished you then release your inter-county players to their respective teams."

The Nobberman asserts that the interest of clubs need to be fostered and cultivated - for the simple reason that they are the foundations of the GAA; the rock on which the entire edifice is built.

"It's the clubs who have literally put in all the work to get the players involved up to inter-county standard. What was happening in previous years is that these players were being pulled away from the club. That will never work and the future of the GAA will be tarnished if things don't change. Some clubs have four, five county players on the senior county team, such as Simonstown and Dunboyne in ladies football, so it makes complete sense.

"You cannot structure a season where players are being asked to commit to both club and inter-county because it's leading to situations where girls are getting injured and suffering from burn-out. Then nobody sees the situation where, in the context of ladies football, girls are going back to clubs and taking the place of players who are there all year. That kind of thing causes a huge amount of angst. It's very unfair on the county players as well who are asked to drop back to play at club level.

"You could finish the club season by mid summer and then run off an All-Ireland series easily within 15 weeks. Clubs are the foundation of the GAA. Why are we being ignored at club level? In soccer and rugby before every season there is a defined fixture list whereby the players know exactly when games will be played, that's what needs to happen in the GAA."

TOMMY HANLEY (CLANN NA nGAEL MANAGER)

Having captained Meath to the 1993 All-Ireland u-21 FC title and played at senior level for the county, Tommy Hanley knows a thing or two about trying to juggle club and inter-county commitments. He has also proved himself to be a very successful manager at club level having guided Clann na nGael to the JFC last year before steering them to the last four of this year's IFC campaign, where they were defeated by eventual champions Ballinabrackey.

Does he agree with a split GAA season? He has no doubts - it's the way of the future. The way to go.

"It would be an improvement, definitely. From the players point of view it means the whole season isn't dragged out. It certainly worked for us this year.

"When we went back after the lockdown in the summer we trained hard, there seemed to be a great response from the lads in terms of training and the effort they were putting in. That was because we knew when the first round of the championship was. We knew we had six weeks of hard training in front of us and we just focused on that.

"Because of that players never trained as hard, they had a focus. Then when the championships started it was great because one week we had a game of football, the next the players could be involved in the hurling and I think it was great for them. Games is what they want."

The former Meath player wouldn't like to see All-Ireland finals played in December (as is planned to happen this year), but feels that with proper planning the club championships can be completed early in the summer, giving the inter-county teams ample time to run off their competitions. Maybe the clubs might cut down on the amount of league games they play, if that's what it took.

"In fairness you don't want to be playing the All-Ireland football final every year in the middle of winter, I don't think that would be good. This is the showpiece of the GAA season, but it could still be arranged so that the All-Ireland finals could be played in September or October. For the players, the managers, the clubs, the stop/start nature of the GAA season certainly wasn't good."

JACK REGAN (KILTALE PLAYER)

This year wasn't the best of years for Kiltale hurlers as they lost their opening two rounds in the SHC to Ratoath and Kildalkey and relinquished any chance of another Jubilee Cup success. It was a sharp descent for the team that claimed five successive SHC titles between 2014 and 2018.

Jack Regan doesn't blame the split season specifically for their fall off in form, but he feels it didn't help Kiltale's cause either and he, for one, would like to see a return to the way the season was structured before Covid-19 struck.

"We have three clubs pulling from our area, Kiltale, Moynalvey and Summerhill and lads were coming back to Kiltale for one session, maybe two and then heading off again, so you were only seeing players a handful of times," added Regan who also turned out for Summerhill in the JFC this summer.

"In the old format as we'll call it you played maybe two rounds of football in April. You had boys then freed up for four or five rounds of hurling so we were flat out playing hurling in the middle of summer. This year Kiltale had players maybe every second week and you'd be lucky to have them then.

"The way it was done before was fine for us. I'm not saying the format this year was the reason Kiltale didn't really perform. We played Trim in a league game and played the best hurling we've played for the last four or five years. Then we played Kildalkey in the championship and were stuck to the ground. If the split season stays it stays, we'll just have to get on with it but I would prefer the way things were.

"In the past if we had a few players with Meath football or hurling teams earlier in the year they would have come back to Kiltale and helped to lift the whole thing because they had done serious training with the county so it would be a help to the club in that way. I think the season as it was had a lot going for it."