THE feature in this week’s Gaelic Life about the Ulster Hurling Championship is very interesting reading. The former Cavan hurler Sean Og Brady talks about the prestige of playing in the competition 10 years ago. But that feeling of pride was quickly removed when they were hammered by Tyrone. He also said another important thing – that there are not enough clubs pushing hurling in the county. I think this story really highlights the nuances of how hurling, and even any game, can grow. The Ulster Hurling Championship is arguably the carrot. It puts players on a pedestal and gives them something to aspire to. Brady says it is prestigious. But for hurling to prosper in a county, for teams to be successful, it is not experience of playing at county level that will do that. They need strong clubs. Grass grows from the root, not the tip.

RONAN SCOTT

NEWS trickled out this week that the ‘Super 8s’ could be played in 2022 to be fair to the original three-year experiment agreed upon. The All-Ireland quarter-final group stages took place in 2018 and ’19, but were postponed last season. They will be shelved again when plans for the forthcoming season are confirmed in the next few weeks. Please just kill it now. They were a decent idea on paper and while they have provided a couple of crackers – think Monaghan and Kerry in Clones – they have mostly been fairly boring stuff. They haven’t enhanced the competition and can only be seen as widening the gap between the top six or seven teams and the rest. Nobody will miss them when they’re gone, so why delay the inevitable?

NIALL MCCOY

CIARAN McKeever’s appointment as Armagh coach makes a lot of sense. The Cullyhanna man has been working with a number of teams and the majority of reports have been very, very positive. Interestingly, Ronan Clarke, who worked with McKeever at Armagh minor level, said that he will be a real players’ man. On the field of play, the defender was noted for the rough and tumble, putting in the big hits, being niggly, getting involved in the aggro much to the dismay of opposition players and supporters. Because of that, it would be fair to assume that his gruff on-field personality would transfer to his coaching, but Clarke says we may have the wrong end of the stick. Whatever happens, it’s sure to be a great learning experience for the 2004 All-Ireland U-21-winning captain.

NIALL MCCOY

I HEARD earlier this week that schoolkids’ development has been held back by the lockdowns (only by a couple of months, but at a young age that’s still significant), and it made me wonder if the same applies to young footballers. Nothing compares to playing matches, so from my own perspective (a Tyrone fan), the sooner the likes of Darragh Canavan  are out playing games again the better. Players generally improve over the course of their career, peaking in the mid-to-late 20s (when bodies, from a biological perspective, are already in decline in terms of peak reaction times and the lie), and that’s because an experienced 28-year-old is a better footballer or hurler than a rookie 20-year-old. They need matches, is what I’m getting at.

NIALL GARTLAND

MICKEY Darragh was interviewed for the paper this week and one of the stories that he told about his memories of his playing days were of socialising after county matches. He said that after games, the players from both teams would spill into the pub and have a few pints and have the craic. He said that the fans would be in there too and it would be a social occasion. It sounded fantastic. In my mind’s eye I can see Pat Spillane and Mickey Darragh pressed up against the bar, frothy pints in hand. Over in the corner Ogie Moran is trying to get the cigarette machine to work. Gerry McCann is in a booth explaining to Mickey Ned O’Sullivan which chip shop they should head to for their cod supper for the car journey home. And then you’d have the fans in the middle of it all winding the county men up. It’s a lovely image, but unfortunately those days probably won’t return.

RONAN SCOTT

IN this week’s Gaelic Life, our columnist Gerard O’Kane says that the pressure is off Kieran McGeeney in this year’s league as they’ll be playing in the top flight, and sure isn’t that what every Armagh fans wants? I’m not so sure. He’ll obviously not get the chop if they have a few bad results, but will Armagh fans really be happy if they’re hammered  by Tyrone and Donegal? Of course not. Cavan’s success in the Ulster Championship last year shows that the league doesn’t always have a bearing on the championship, but I think the exception that proves the rule, and supporters like to whinge. So ye better shape up, Armagh, if you don’t want internet warriors and the like having a pop.

NIALL GARTLAND