Provincial success now a mere sideshow

SEÁN MORANsays six of the All-Irelands have been won through the qualifiers in the 10 years since the changed format was introduced

THE familiar complaint about the football league – that it starts in a fever and concludes on a flat line – is reversed in most championships. Again we had it at the weekend with that peculiarly seasonal outbreak of collective depression and panic, which opening matches in Ulster can provoke.

That anxiety is a relatively new phenomenon because in the old days the championship wasn’t as complex. Few looked for medium- and long-term trends in May because it was as likely that All-Ireland champions were being eliminated before the school holidays began.

Now the vital trends aren’t discernible until mid-summer and football people are left in an existential flap over what exactly is the point of matches like Donegal versus Antrim.

Since the qualifiers began 10 years ago, the All-Ireland championship focus has shifted inexorably to August when the quarter-finalists go to their starting blocks.

Only once have the defending champions – Tyrone in 2006 – failed to be there.

The edge has accordingly gone from the provincial series, which in the pre-qualifier days proved a minefield for defending All-Ireland holders. In the 10 years before the qualifiers were introduced, just two champions – Kerry in 1998 and 2001 – managed to get out of their provinces the following summer.

It’s 11 years since champions departed the scene in early summer, the fate that befell Meath at the hands of Offaly on the June Bank Holiday weekend of 2000. That particular coup was staged by Pádraig Nolan, who went on to manage his own native county, Kildare, later in the decade.

He sees the anxieties about matches like last Sunday’s as essentially groundless.

“Put it this way – it’s completely ridiculous to have Donegal and Antrim as the opening game of the 2011 championship. If there had have been three or four matches on at the weekend as there will be this week, nobody would have been watching it live and you’d have had about five minutes’ highlights.

“Instead it was on live. Even a few Donegal fellas I met after Mass, who’d normally go up, said ‘ah sure it’s on television’.

“Secondly you’ve a complete mismatch – Donegal going up to Division One and Antrim dropping back to Division Three. Plus Donegal were under pressure because they had lost their last three championship matches at home, which meant they didn’t perform to their best. They’ll improve.”

And in a nutshell that’s what the championship is all about – improving. The bounce back from defeat has so frequently defined such improvement that six of the All-Irelands have been won through the qualifiers in the 10 years since the format was introduced.

Winning All-Irelands obviously requires having the talent to do so but also a championship progress, which stress-tests that raw material so that it is improved by the time the business end of the season is negotiated. That test has frequently resulted in defeat for the ultimate champions.

Even the minority of winners who have come through the provincial system have come across significant roadblocks. Armagh (2002), Tyrone (2003) and Kerry (2004) were all involved in hair-raising draws.

Arguably only Kerry in 2007 buck the trend and they were fairly relieved to get past Monaghan in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

These credentials are acquired the hard way and of the 20 teams to have reached All-Ireland finals in the qualifier era only Down 12 months ago could be considered a bolter given that the county hadn’t even got as far as a quarter-final until last year.

Cork, with their seven semi-finals and two finals, had certainly paid their dues by the time of last year’s final and that experience was invaluable in what turned out to be a close-run thing against Down.

Fortified by this, Conor Counihan’s team have the potential to kick on and add to their collection of titles. Retaining the league without ever having a full pick was a testament to the depth of the panel and the ability to pick out an exit strategy when trailing in successive All-Ireland semi-final, final and NFL final matches shows how battle -hardened the team has become.

The ghost at the banquet – to the extent that such phenomena really exist for All-Ireland winners – was the fact they didn’t beat Kerry in Croke Park last year. That may be a required field in this year’s application form.

Cork shouldn’t be inhibited by the prospect but neither should they be complacent. Kerry had a good league, losing only to the finalists Cork and Dublin and then by just a point.

If Paul Galvin can refocus this season they’ll have three Footballer of the Year laureates in attack, supported by Declan O’Sullivan and namesake Darran, who has become more influential.

Problems exist at centrefield where Darragh Ó Sé’s retirement continues to haunt them two years on. These were intensified when David Moran’s cruciate ruled him out of action for the season. In defence there is the ongoing need to refresh a unit, composed nearly entirely of 30-somethings.

During the league manager Jack O’Connor was pleased with the form of Shane Enright at corner back. Killorglin’s Peter Crowley was outstanding for UCC in the Sigerson Cup but under-21 duty prevented him getting a meaningful run with the seniors but he’s likely to hit the radar at some stage, probably sooner rather than later.

Kerry’s appetite is designed to stay hungrier than other counties even after substantial consumption. Can the same be said of Tyrone?

Mickey Harte’s team have completed a second league campaign without attaining what should be their primary objective, securing Division One status.

But they are so practised at what they do and so capable of catching a wave in August – and it’s worth recalling that they have previously bridged a three-year gap between All-Irelands – that they can’t be dismissed.

Then again neither can they be enthusiastically endorsed.

The most plausible newcomers are Dublin. The league showcased an attack that, if fairly shallow in resources, has the quality to impact at the highest level when at full strength.

Pat Gilroy also has a flood of enhanced options in the back nine with players returning from injury – Eamonn Fennell and Ross McConnell at centrefield and the Kilmacud trio of Paul Griffin, Cian O’Sullivan and Rory O’Carroll in defence.

Allowing that promise and delivery are different things, Dublin look capable of beating Cork but how confident would they be of exorcising the ghosts of history – and the recent past in particular – if they had to square up to Kerry?

Kildare and Down have done nothing to suggest that last year’s progress was a happy accident and under the baton of clever, young managers they will continue to pay their dues.

There may well be others about to emerge in the months to come, but if so, they have disguised their approach masterfully.