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The Not-So-Super 8s

I am by no means saying that the standard of football has been anything short of brilliant this year, but rather that the formatting of the All Ireland Football Championship is below par. But while we have seen good games in the Super 8s, it simply doesn't work and should revert back to old format, while the GAA go back to the drawing board, or not.

This weekend saw a few rather meaningless games to some degree, and although the players put on a show as always, the excitement simply wasn't there. There was only one match out of the four played this weekend that drew my interest, Mayo vs Donegal. This was the only match that actually meant anything, and it wasn't even on RTÉ. While I would have enjoyed watching it, and did eventually on The Sunday Game, I certainly wasn't going to abandon the kids and go to the pub to watch it, but that's a debate for another day.

The other games saw a Kerry team, who were almost guaranteed victory and progression to the semi-final, take on an improved Meath team that were serious underdogs but couldn't progress, even with a win over the Kingdom.

Tyrone and Dublin were both guaranteed a semi-final spot, and the game was simply to see who would finish 1st in the group. It was a good game, but there was little on the line for either team.

What ended up being the best game of the weekend in my opinion was Cork vs Roscommon, but both teams walked onto the field knowing that it would be their last game of the championship. Both teams played for pride and fought hard for the entire game, which was admirable given the circumstances.

While they were all good games in their own right, there was little to incentivise people from outside those counties to tune in. Cork and Roscommon were evenly matched, with Cork entering the game slight favourites, and I'm sure if that had been a quarter final it would have attracted a bigger audience. Both were underdogs in the championship, but in a straight knockout match, people would be keen to see if either team had the potential to cause an upset later on in the championship.

The old system may not have offered fans as many days out, nor did it generate as much revenue for the GAA, but it kept fans interested in each game. You could see a David vs Goliath in one quarter final, and in the next see two football titans clash for a semi final spot.

In any sport we know that there can be upsets as anything can happen on the day, but when the de-facto quarter final is dragged out over 3 games, it takes from the excitement of the championship. It also places a disadvantage on good teams who lack a strong bench, and as we have seen over the past few championships it has kept the old reliables of Dublin, Tyrone and Kerry in semi final spots.

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