BY TIM BUCKLEY
MUCH has been made of the structure and, indeed timing, of our U21 football and hurling championships as we know them, with the ‘squeezing in’ of our football championship to the month of February and the 'hit and miss' of the hurling resulting in the winners of the Carbery U21A hurling contesting the 2024 West Cork final in without pucking a ball in anger.
Regardless of our frustrations, we have no option at present but to accept that in an effort to support our county teams in both codes, then the blanket ban on club championships from March to July is now a very real part of our fixture list, at least in the short term.
Perhaps it is time for all clubs, players and mentors to realise that the old way of doing business is now gone and consigned to the past. What faces us now in the era of the split-season is a very short window of opportunity in which we can complete our championship programmes.
To that end, all stakeholders need to have a fresh look at our season structure and the way we combine our adult competitions with this U21 grade, previously referred to as our marquee competition, where all of our young players got to display their talents.
Gone are the days of the nine or ten-month season, we are now looking at three-to-four months at best to complete our divisional championships in time for county competitions. We all need to consider the question as to can we afford such luxuries as Leaving Cert holidays, J1 trips to warmer climes, stag parties, weddings and graduations to impact on our competitions as we attempt to condense over 200 games into this new shortened championship season?
With the new playing rules about to be implemented in 2025 in Gaelic Football, are we allowing our U21 players the time to acquaint themselves with these rules in time for the proposed start dates of U21 football in February? Indeed, are we allowing these very same players to prepare properly for this competition? Given the lack of success in recent times of Carbery teams in the county U21 grade, isn't it now time for us to consider timing our championships so that they act as lead in to our county championships, ensuring not alone optimum performances from our representatives but also leading to quality domestic competitions played in front of large and appreciative audiences, at all three grades in both codes that we had grown accustomed to.
Look at Bantry Blues this season – they won the Carbery U21A football title on February 18th and had to wait until November 3rd to play their county quarter-final against Beara; that was a gap of eight and a half months between competitions. It was even longer for O’Donovan Rossa – they won the Carbery U21B football final on February 18th and played their next game, a county semi-final, last Sunday, after waiting 294 days between championship games. We need to do better than this for players, and that’s why the U21 football championships should be moved from the allotted February dates to further back in the year.
At the recent county committee meeting, a number of delegates proposed that the U21 club football championships should be played to a conclusion at county stages in the springtime. The end decision, a compromise between club and county levels, was to continue with knockout divisional U21 football on three successive Sundays in February. So nothing will change.
The CCC of the Carbery Board will be ratified on January 14th. With the U21 Carbery football championships pencilled in for the start of February, swift and immediate action will be required by the clubs to ensure that this competition, which is quickly losing its appeal, is played at a time of the year that is conducive to quality games and entertainment for our patrons, players and members alike.
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Tim Buckley is the Carbery GAA PRO.
