The View: Scoring trends; settling scores; and scoreboard woes over a Premier weekend
By Noel Dundon
The Premier League was back last weekend running in tandem with round 2 of the FBD Insurance county hurling championships in Tipperary. And, once again it was a legendary blond bombshell who stole the headlines – No, not the big fella of the Haaland’s playing for Manchester City. Rather it was the big fella of the Maher’s playing for Borris-Ileigh.
What is it they say about class being permanent? Brendan Maher is the epitome of that surely. The former All-Ireland winning captain had left the field feeling unwell just after half time, but returned before the end of the game to deliver the match-winning goal right at the death in his clubs all-north clash with Kiladangan -talk about a snatch and grab.
The result of course was just one of a number of eyebrow raising outcomes from the extensive fare throughout the Premier County on the weekend. Roscrea beating, and almost certainly knocking out, county champions Kilruane MacDonagh was another stand-out result, while Toomevara continued their winning ways with another fine victory over Moycarkey Borris.
Perhaps though the story of the weekend centres around the Holycross Ballycahill and Loughmore Castleiney clash at Boherlahan – a very fine contest with some great passages of play. And, as the game came down the final section of trackway, Holycross Ballycahill trailed by a point when an injury time 65 was awarded. The only trouble was the scoreboard suggested that there were two points in it and most people believed it. The ball was lobbed into the square in search of a winning goal which didn’t materialise and the game was up.
Many people sitting in the stand were aware of the scoreboards inaccuracy, but the message had obviously not reached the players on the pitch or the Holycross Ballycahill mentors at the far side of the field who would surely have questioned referee Johnny Dooley about the matter. The up-shot is that Loughmore Castleiney claimed the spoils and have four points from two games, whereas Holycross Ballycahill still have the cutting of the loaf in their own hands if they add to their two points gathered in the first round against Upperchurch Drombane, by defeating Templederry in round 3 – Templederry lost to Upperchurch Drombane in FBD Semple Stadium on Sunday in a low key clash.
To be fair, working the scoreboard is one of the many thankless jobs associated with hosting a game of hurling or football. And, it is very simple to make a mistake, especially with the electronic scoreboards where a double-tap for a score is a very easy error to make. Scoreboards are brilliant for spectators and when you attend a game without one in operation, it is somewhat of a nuisance. In other words, we have taken them for granted, and we shouldn’t – we just presume they will be working and don’t really think twice about how the scores are registered etc. So hats off to all those operators on a job well done. Of course errors happen from time to time – that’s only natural – but for the majority of the games, the scoreboards are accurate and brilliant.
Ultimately, the score in the notebook of the referee is the only one which counts and that’s a lesson each player and management team should heed.
Sarsfields are back to winning ways after their victory over Clonoulty Rossmore while Nenagh Éire Óg, even without Jake Morris, shot five goals against JK Brackens. Drom-Inch put three past Eoin Kelly in goals for Mullinahone too.
Here’s a few interesting stats from the weekend. Winning teams amassed 18 goals and 177 points against 12 goals and 157 points for the losing sides. The average winning score from the eight games was 2-23 against 1-21 for the losing sides. And, the average winning margin was just four points. Draw your own conclusions as to what those stats suggest, but the fact that so many games were close would seem to point to a scenario where the balance and standard of the different grades are just about right and very competitive. That’s the way it should be and while it has taken a lot of pain and bickering to get to this stage, the County Board and the CCC is to be complimented on their foresight, their vision and their persistence – creating a second senior tier (Premier Intermediate)
faced much opposition, but we are now reaping the benefits in terms of the quality of games.
As mentioned earlier, the Premier League returned last weekend and will dominate the sporting calendar for many spectators for the next nine months. Throw in the Rugby World Cup which begins the day after the start of the Solemn Novena in Holycross Abbey on September 9th – and viewers will be spoiled for choice. Had the All-Ireland finals held onto their usual September billing the focus would have been on these as much as the exploits of Harry Kane, Jurgen Klopp or Kevin de Bruyne. Instead, David Clifford, Louise O’Muircheartaigh, Aaron Gillane and Amy O’Connor’s names remain under wraps on the inter county scene until at least next January – surely that’s too long a time to be giving other codes an almost exclusive run of it.
Granted the club scene is dominating matters now and that is great, but why can’t a few rounds of the National Leagues be played prior to Christmas and give the county jerseys an airing before the New Year. The argument that training county teams all year round should not be entertained is a moot one – most inter county players are at it 24/7/365 – that’s why they are the elite players they are.
A few league rounds before Christmas would help with the fixture crowding and trying to shoehorn games around third level competitions prior to championship. The league has certainly lost value in recent years and if this continues it will become like the Railway Cup – unattractive and meaningless. Nobody wants that to happen, so the powers that be need to have a serious look at things. Now.
Here’s a thought – kids drawing up their wish list for Santa are always influenced by what they saw last. So, if they look for a jersey, it will be Liverpool, Man United, Barcelona or perhaps the Irish soccer or rugby jersey. Nothing wrong with any of those at all, but because of the fact that Tipperary will be out of the picture until next January, the blue and gold jersey will be well down the pecking order. That’s a great shame and the same goes for all the other counties as well.
Surely, the GAA can find a better way of doing business in terms of fixtures and exposure. For an organisation as commercially minded as the Association is, it appears that we are missing a big trick here. As the old school reports used to say – ‘must try harder’. Not that I ever got one of those comments!!!!
By Jonathan Cullen Fri 18th Aug
