Christy O'Connor: All-Irelands switching to August could spell end of elite club dual players

Just six days after they both played pivotal roles in Tipperary’s victory against Cork in last year’s All-Ireland hurling final, John McGrath and Rhys Shelly found themselves facing each other in a mid-Tipperary quarter-final.

Less than a week after saving a penalty from Conor Lehane in Croke Park, Shelly saved a penalty from McGrath in Moycarkey-Borris’s win against Loughmore-Castleiney. The prize for Moycarkey was a semi-final against Thurles Sarsfields just four days later.

“It's a bit tough on the bodies, probably a bit unfair,” Shelly said afterwards in an interview on Clubber TV. “Some lads are cramping up there, trying to get ready for Wednesday again is going to be tough. It's mentally tough to be honest.” 

Shelly didn’t have time to be tired but he wasn’t the only one. By the time he played his third game in ten days, 25 of Tipperary’s All-Ireland matchday 26 had been in action.

The divisional championships in Tipperary add an extra layer to their competitions but All-Ireland finalists no longer have the same leeway they once had for downtime. Some of the Cork hurlers were out 12 days after the final but the dual players had only six days to get ready for the football championship.

Brian Hayes was listed as a substitute on the match programme for St Finbarr’s game against Clonakilty but the Barrs couldn’t afford to start without one of their best players in a game that was always likely to go to the wire. It did, with the Barrs winning by one point.

Recurring injuries kept Hayes out of four group games across hurling and football but his season didn’t end until the first week of December when the Barrs were agonisingly beaten in the Munster club final by Dingle.

Hayes’ season was more crammed than usual because he is such a brilliant dual player. The Barrs were good enough to be able to negotiate their way through the groups – in hurling and football – without his services for key games. But not every club would.

Hayes’ body was bound to come under strain, but the load is going to be even heavier again if the GAA decide at Congress on Saturday to extend the inter-county championship into August.

That will mainly only effect the counties involved in All-Ireland semi-finals and finals, but planning county championships everywhere doesn’t just hinge on how the county team is doing that particular summer. It begins much sooner.

Extending the inter-county season impacts on certain counties more than others. Cork stated their position on the matter after last week’s behind-closed-doors county board meeting when club delegates voted against the proposed changes to the GAA calendar by 90-60.

SQUEEZED

Unsurprisingly, Tipperary are also against the proposed change. And so are Galway. 

“This would be the death knell of the dual club and the dual player,” Galway chairperson Paul Bellew told Galway Bay FM last week.

Club players in the bigger counties – especially dual players - will be squeezed when that squeeze has already never been as tight, especially for the counties who routinely target a long inter-county summer.

The squeeze is felt at both ends – by the county and club players. Under the GAA’s rules, intercounty panels are not permitted to resume collective training until the first week of December, but every intercounty panellist is effectively back on a gym and running programme by October.

As soon as the new year turns, club players are back too but they have to wait months – at least seven, sometimes eight - for the championship games that will define their season. The year can drag when everyone is waiting for the championship to roll around. Outside of Tyrone, no other county gets hung up on their league competitions.

Yet when club players are mad for road in late summer, inter-county players would ideally like a break. 

But like the Tipperary lads last July, they didn’t have time to get tired. They had to drive on. So did All-Ireland football champions Kerry.

Kerry said that they will vote against the motion unless there is a 16-week window after the county season to complete club county championships. Yet that’s an unrealistic request if the club time-frame becomes even tighter again.

With the Cork hurlers reaching last year’s All-Ireland final, and with Cork having ambitions of routinely featuring on that stage, the county are already operating within a 14-week window to get all their club championships run off. But it would be a different challenge again if the footballers reached the All-Ireland final.

If the split season was moved back by two weeks, Cork would have to remove their bye weekends, as well as possibly having to ask the Munster Council to move their provincial club championships deadlines back as well.

Another option is the provincial councils condensing their championships.

For example, the Munster club senior football championship took six weeks to run off in 2025. Could that not have been done in four?

It couldn’t last year because the Munster senior hurling and football championships involved two dual clubs – Éire Óg Ennis and Loughmore-Castleiney. That may not happen every year but Munster – along with every province – has to cater for that possibility.

From a Cork perspective, the clubs will only lose one week if the hurlers reach an All-Ireland final. Yet if the footballers were to reach the same stage, it would be very difficult for Cork to run off all its fixtures. And even if they do, losing those extra couple of weeks would put the clubs under too much pressure.

As of now, of course Cork would take those headaches if the footballers were to reach an All-Ireland final. But club players still need more time than what they’re been given – not two weeks less.

After all, the split season was primarily meant to be for the benefit of club players.