‘Life is frustratingly short on clarity and so too are league tables where three teams out of four … can qualify’
Limerick’s Aaron Gillane watches as his penalty is saved during the game against Waterford last April. Photograph: Ken Sutton/InphoTipp are out, Kilkenny are going to be in the top three, Carlow and Antrim will have their only other rival to avoid relegation standing directly in front of them at 2pm on Sunday. After that, there’s an abundance of scenarios at play, each one, it seems, more complicated than the last.
There is an easy answer to all this, and Malachy Clerkin of this parish is happy to give it to RTÉ for free — they merely need to hire a 13-year-old boy, for whom such calculations are exactly the sort of minutiae in which they revel. Those of us now working in sports journalism or TV are still emotionally that 13-year-old, but with greatly reduced brain function due to old age and/or decrepitude.
Players might crave clarity — but life is frustratingly short on clarity and so too are league tables where three teams out of four can qualify. The GAA’s almost pathological aversion to the “dead rubber” has ensured it is a golden age for the permutation-lover in your life. What do you do? You tap it over the bar, and you secure the draw that ensures Limerick progress, and Cork go out of the championship. I think we can all agree that would be the correct course of action ... after all, if the penalty was to be saved, then Limerick would be out of the championship altogether. That’s a risk not worth taking.
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Ciarán Murphy: FA Cup could provide a model for provincial GAA championships to prosperPlay the four championships throughout the season, like the FA Cup in England, sprinkled into the fixture list every couple of weeks
Read more »
Mary Hannigan's Sports Briefing: Caitlin Clark could have Tiger Woods-like effect on women’s basketballCiarán Murphy makes the case for treating the provincial GAA championships like the FA Cup
Read more »
Ciarán Murphy: We need more games on GAAGoThe GAA now have more championship games that matter than they’ve ever had and via GAAGO more people can see more of these games than ever before
Read more »
Ciarán Murphy: Intense Galway-Mayo battle shows there’s another way for provincial championships to prosperPlay the four championships then throughout the season, like the FA Cup in England, sprinkled into the fixture list every couple of weeks
Read more »
Ciarán Murphy: Of course the Connacht final is worth winning - just to beat the other showerFor the simple joy of beating that other shower, Sunday is a game these old rivals would dearly love to win
Read more »
Louise Duffy's married life with GAA star and 'struggle' to find right balanceThe RTE Radio 1 presenter has opened up about her career and family life with husband Paul Galvin and their two daughters, Esm and Elin
Read more »