A Change of Harte - GAA 2021

[Gangster Octopus]

I was wondering if he was the last living cursee...

[Discordant Resonance]

Stefan Okunbor returns to Kerry after failing to make a breakthrough into Geelong's first team - he was certainly on course to be a starting midfielder before he left, with David Moran well into his thirties, while oddly Diarmuid O'Connor, Jack Barry and Okunbor all play for the Na Gaeil club in Tralee.

[Discordant Resonance]

A quick explanation of the two motions coming before a Special Congress a fortnight from now on the football championship - Proposal A suggests four conferences of eight, with two Leinster teams moving to Munster, and a team from Ulster and Leinster going to Connacht: this is effectively tinkering around the edges, and is likely to be heavily defeated. Proposal B, meanwhile, would see the provincial championships run in round-robin groups in the spring as entirely self-contained competitions, meanwhile the All-Ireland would be run as a league of four eight-team divisions, with five Division One teams, and the Division Two champions qualifying for the quarter-finals. The second and third teams in Division Two would play-off against the Division Three and Division Four champions for the two remaining QF berths. This could be approved, but with Ulster reportedly leaning against, it remains to be seen whether the 60% threshold will be achieved. If not, the status quo ante 2020 would remain, with the existing provincial championships, and four rounds of qualifiers.

[Discordant Resonance]

And not one mention of the Shawshank Redemption ...

https://twitter.com/Gombeen1/status/1450345348149481472

[Discordant Resonance]

Davy Fitzgerald set to be named Galway hurling boss tomorrow.

[Discordant Resonance]

In a surprise move, the President and DG of the GAA have both come out in favour of Proposal B, which should nudge wavering counties towards the Yes column.

[ursus arctos]

Didn't realise that Dunc had managed to get a doppleganger into all Irish institutions, but not surprised

[Discordant Resonance]

Interesting stat on the number of championship games played by each county over the last decade:

https://twitter.com/BMacAnalyst/status/1450805538472828937

[Discordant Resonance]

Davy Fitzgerald set to be named Galway hurling boss tomorrow.

And now, RTE reports that "King" Henry Shefflin will get the job - already having considerable success with Ballyhale, but suggests some county board intrigues.

[elguapo4]

Davy's an angry man at the best of times, he must be incandescent tonight.

[Discordant Resonance]

The current state of the Electoral College:

https://twitter.com/offtheball/status/1451160111913766917

[Discordant Resonance]

The debate on Motion 19 (the League-based Championship format) is well underway at the Special Congress - no timeframe as to when the vote will happen, but we'll surely have a result by 1.

[Discordant Resonance]

Proposal B is defeated - got 50.6% support, but not the 60% required, so the status quo remains.

[Discordant Resonance]

Very lively and high-quality fare at the moment in the Kilkenny hurling final - Ballyhale, who won the last two All-Ireland club finals played, and boasting players such as TJ Reid and the Codys (yes) started as warm favourites, but trail O'Loughlin Gaels, who lack star names but are managed by Andy Comerford, by three points at the break.

[elguapo4]

Pat Spillane's son,Pat junior, won man of the match for St Judes in the Dublin semi final last night. He looks like his dad after a session on the rack! I'd have a good laugh if Dublin picked him.

[Discordant Resonance]

Finished 3-19 to 3-14 in favour of Ballyhale in the finish - was fairly even until the final quarter, but two rapid-fire goals saw the champions gradually pull away.

[Discordant Resonance]

In which your scribe explains how the Kerry county championship operates - my club, Churchill, plays in the premier junior ranks (third tier), but joins together with four similar neighbouring clubs to play as the St Brendan's District in the senior championship. Even this amalgamation has never won a county title, but tomorrow faces the overall favourites, Austin Stacks, live on RTE in the county semi-finals with every prospect of causing an upset.

[elguapo4]

Kerry club football is weird!

[Discordant Resonance]

The first all-Tralee county final since 1963, after Austin Stacks defeated St Brendan's in a penalty shootout after extra time, with Kieran Donaghy netting the decisive goal, while Stefan Okunbor improved his intercounty prospects no harm by returning from injury, with Dylan Casey also catching the eye of Jack O'Connor. Kerins O'Rahilly's will meet Stacks in that decider for the first time since 1936 (the Sixties final featured another town club) with a surprise, but deserved comeback win against Killarney's Dr Crokes.

[elguapo4]

Davy Fitzgerald, having gone through most of the top hurling counties, and been gazumped by Henry Sheflin at Galway, now looks likely to bring his shouting and intense staring to the Cork camogie managerial job.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

They'll put manners on him.

[Discordant Resonance]

The Football Championship draw has been made today - Mayo and Galway will meet in the Connacht QF, as will Armagh and Donegal at that stage in Ulster, and Kerry and Cork in the Munster semis. A reminder that unless teams in Divisions 3 or 4 reach a provincial final, they will drop into the Tailteann Cup, and thus not have the option of the back door.

[Discordant Resonance]

And the curtain comes down on the 2021 intercounty season with the traditional All-Star Awards ceremony, which is much higher-profile than the Premier League equivalents - in hurling, the major controversy was that All-Ireland runners-up, Cork, received no representatives, while champions Limerick had a dozen of the fifteen-member line-up. The football team has long been virtually a selection of the four semi-finalists, and so it continued this year, with 8 Tyrone players, three apiece from Mayo and Kerry, and one Dub (Ciarán Kilkenny).

2021 Hurling All-Stars:

1. Eoin Murphy (Kilkenny - 3rd award)
2. Seán Finn (Limerick - 4th)
3. Conor Prunty (Waterford - 1st)
4. Barry Nash (Limerick - 1st)
5. Diarmaid Byrnes (Limerick - 2nd)
6. Declan Hannon (Limerick - 2nd)
7. Kyle Hayes (Limerick - 2nd)
8. William O'Donoghue (Limerick - 1st)
9. Darragh O'Donovan ( Limerick - 1st)
10. Gearóid Hegarty (Limerick - 2nd)
11. Cian Lynch (Limerick - 3rd)
12. Tom Morrissey (Limerick - 2nd)
13. Tony Kelly (Clare - 3rd)
14. Seamus Flanagan (Limerick - 1st)
15. Peter Casey (Limerick - 1st)

Hurler of the Year - Cian Lynch
Young Hurler of the Year - Eoin Cody ( Kiljenny)

2021 Football All-Stars:

1. Niall Morgan (Tyrone - 1st)
2. Pádraig Hampsey (Tyrone - 2nd)
3. Lee Keegan (Mayo - 5th)
4. Tom O'Sullivan (Kerry - 2nd)
5. Conor Meyler (Tyrone - 1st)
6. Kieran McGeary (Tyrone - 1st)
7. Peter Harte (Tyrone - 2nd)
8. Brian Kennedy (Tyrone - 1st)
9. Matthew Ruane (Mayo - 1st)
10. Niall Sludden (Tyrone - 1st)
11. Paudie Clifford (Kerry - 1st)
12. Ciarán Kilkenny (Dublin - 5th)
13. Darren McCurry (Tyrone - 1st)
14. David Clifford (Kerry - 3rd)
15. Ryan O'Donoghue (Mayo - 1st)

Footballer of the Year - Kieran McGeary
Young Footballer of the Year - Oisín Mullen (Mayo)

[elguapo4]

I can imagine the fury down in Cork, correctly in this case. In the football, it always annoys me is when they shoe horn a player into a position, just to give him an award. Lee Keegan is no more a full back than I am ( for those not au fait with Gaelic Football, it's like picking a Premier league team of the year, and putting Ngolo Kante at centre back) .

[Discordant Resonance]

Reports that David Clifford has departed for Australia, though as yet no AFL side has announced his signature.