In today’s Hospital Pass, and we admire the foresight of the GAA’s most venerable boss, and selfishly revel in another’s apparent rejection.
Mick “Micko” O’Dwyer has been having his say about the format of the football championship. And as anyone who’s ever been in Micko’s company will know, when Micko speaks, everyone listens.
Despite being at the wrong end of a glorious career, in which everything he has touched has turned to gold (or, in Wicklow’s case, a few good wins in Aughrim), Micko has had enough of Midday on TV3, turfed the remote control aside and turned his thoughts to improving the championship.
And he reckons – Eureka moment coming, everyone – that the provincial system is a bit unfair.
“The day is going to come when you have to do something,” he said. “Change the structures of the provinces and put an even amount of teams into each province, and then you won’t have teams waiting for games as the championship goes on.
“I’d do away with the provincial system. I’d have an open championship, that’s the way to run it. Wouldn’t it be great to have Kerry going to Fermanagh to play them in the first round?
“You have a system this year where Kerry will have played Limerick twice and Cork twice and they’re in an All-Ireland final.”
Okay, so while it’s not a revolutionary idea, it would be a revolutionary action. And the GAA hasn’t done revolution for almost a century, so they’re not going to start again now, are they?
Marty not welcome to Collingwood
There’s talk today that Collingwood, the Aussie Rules club for which Marty Clarke played before he returned to feast on the fatted calf in Co Down, are hesitant about pursuing their interest in re-signing him.
Clarke has been linked with a move back to Oz since about 30 seconds after his Qantas flight touched down in Belfast two years ago.
During his time in Australia, when he was clearly very highly-rated by everyone at Collingwood and all those struth-fair-dinkum-spouting studio analysts, he was considered a loss to Gaelic football in the same way as any Irishman in Australia is considered a loss to the Gaelic football.
But it was only when he marked his first campaign in the Down senior squad with some exceptional performances, helping his county to promotion in the League and a first All-Ireland final in 16 years and himself to an All-Star, that we realised just how much of a loss that might be.
So it is with mixed feelings that we read of Collingwood’s apparent disinterest. On the one hand, we don’t like seeing anyone experience rejection and the compulsion to stay in a country with few jobs and fewer prospects (even if Newry, as part of the UK, is theoretically much better off than nearby Dundalk).
On the other, because we do selfishness better than anyone, it’s great to think that Clarke could be seen in a Down jersey for a long, long time to come. Now, if someone could go about scuppering that move for Caolan Mooney too…
