Inter-county GAA managers left with different kind of challenges

A penny for the thoughts of inter-county GAA managers these days. No matter what kind of personality or disposition they have, none of them would be human if they weren’t at least addled by the suspension of the All-Ireland hurling and football championships until a date unknown in 2020.

The fallout from Covid-19 still has the sporting community in a straitjacket and though there are murmurings about various return dates for different codes, team sports will be the last to be given the all clear. Soccer, rugby and the GAA at the highest level will be the hardest hit although the mood music around the club scene is more positive.

While players in all sports are deeply frustrated, they basically only have to worry about themselves; keeping themselves healthy and maintaining some form of fitness regime. It’s a different ball game completely for team managers who have to look out for every strand of their operation and try to have their set-up primed for a return to action.

The uncertainty has to be killing them too. They have to first convince themselves that there will be championship action later in the year before getting that message across to their squads and management personnel. No assumptions can be made about whether the games will be off or on. You just have to try and keep the show on the road – from a distance.

It is now almost universally accepted across the GAA landscape that there will be no inter-county activity until around mid-October and that’s probably the best-case scenario. That’s a long way off and managers face the unenviable task in the interim of trying to keep the players’ focussed; their fitness levels up; as well as planning for a campaign which is likely to be knock-out.

Perhaps, there’s a chance in hurling for the second-chance championship scenario given its much smaller pool of contenders, but it could be one hit and your team is gone in Gaelic football. It’s not ideal but much better than having no championships at all. This is still only educated guesswork as we simply don’t know how long the coronavirus will stalk the country.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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