Emmet Moloney writes for the 'The Irish Farmers Journal' and is a former sports columnist with 'The Kerryman'.

Is the GAA calendar too crowded? The answer has to be ‘yes’ if your name is Joe Canning, writes Emmet Moloney...

This weekend Joe Canning treads the boards for his college, LIT, in the now quite prestigious Fitzgibbon Cup weekend. In two weeks’ time he will line out for Portumna in the All-Ireland club final, another crucial game for him and his parish. For many hurlers, an All-Ireland club medal and a Fitzgibbon Cup medal within two weeks would represent a serious haul. But it is the tip of Joe’s anticipated collection this year. Galway will be building a senior and U-21 team around Joe later on in the year. Joe will be 21 in October. And he’s carrying an injury apparently that needs rest. Where’s he going to get it?

When he is retired, I suppose. He doesn’t want to miss out on any of these medals and who can blame him. What a pity that the Fitzgibbon will draw about 3,000, while St Patrick’s Day will maybe bring 40,000 to Croke Park. Joe’s been on the senior scene for a few years now. Has he ever played in front of a full house in Semple Stadium or Croke Park? Apart from his days as a minor, no he hasn’t. And because of the club championship and through no fault of his own, he probably won’t be available to be seen on National League fields till early April at the earliest. Our prize possession and kids around the country aren’t getting the chance to see him.

If Tipperary’s game against Kilkenny had gone ahead last Tuesday night then the Cats would have played two games within five days. But to win an All-Ireland title this summer they will probably have to play only four games during June, July, August and September – a Leinster semi-final and final, an All-Ireland semi-final and final.

Meanwhile, up and down the country, the club championships will be put on hold till the cold, wet weather is back with us again. County finals, provincial finals and the like will be played on dank October and November afternoons while the summer goes unused. This is an old chestnut but I bring it up because of Jonny Sexton. Ireland’s number 10 played a full match a week before our big game in Twickenham. Last Saturday might have been our most important game of the rugby year, yet Sexton was deemed to need a game just eight days before it.

Imagine Henry Shefflin being risked in a senior league match for Ballyhale just eight days before the All-Ireland final. But rugby, a game now played by professionals, with all the medical and science back-up that money can buy, suggests that playing two weeks in a row is fine.

Right now our counties feel the same way. The league’s window is short and when you add in the Waterford Crystal League, the O’Byrne Cup, Connacht League, etc, players are playing at least a game a week. College players are playing more. Of course they are all trying to get fit, you say. They aren’t going full pelt, you say. These games don’t matter, you say. The games do matter. Did last Sunday matter to Dublin? Look how they played and answer that.

When you’re trying to nail down a place on any county team you do not play at half-pace. You have to shine. One poor match and the websites are writing you off and the manager moves you down the pecking order. The fitness element is another red herring. Senior county hurlers look after themselves. They winter well. They have gym programmes, diet regimes and, despite the supposed close season, they are busy. Many of them don’t drink. But we see too much of them at this time of the year and we don’t see enough of them come the summer.

We can and should learn from other sports. While Jonny Sexton is a professional rugby player, which means he can mind himself between games, he is not wrapped in cotton wool. Our hurlers and footballers are wrapped in the white stuff come May. A recent review of this situation came up with a few ideas, like a real closed season and the abolition of the U-21 championships. But right now we are victims of the success of the college competitions and club championships. The Railway Cup is dead in the water as a result and the GAA is fast becoming a winter sport for many of our younger star players. And the pace of change within the GAA wouldn’t inspire any confidence that this will be modified any time soon.

Even with the recession, county boards are spending money they no longer have on their county teams that aren’t winning. It is untenable and it is going to force our hands. And thank God for that, I say.

When Tipp and Kilkenny finally meet this Sunday, the crowd, despite live television, should top 10,000. Free admission will help, but there is real interest in these two meeting and with Tipp’s loss to Dublin, they will be taking this one fairly seriously. No sporting event in Ireland will come close to this type of attendance. This is a marquee match but unless both reach the league final, they can only meet once more this year. And that will be in Croke Park.

Munster will play Leinster a minimum of two times every year, potentially four or five times. Tipp and Kilkenny’s only guaranteed clash is a National League match played in the middle of the phony war that is February/March. This is why we need a real calendar. Declan Kidney knows exactly how many games Ireland will play this year and how many times, days and sessions he will have with his squad. The joys of professionalism, you say, but it is a bit more than that. It is structure and it is organisation.

Before we debate the merits of full-time players versus the GAA amateur, keep in mind the training regime of a top-rank GAA player. They live and breathe their sport as well. Their approach differs little from that of Paul O’Connell. Intensity surrounds every serious GAA county camp. We should be getting more out of it.
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