GALWAY HURLING LEGEND Ollie Canning says the GAA must consider implementing the split-season format on a more permanent basis after a successful trial in 2020.
There’s normally more crossover between the inter-county and club campaigns, but the arrival of Covid-19 forced the association to restructure the layout this year. Club fixtures were prioritised while the inter-county competitions were pushed back to later this month.
It turned out to be a successful move as club games were streamed online and afforded airtime on national TV, although some counties were unable to finish their competitions before the GAA suspended club games this week.
With that portion of the season now completed, our attention now switches to inter-county action which will hopefully conclude with All-Ireland finals in December.
Canning believes that keeping the seasons separate is a much better arrangement for everyone involved in the GAA, and would like to see it remain in place moving forward.
“It [Covid-19] definitely has brought more focus on a split season as a solution,” he says.
“For me the split season should definitely be looked at. You box it off, you put the structures in place for club players, which we have thousands of.
“They know when they have games, they know the time period, I need to be with the club for this three or four month block and then the inter-county takes over for a three or four month block.
For me, I think, definitely there is a feeling out there that this needs to be looked at. As somebody said recently maybe Covid has brought this solution to light, maybe it is one of the small positives that has come from this whole year, that the GAA can look at this seriously now to try to accommodate club and county players.
“That part of the season was blocked off for the club. You didn’t have county managers pulling guys in, over-training players in certain circumstances. A lot of the county players do like to participate in club training, and do like to go back to the lads in the club, to try to do a bit of training. For me it did work well in a very tough year.
“It did work well and it is something the GAA will have to look at seriously.”
While the Covid-19 championships brought plenty of success to clubs around the country, it was a difficult period for Canning’s club Portumna.
The Galway outfit were once a dominant force in club hurling, winning six senior county titles and four All-Ireland crowns between 2006 and 2014. Canning played a huge role in their successful run, but the club has gradually regressed over the years since then.
They narrowly avoided relegation from senior A hurling in the county last year, and were unable to survive the drop this year.
A 4-21 to 1-18 defeat to Castlegar cemented the loss of their top-tier status in August, a game which they finished with 13 players.
Senior B, Canning feels, is the standard that suits Portumna best for now, but he’s hopeful that they can rebuild for the next generation.
“For sure, we went through a fantastic period going back 10 or 12 years ago when we started off on a run that yielded six county titles and four Club All Irelands.
“That kind of return from six county titles was a fantastic return for our club, times we really, really enjoyed. Unfortunately like a lot of rural clubs, time catches up and players move on. Do you have the population or the players you need to replace the older players? Unfortunately in Portumna it doesn’t look like we do.
“We have been relegated to Senior B, but I think the lads should be able to hold their own there. We will start rebuilding again from underage structures. We have seen this down through the years with lots and lots of different clubs.
“For me it is a natural process within any club set up. Within any county you see clubs coming to prominence, having really strong years, doing really, really well.
“Then other clubs come along to push them out of the way. Unfortunately for my own club, Portumna, that is where we are at. I feel going back to senior B we should be able to hold our own there for a few years, start building again, to start getting these underage players to feed into the senior team again.”
Ollie Canning was speaking at the launch of Sky Sports’ Championship coverage.
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