Exciting final-day action couldn't make up for flawed football format
Cork's Ruairí Deane contests aerial possession with Enda Smith of Roscommon during Saturday's All-Ireland SFC game at Laois Hire O'Moore Park. Picture: Daire Brennan/Sportsfile
No sooner had Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC action come to a close than the passing of the group-stage system was being lamented.
The weekend brought excitement in each of the four groups as counties battled for the placings that would determine which stage of the knockout section they would enter – but there was of course an element of artificiality to it.
Had there been a system in place whereby only two teams advanced from each group rather than three, the Cork-Roscommon and Louth-Clare matches would have been dead rubbers rather than effectively acting as knockout ties.
The final round of fixtures has been a success in each of the three years where the format has been in place, but is it worth having two rounds of what is almost a phony war just to get the sugar rush that the last set brings?
Those in charge have decided that it is not – and also that teams progressing after two defeats, as well as one in the provincial championship, is a bad look – and so next year will see another alteration.
Similar to the way the Cork county championships ran in 2016 and 2017, the Sam Maguire and Tailteann Cup competitions will operate in a double-knockout. After the opening round of eight fixtures, the winners will play off in four ties and the losers will do likewise. Teams winning both games will progress directly to the quarter-finals while teams winning one and losing one will contest the preliminary quarter-finals.
It cuts one round of fixtures but ensures that no team can win the All-Ireland after losing two matches in the last 16 and of course means there will be no such thing as a meaningless match.
One thing that we hope is not lost, though, is counties hosting games, which definitely helps to provide an edge to things. The easiest and most logical option would to give the automatic quarter-finalists home advantage as a reward – especially as they will be playing after a week’s break against a side carrying some momentum with them.
Such fixtures would present a far more attractive proposition than a half-full Croke Park and provide a strong incentive.
Of course, before all that, there are the current year’s knockout games to come – and, with the new rules having had a positive effect on scoring rates, there could be a lot to enjoy.
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