Under-21s will hibernate in summer

Having restored a semblance of temporal unity to the National Leagues, the GAA faces the prospect of a bizarrely elongated under-21 football championship this year.

Central Council decided, on a recommendation from the Competitions Work group, to fix the All-Ireland semi-finals and final for the autumn. But three of the four provinces have decided to go ahead with their under-21 championships this spring - leaving a gap of nearly six months between the provincial and All-Ireland finals.

With the Allianz Football League getting under way and the Sigerson Cup in full swing, the demands on under-21 footballers are enormous at this time of the year. Several county managers complained about this in The Irish Times survey last week.

The recommendation that the All-Irelands be played in the autumn was a response to a number of issues. Firstly, the National Football League is working to a hectic schedule in this, its first calendar-year season. Secondly, the championship now starts that much earlier to accommodate the All-Ireland qualifiers in the schedules. Finally, the Sigerson Cup places intense demands on a large number of intercounty players in the January/February period.

In answer to these problems, it was decided to move the under-21 football All-Ireland. But the actions of the counties, acting through their provincial councils, has been to frustrate the purpose of the proposal.

Connacht is the only province to have arranged its championship for the summer.

"We were guided by wanting to give the maximum benefit to Connacht counties in the under-21 championship," said provincial secretary John Prenty. "Last year, Mayo had to wait from April to October between playing an All-Ireland semi-final and final and that proved a major obstacle to their chances of winning."

At least that state of affairs was brought about by the foot-and-mouth crisis and the consequent efforts to accommodate Tyrone, which was a long-time exclusion zone.

This year's gap has been willingly embraced by Leinster, Munster and Ulster. Michael Delaney, the secretary of the Leinster Council, outlined how the situation arose after the Games Administration Committee set the All-Ireland dates for September/October.

"This went back to the provinces and we said to counties: 'when do you want to play the under-21?' By 11 to one they said late February, March and April. Yet the same counties went back to Central Council and voted to keep the All-Ireland stages in the autumn.

"Whenever it's played, I'd like to see it as a package and I suppose my personal preference would be to see it played on weekday evenings in July. But it's up to the counties to decide what they want and they're happy with the schedule."

Delaney's personal view was very much one of the considerations when the GAC proposed autumn dates for the All-Ireland series. Hurling's under-21 championships have consistently had a higher profile than the football equivalent and attract large crowds on midweek evenings in Leinster and particularly Munster.

Christy Cooney, the chairman of the Munster Council, says that there is a difference between the requirements of the codes.

"Counties play their own under-21 football championships earlier in the year and are quite happy with the way it's organised this year. The hurling is played in the summer and operates well; it's more of a top-of-the-ground game.

"Traditionally Cork have had a lot of dual players at underage level and in the last two years Limerick have had a fair number as well. Dual players would make it very hard to run football and hurling during the summer."

Ulster chairman John O'Reilly says that the Ulster counties were equally unequivocal. "To give club football any chance, we had to do it this way. We've always done it like this. Our provincial meeting had no problem with it.

"It would be very serious during the summer trying to fit in the senior championship, qualifiers and the club championships. Running the under-21 championship in the summer would mess it all up."