Struggling clubs badly need a helping hand

Cavanman's Diary

A few years ago, I wrote a piece in which I talked about the challenges facing Corlough GFC. It provoked a furious reaction; its intention was unfortunately misconstrued – maybe it was just badly written - and it was seen as gratuitously belittling the club. Of course, needless to say, I meant to do no such thing but the response did open my eyes to something: just how deep the passion runs when it comes to GAA clubs. Very measured commentary is acceptable but Heaven help the writer who is adjudged to have taken the name of a club in vain!

That piece about Corlough appeared in October, 2017. A few months later, they bottomed out, losing an All-County League match against Killeshandra by 45 points. It was no good for anyone.

By 2020, Corlough had decided to join forces with neighbours Swanlinbar, playing under the latter’s banner. That arrangement remained in place for two seasons but they decided to go their separate ways – whether the split was acrimonious or not depends on who you talk to.

This year, Corlough were on their own again. Out of the blue, their form improved dramatically during the league as they picked up four wins – against Shannon Gaels, Killygarry’s second string, Kildallan and Maghera – and lost further games to Redhills by three points, Swanlinbar by two and Drumalee by one.

And, of course, fate threw them together with Swad in a delicious local derby in the championship and they won that with a late goal to earn the bragging rights for another 12 months at least. In their other championship matches, they had one very heavy defeat against Munterconnaught and were reasonably competitive in the other games, losing by eight points to Mountnugent and six to Arva (who will play in Division 1 next year).

Why do we bring all this up? Because it shows that teams who have struggled for a long time – Corlough hadn’t won a match against anyone other than Maghera, who are possibly a unique case nationally, for years – can pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

They appointed the vastly-experienced Padraig Dolan, who has been highly-regarded in a couple of county set-ups, as manager. They worked hard, got it together. Their season is over now and they can look back with a sense of satisfaction. They didn’t win any trophies but, given where they were coming from, pride has been restored – and that has to be the starting point.

For other clubs at the foot of the Junior Championship, there is no such silver lining. Maghera MacFinns have not won a match – any kind of match – for over 10 years. Their typical result, as borne out by league and championship tables, is a 20-point defeat. This, again, is no good for anyone – it’s humiliating for their players, useless for their opponents and dispiriting for their own volunteers who are trying to keep the show on the road.

We are not privy to the reasons for Maghera’s decline – one often put forward is that players from the catchment area tend to opt for neighbouring clubs, a problem hardly unique – but it must be called out for what it is. For a club like Maghera, with such a proud history, to become a footballing punchline is shocking and plain sad to see.

Maghera are around since 1888. Kildallan, a town club, are even older – the first organised club in the province. Yet they have been mired in Junior ranks for four decades, before and after the Celtic Tiger. This year, they won three matches out of 17, a win against Drung, the obligatory victory against Maghera and a one-point verdict over Killygarry reserves.

Swanlinbar, who were in an All-Ireland Junior Club final in Croke Park at the start of the last decade and have produced fantastic players in the last 20 years, unfortunately lost all of their championship matches as well, the worst one a 32-point defeat against Knockbride.

Again, we are not throwing stones at any club. Committee members are doing their best, as are players and coaches. But there is something fundamentally wrong here – and it is even beginning to affect the integrity of the Junior Championship.

Teams who are lucky enough to be drawn against the sides at the bottom of the table invariably have the opportunity to run up a huge score difference, which helps them ease through to the knock-out stages. Some will argue that it is just the luck of the draw but that is taken as a given that all clubs have a divine right to enter at least the Junior A Football Championship, which is not the case in other counties.

There is something to be said for changing the structure of the championships in Cavan; for example, a divisional competition could be looked at, which would afford a pathway for any player, no matter where they are from, to line out in the highest possible grade of club football.

There is a history of this in the county, going right back to the days when the brilliant Cornafean teams fielded players from a wider geographical area than the Reds would cover now. The same was true of the great Crosserlough side, which dominated club football from 1958 to 1972.

In 1973 there were nine amalgamations in the Cavan SFC plus 12 standalone teams. For the record, they were O’Rahilly Gaels (Kingscourt-Shercock), St Matthew’s (Denn-Ballinagh), Sheelin Gaels (Mountnugent-Ballymachugh), Parnells (Killeshandra-Kildallan), St Mogue’s (Templeport-Corlough), Erne Gaels (Butlersbridge-Drumlane), Annagh (Redhills-Belturbet), Ramor (Virginia-Maghera). The latter two made the final. There is a sense, though, that tweaking competition formats, introducing relegation from Junior A or a regional competition of some kind, would be akin to moving the deckchairs on the Titanic.

There are larger and more deeply engrained, fundamental issues at play among certain clubs.

On a macro level, we have too many clubs. According to Peter Quinn’s report from 2010, we should have 34 or a maximum of 35 as per the national average. We have 40, although our population has risen in the dozen years since the Quinn report was shelved.

Yet those 40 clubs have been there now since the 1970s and rarely has a gulf existed like the one that currently pertains. And if underage trends are anything to go on, the situation will get worse and some of the clubs, which have been traditionally fairly strong, will find themselves sinking in the quicksand, too.

Demographic trends cannot be reversed by a sub-committee of a county board but things can be altered before this crisis becomes an emergency.

Back when this writer drew the ire of Corlough supporters, one of the common questions posed was when would the county board step in and do something for struggling clubs.

The reality is that whether it’s through a lack of numbers, internal politics, the dispiriting effect of sustained defeat or whatever, some clubs simply lack the motivation and the wherewithal to pull themselves out of this mess.

Corlough are an example of a team who have righted the ship to a certain degree. Would they have done so without the manager they appointed? It’s debatable. That is just one area where maybe the board could assist.

Whether they are calling out for it or not – and pride means most probably aren’t – these clubs need help and the board, as the guardians of the game in the county, have a duty of care to try to provide it.

How they do it, well, that’s a column for another day maybe…