Cork and Kerry benefited from new U20 football system

THE Munster GAA decision to split their U20 provincial football championship into two phases ended up delivering 14 matches and the expected final between Cork and Kerry.

Phase 1 saw Tipperary, Clare, Limerick and Waterford play a round-robin format for the right to join the Rebels and Kingdom in Phase 2. Tipp and Clare’s qualification couldn’t prevent the favourites from topping the second group table despite the former pushing Kerry to the limit.

Munster GAA identified the need for the province’s counties to play regular, round-robin games in an effort to improve the overall U20 standard. True, Cork and Kerry still qualified for Wednesday evening’s final in Tralee. Yet, Tipp and Clare’s U20s played six competitive championship games this year. Limerick and Waterford four apiece.

“Look, compared to last year, it was potential knockout in the first game, depending on who you played,” Kerry U20 football manager Tomás Ó Sé told The Echo.

"I think the new format is better but I think it could be even better. For me, it is very squashed. You are training for an amount of time and I am not sure if it has got the proper window.

It is a brilliant championship. It is brilliant football when you watch it. It is not as tight or as organised as senior.

"We don’t have enough time with the players to get set phases or set pieces in terms of a complete defence. That makes it more open and it is good to watch.

"It all comes back to numbers in the provinces. I know where Munster are coming from and things are better than they were last year and that’s good enough for us." 

GROWTH

Ó Sé’s Cork counterpart, Ray O’Mahony, is equally glad to be involved in a championship that is no longer straight knockout. Last Wednesday’s one-sided success over Clare represented the Rebel’s second Phase 2 victory.

Still, an improved showing will be required against the Kingdom.

“I think the format is brilliant for the development of these U20 players,” O’Mahony commented.

They are still very young men, young boys becoming men.

“You look at Clare there. I spoke to Michael Nealon [Clare U20 manager] afterwards. They have had six games and a really good campaign even though it didn’t come out the right way for them against us. 

“From our own perspective, we had three games but still weren’t guaranteed anything before playing Clare.

“We had to go out and perform, had to get a result. The lads have three competitive games under their belts and that can only be a positive." 

Another benefit of the U20 round-robin approach is that it allows fringe players additional opportunities to stake a claim for a starting role.

“We have used 26 players in this year’s Munster U20 Championship,” the Cork U20 manager stated. "So, that’s a fair amount of players. We have a lot of headaches now, as a management team, to go through and see where we are going ahead of facing Kerry."

A revitalised Munster U20 football championship format delivered expected finalists. More importantly, each of the province’s U20 football squads benefited and will continue to benefit in future years.