GAA COLUMN: Championship lacking that Championship feeling

Not all problems can be fixed by just throwing money at it. After all, society would be exceptionally cynical if that was the case.

The structure of the championships has been more than just a problem over the past number of years for the GAA. After some heavy pressure from the grassroots, the top brass caved to the demands for a split season. The theory would be more defined and shorter campaigns to try and repair the large rift that formed between club and county.

Simultaneously, the inter-county season was taking on a lot of water and being weighed down by calls for an end to provincial championships. To try and improve the situation, the GAA tore up the script and decided to throw more games at it.

And it’s really raining games right now. So much so that it has completely dampened enthusiasm for the group stages of the All-Ireland series.

In the build-up (or lack of) to Mayo’s first round clash with Cavan last weekend, you’d have been forgiven if you forgot about the game. Admittedly, the charts are falling the wrong direction in terms of support of the county team right now – naturally that was going to happen – but it was still alarmingly low key.

Cavan coming to town wasn’t exactly going to wake the dead either, with all respect to them. And neither was their performance on the day. But it’s still worrying.

Championship football has a special, tingling feeling to it. It stirs emotions deep down because it represents a do-or-die tradition. At least it should. Championship right now is a very diluted, stop-start version of itself.

It’s safety personified – back doors all over the house. Championship football is going through a real identity crisis. Its current form is a really confused and woke version of itself. One where you have to walk on eggshells in its presence. God forbid if you even mention gender.

Inclusion is to the forefront. They don’t want to exclude anyone for risk of offending, so they decided that three teams in a group of four are allowed progress. Even the main bodies involved seem un-eager to throw too much resources behind its promotion right now. They know the serious business is coming down the track when the sideshow is over.

The GAA is at real-risk in losing support with the current system. Keeping your audience engaged throughout a campaign is key to its success. You have to nurture them, provide them with entertainment and ultimately, prove that your product solves their problems.

Nothing about the group stages of the All-Ireland series is doing that. Supporters should be going to a Championship match thinking a bad performance could spell the end of the season. That they best attend and buy the product because it might be gone off the shelf next week and I would hate to miss out.

That creates urgency and a level of FOMO. That’s the kind of emotion that increases support and the connection between product and customer. For the past decade, the Mayo supporters were the biggest revenue audience for the GAA. They were a gravy grain.

Mayo travelled the length and breadth of the country since 2012 without a second thought. The GAA marketing teams had the easiest job in the world selling championship football to the county’s supporters because their want to achieve that All-Ireland dream was so great.

The belief was sky high. These days it’s a much harder sell. The candle burning just isn’t as bright right now and the price is dropping. Throwing more games at the situation in a hope of rekindling the embers isn’t going to work. They are in real danger of losing more right now.

O’Connor a welcome McStay headache

The return of Cillian O’Connor to the starting XV is a huge boost to Mayo. 

Getting 70 minutes into his legs and producing a man of the match display will give Kevin McStay and his management team a welcome headache.

This columnist will admit to being concerned for O’Connor’s fitness this year. The Ballintubber ace is the wrong side of 30 and his constant struggles to stay injury free seemed to be taking its toll. It was niggle after niggle and being a similar age, I can attest to how much more difficult it is it shake these knocks off.

You can only imagine how frustrating that must have been for a competitor like O’Connor. Every time it appeared he was edging closer to a return, he seemed to suffer a setback. So four points from play against Cavan on Saturday was just what the doctor ordered.

Granted, tougher and more intense tests than Cavan lie waiting. But it was just the game he needed to get his confidence and sharpness back up. It poses a huge question to management for the Roscommon game: O’Connor or O’Shea?

Kevin McStay rubbished any idea of a ‘conspiracy’ that suggested the two veterans can’t play together at the same time. And of course that isn’t true. But if you’re talking about the number 14 role, which Aidan has held for the last number of years, then no, you can’t have two in the one position.

O’Shea has been struggling to find form inside this season and Mayo’s style isn’t helping him either. O’Connor offers something much different in terms of attacking prowess and should be leading the line for Mayo in two weeks. That frees up O’Shea to cause trouble around the middle or to hold him in reserve if needs be.

When it comes down to your attacking strategy, getting scores from your full forward should be a non-negotiable. The first box ticket. O’Connor is the man that can offer that.