THEY SAY A liar knows he is a liar, but the one who speaks partial truths to deceive is a craftsman of destruction.
Only half of the first round of a spanking new All-Ireland football championship is gone, and we may already be halfway down the road to destruction.
Two provincial champions, whose only tangible reward for their success in terms of the All-Ireland series was the promise of home comforts, are left, after housewarming parties from hell, scanning warning letters that one more misstep and they can post back the keys.
Meanwhile, the noisy neighbours, who they thought they had sent to the poorhouse just a couple of weeks ago, are back having a jolly after confirming extended security of tenure.
If you are confused, Roscommon and Kerry are the ones trying to wash out the beer-soaked carpet, while Galway and Cork have decided to pave the patio on the promise of good weather for summer barbecues.
Should Dermot McCabe come back to haunt Westmeath this weekend with his native Cavan, and if Armagh’s Ulster hangover is sufficiently blinding that they are sucker-punched by Derry, the football championship’s new way will give way to the loud hollering of the old order.
Cork are one win away from a place in the All-Ireland quarter-finals. Tom O'Hanlon / INPHO
Tom O'Hanlon / INPHO / INPHO
In truth, that will hardly need to happen because, in the world of political self-interest, half a loaf is more than enough to sustain the appetite to take the football championship back to its failed past.
We know we are rowing against the tide on this one, but then how could we not?
It is not that we are immune to the unabated joy that has washed over the summer: the giddy rollercoaster that masqueraded as a game of ball that was the Connacht final down at the Hyde, or the terms of endearment tear-jerking bliss, completed by John Heslin’s comeback, that was Westmeath’s second Leinster title.
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Hell, perhaps above all, Geezer, the man who captained Armagh to their first All-Ireland and managed them to their second while barely creasing his poker face, reduced to a sobbing, jabbering, emotional mess, having overseen their 15th Ulster success.
Even down south, the sight of Cork hordes lured across the county bounds by the sniff of Kerry blood on the water made the Kingdom’s Munster title as sweet to the taste as it is possible for the 87th serving of the same dish to be.
Kieran McGeeney steered Armagh to their first Ulster title since 2008. Tom O'Hanlon / INPHO
Tom O'Hanlon / INPHO / INPHO
It has been the best year for the provincial championships in ages, but the key is to be just thankful for that and not try and make it into something it has never been fit to be.
Because, make no mistake, that is what some would like to do, not least the provincial councils, with calls coming from that side – most notably from Connacht – as recently as two years ago for provincial champions to be rewarded by being fast-tracked into the last eight of the All-Ireland series.
But that is an argument which can only ever be prosecuted with partial truths.
There is an obvious flaw in the construct of a format that can eat up six weeks of a condensed summer programme, and at the conclusion of which offers no perceptible reward in terms of advancement in the All-Ireland series for those who have succeeded where others have failed, bar a saving on fuel costs for the opening-round fixture.
And even that reduced carbon footprint is on offer to the beaten finalists.
Donegal got the better of Kerry for the second time in as many months. James Lawlor / INPHO
James Lawlor / INPHO / INPHO
On top of that, those teams who fail bigger by getting out of the provincials earlier have been rewarded better by getting a larger preparation window (to allow for planning) to focus on provincial finalists whose minds and bodies are elsewhere. It is true that it represents a triumph of logistics over logic.
And if all those truths are backed up by the kind of results we saw last weekend, it will play right into the hands of those who will argue that diluting the link between the provincials and the All-Ireland series is an act of sabotage on both.
Of course, the reality is somewhat different. Kerry lost last weekend not because they won Munster but because they were comprehensively outplayed for the second time in almost as many months by a Donegal side who have now displaced them as the best in the country on current form.
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Kerry might argue that the red card correctly issued to Micheal Burns skewed the result to the point of irrelevance, but if they start believing the partial truths they tell themselves, destruction truly awaits.
Roscommon are in the last-chance saloon after their defeat to Tyrone. James Lawlor / INPHO
James Lawlor / INPHO / INPHO
As for Roscommon, Tyrone are a team hardwired with experienced All-Ireland winners who as recently as last year reached an All-Ireland semi-final, something which the Primrose county last managed 35 years ago. Winning Connacht hardly negates that reality.
It is a regret that the FRC, whose work under Jim Gavin has transformed the game, was not also charged with a review of competition formats, but now that moment has passed, it is time to give this iteration the time not always afforded to what has preceded it.
Here is a statistic that should serve to spook: since the introduction of the All-Ireland qualifiers in 2001, this is the ninth time that the championship has been played under a different format.
And for all the partial truths told, here is the one indisputable truth in full.
A quarter of a century ago, the decision to introduce the qualifiers was driven by an acceptance that the provincials were unfair, lopsided and infected the All-Ireland series with imbalance.
That remains, and if the joy we witnessed over the past few weeks in the Hyde, Croke Park and Clones is exploited to gloss over the tried and failed, it would do the game a great disservice.
Instead, what those occasions proved is the provincial championships can endure as standalone competitions.
That is their glory. In time – and we suspect it may not be far off – any attempt to enhance their status as entry points to the latter stages of the All-Ireland series would be their shame.
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Fairytale winners and unabated joy should be glory enough for the provincial championships
THEY SAY A liar knows he is a liar, but the one who speaks partial truths to deceive is a craftsman of destruction.
Only half of the first round of a spanking new All-Ireland football championship is gone, and we may already be halfway down the road to destruction.
Two provincial champions, whose only tangible reward for their success in terms of the All-Ireland series was the promise of home comforts, are left, after housewarming parties from hell, scanning warning letters that one more misstep and they can post back the keys.
Meanwhile, the noisy neighbours, who they thought they had sent to the poorhouse just a couple of weeks ago, are back having a jolly after confirming extended security of tenure.
If you are confused, Roscommon and Kerry are the ones trying to wash out the beer-soaked carpet, while Galway and Cork have decided to pave the patio on the promise of good weather for summer barbecues.
Should Dermot McCabe come back to haunt Westmeath this weekend with his native Cavan, and if Armagh’s Ulster hangover is sufficiently blinding that they are sucker-punched by Derry, the football championship’s new way will give way to the loud hollering of the old order.
In truth, that will hardly need to happen because, in the world of political self-interest, half a loaf is more than enough to sustain the appetite to take the football championship back to its failed past.
We know we are rowing against the tide on this one, but then how could we not?
It is not that we are immune to the unabated joy that has washed over the summer: the giddy rollercoaster that masqueraded as a game of ball that was the Connacht final down at the Hyde, or the terms of endearment tear-jerking bliss, completed by John Heslin’s comeback, that was Westmeath’s second Leinster title.
Hell, perhaps above all, Geezer, the man who captained Armagh to their first All-Ireland and managed them to their second while barely creasing his poker face, reduced to a sobbing, jabbering, emotional mess, having overseen their 15th Ulster success.
Even down south, the sight of Cork hordes lured across the county bounds by the sniff of Kerry blood on the water made the Kingdom’s Munster title as sweet to the taste as it is possible for the 87th serving of the same dish to be.
It has been the best year for the provincial championships in ages, but the key is to be just thankful for that and not try and make it into something it has never been fit to be.
Because, make no mistake, that is what some would like to do, not least the provincial councils, with calls coming from that side – most notably from Connacht – as recently as two years ago for provincial champions to be rewarded by being fast-tracked into the last eight of the All-Ireland series.
But that is an argument which can only ever be prosecuted with partial truths.
There is an obvious flaw in the construct of a format that can eat up six weeks of a condensed summer programme, and at the conclusion of which offers no perceptible reward in terms of advancement in the All-Ireland series for those who have succeeded where others have failed, bar a saving on fuel costs for the opening-round fixture.
And even that reduced carbon footprint is on offer to the beaten finalists.
On top of that, those teams who fail bigger by getting out of the provincials earlier have been rewarded better by getting a larger preparation window (to allow for planning) to focus on provincial finalists whose minds and bodies are elsewhere. It is true that it represents a triumph of logistics over logic.
And if all those truths are backed up by the kind of results we saw last weekend, it will play right into the hands of those who will argue that diluting the link between the provincials and the All-Ireland series is an act of sabotage on both.
Of course, the reality is somewhat different. Kerry lost last weekend not because they won Munster but because they were comprehensively outplayed for the second time in almost as many months by a Donegal side who have now displaced them as the best in the country on current form.
Kerry might argue that the red card correctly issued to Micheal Burns skewed the result to the point of irrelevance, but if they start believing the partial truths they tell themselves, destruction truly awaits.
As for Roscommon, Tyrone are a team hardwired with experienced All-Ireland winners who as recently as last year reached an All-Ireland semi-final, something which the Primrose county last managed 35 years ago. Winning Connacht hardly negates that reality.
It is a regret that the FRC, whose work under Jim Gavin has transformed the game, was not also charged with a review of competition formats, but now that moment has passed, it is time to give this iteration the time not always afforded to what has preceded it.
Here is a statistic that should serve to spook: since the introduction of the All-Ireland qualifiers in 2001, this is the ninth time that the championship has been played under a different format.
And for all the partial truths told, here is the one indisputable truth in full.
A quarter of a century ago, the decision to introduce the qualifiers was driven by an acceptance that the provincials were unfair, lopsided and infected the All-Ireland series with imbalance.
That remains, and if the joy we witnessed over the past few weeks in the Hyde, Croke Park and Clones is exploited to gloss over the tried and failed, it would do the game a great disservice.
Instead, what those occasions proved is the provincial championships can endure as standalone competitions.
That is their glory. In time – and we suspect it may not be far off – any attempt to enhance their status as entry points to the latter stages of the All-Ireland series would be their shame.
After all, that was a lie lived for far too long.
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All-Ireland Football Championship GAA Gaelic Football Kerry GAA provincial championships Roscommon GAA The New Era