Success in the league means so many different things to so many different people
This is the thing. Everybody everywhere has their own version of Kerry’s situation. To go for the league, or not. To funnel all available time and resources into it, or not. As Gordon Manning laid out in these pages during the week, the past 20 years of league and championship football have shown a clear link between taking the secondary competition seriously and gaining success in the primary one. Armagh were the last Division Two winners of the All-Ireland, all the way back in 2002.
But look at what their dance card looks like come championship. They’re in the preliminary round in Ulster six days after the league final. They haven’t won the province in 15 years. If they’re going to do it this year, it will mean winning four games in five weeks. They will probably have to play eight games in 11 weeks just to get back to the All-Ireland quarter-final and equal what they achieved in 2022.
And what of the Tailteann Cup? Westmeath came third in Division Three last year and missed out on promotion to Limerick and Louth. But while both of them got tonked in their next game in the All-Ireland qualifiers, Westmeath went on a run through the new repercharge competition and ended their year with a Mardi Gras parade through the streets of Mullingar.
Just for a day, just for a few hours but no small thing at the same time. For county boards, it’s bums on seats. It’s towns and villages around the land with more footfall, more buzz, a sense of something happening for the day. Don’t imagine that doesn’t matter.
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