Super 8s Beckon. The Start of the Endgame?
By Declan Bogue
AND so, to Round Four and the white line fever that the prospect of entry into the exclusive club the first Super 8s will bring on. What of Laois, Fermanagh, Roscommon et al, how will they fare? Much like Arsene Wenger regressed as a manager in his last half dozen years in charge of Arsenal, he began to refer to qualification for the following season's European competition as the 'first trophy' of the season. But you'd be doing well to pour a mixture of gin, vermouth, Harp and Oul Boys' Slabber into that chalice. You get the sense that getting to the Super 8s will be the saving of some managers. Before, the target for any middle-ranking manager when knocked out of the Championship was to see his side playing in Croke Park over the August Bank Holiday weekend. Now, the dynamic has changed. The aim is to get to the Super 8s, which acts as base camp for those with real tangible hopes of All-Ireland success, or as a destination in itself as some more fragile teams quiver at the thought of a sunny night in Killarney with David Clifford, Paul Geaney and James O'Donoghue all lining up, bulling at being held scoreless in their last game and determined to do something about it. What is clear even as twelve is whittled down to eight this weekend, is how the teams are split into three distinct groupings.
The Contenders
At the top end of things are the true contenders. Dublin, Kerry and Donegal. All three have won an All-Ireland this decade. There are certain similarities. All three won their province at a canter, the margins of victory pushed up by hungry replacements coming on the pitch and facing already beaten opposition, determined to stake a place for more minutes the next day. After this, you have the aspirational sides; Galway with their defensive plan that is coming together in harmony three years after it was initiated. Tyrone with the faltering attacking plan that has never truly gone right since the county stopped producing other worldly talented attackers such as Peter Canavan, Stephen O'Neill and Owen Mulligan. And finally, Monaghan with their ability to beat almost every side on their day, but an incredible tendency to faceplant just when you think they are about to take off into the skies. Those are the teams who are almost certain to make up three quarters of the Super 8's. The rest are the opportunists; Kildare, Laois, Cork, Fermanagh, Roscommon and Armagh. The question any of them have to ask themselves is what would they get out of being in those groups?
Competitive Games or Not?
Does the Super 8s have the potential to create more competitive teams, or will it create a series of meaningless final-round games with a gulf in class evident? Laois, Armagh and Fermanagh all have puncher's chances of defeating more illustrious opponents this Saturday. All three played their Spring action in Division Three and Four. Their progress to the quarter-finals stage is just another nail banged into the dead argument of creating a tiered football Championship. Let's channel Doc Brown right now and see into the future, taking it that all three made it to the Big Dance. The first weekend, the one where everyone plays their neutral game in Croke Park, Fermanagh or Kildare will be facing Laois. All three sides would fancy themselves in whatever permutation emerged. In the second weekend of group one, Fermanagh or Kildare would have a home Championship game against Galway. The sheer novelty of it all is sure to drive up attendances and create a buzz all of its' own. A Kildare or a Fermanagh might already have four points in the bag after this, leaving the final weekend's fixture, away to Kerry in Killarney one where they are free to give the fringe players a bit of a run out. What a luxury!
Ifs, Buts and Maybes
Most of all that is made up of ifs, buts and maybes, the staple ingredient of GAA fans getting giddy on possibility, but it is crucial that each of the, let's call them 'developing' counties, approaches the Super 8s in a serious frame of mind. You just wonder, for example, where Mayo's team of James Horan might have been if the Super 8s had been in place back in 2011. It cannot be forgotten that they knocked the defending All-Ireland winners out of the competition for three consecutive years, but were caught out as they felt their way through the thinnest air. The aim has to be to hothouse yourself in that environment. Become competitive. Keep the scoreline down in your games and draw the favourites into a battle. After three tough Championships games in four weeks, coming off the back of a backdoor run, much can be accomplished that can stand them in good stead for the seasons to come. The Super 8s needn't be an end to the road of a team, but merely the next step in their education. Just another layer of intrigue with this innovation.