Mikey Sheehy
By John Harrington
Kerry football legend and current county team selector, Mikey Sheehy, says the proposed restructuring of the All-Ireland Football championship is 'very exciting' and 'top-class'.
Three Ard Chomhairle motions due to go before Annual Congress next week would be implemented on a three-year temporary basis if passed.
The first Championship restructure motion seeks to replace the quarter-final stage of the Championship with a group stage contested by the four provincial champions and the four round 4 qualifier winners.
Split into two groups of four, every team would play one home match, one away match, and one match in Croke Park.
In that scenario, Kerry could potentially host Dublin in a quarter-final tie in Fitzgerald Stadium, a prospect Sheehy describes as 'brilliant'.
The appetite for such a contest is underlined by the fact that tickets for Kerry’s Allianz League game against Dublin in Austin Stack Park on March 18 have already sold out.
And eight-time All-Ireland medal winner Sheehy believes that were the Dubs to visit Fitzgerald Stadium in the height of the summer they could fill the 43,000 capacity venue 'twice over'.
“Speaking personally, and from speaking to a few others around, I certainly think there's a big appetite for the proposed changes,” says Sheehy.
“I think that set-up would be excellent. They could stop giving out then about Kerry having a handy run in Munster!
“That system would be top-class and a very exciting thing for the GAA. That's what players want, they want games and good quality games.
“The novelty of a team like Dublin or Tyrone coming down here for a quarter-final or us going up to Healy Park or Castlebar or somewhere like that would be brilliant. If the Dubs came down to Killarney you'd fill it twice over.
“There'll be a great buzz now for this game against the Dubs under lights on March 18th, a massive atmosphere, it'll be great craic and we're really looking forward to it.
“I just think there's an appetite for change out there now, so hopefully it comes.”
Dublin play Kerry in Sunday's All-Ireland SFC Semi-Final.
Sheehy believes replacing the All-Ireland quarter-finals with a group stage contested by the four provincial champions and the four round 4 qualifier winners would be a fairer system because provincial champions are currently disadvantaged by having less games than teams who have come through the qualifiers and so can be caught cold.
“There's a few teams that have won All-Irelands coming through the back door because they've benefited from extra games,” says Sheehy.
“Sure Kerry did it in 2009 when they were shocking in the Munster Final replay against Cork and then they came back and won the All-Ireland and beat Cork in the Final.
“You can't beat games, that's what teams want. Players love games and love quality games and that's what you'd have.
“The vibes I would be getting would be very positive down here, and speaking from a personal point of view I would be mad for change anyway.”
The lob-sided nature of the current championship structures were underlined last year when Kerry reached the All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin having played just three games against Clare (twice) and Tipperary.
In the All-Ireland Quarter-Final they defeated Clare by 2-16 to 0-11. Sheehy does not believe that pathway prepared them sufficiently for the challenge of then playing Dublin.
“It was cat,” says Sheehy. “We went in against one of the best teams ever having played Clare twice and Tipperary, and I don't mean that as any disrespect to either Clare or Tipperary who themselves got to an All-Ireland semi-final.
“But particularly playing Clare twice was certainly no help to us. All you can play are the teams in front of you, but certainly it was a disadvantage to us.”
The second and third motions relating to the All-Ireland Football Championship structures will condense the inter-county calendar by playing the All-Ireland finals on or before the last Sunday in August and doing away with replays for all matches other than the provincial and All-Ireland Finals.
Colún: Ag caint faoi Mickey Harte
If passed, this would free up more space in the calendar for club competitions, a fact highlighted earlier this month by another high-profile supporter of the proposed championship restructure, Tyrone manager Mickey Harte.
“I think there's been a lot of thought put into all the re-structuring,” said Harte. “I think it's a very realistic attempt to change things for the better for the club player.
“Anything that adds more game opportunities for clubs is a good thing: People need to take stock – this can only be fixed in stages. You can't just re-write the script to say: 'There's the simple solution'.
"Step by step people will try to accommodate and facilitate all aspects of our Association. I think that's what headquarters are trying to do at the minute.
"Ultimately, if we're able to bring the All-Ireland series forwards into August, which people will try to do when the time is right, then there are moves afoot to make things better for the club player.
"Nobody would deny that that is a good idea – but it has to be done in stages and phases which are feasible and workable. That's the way we should go about this – and show some degree of patience in the process.
"Nothing in this world is ideal; sometimes it's only when you try out something that you see if it is what you thought it was going to be.
“If not, then I'm sure the people are prepared to review and adjust things if necessary. But this is a genuine attempt to make things better and we have to step back and see how that evolves."
