The effect of the All-Ireland qualifier system

23 Jun 2010

When former GAA President Seán McCague was asked after his presidency what he felt was his greatest achievement, he said it was the introduction of the new All-Ireland qualifier system in football. Ten seasons on, there is no question of the magnitude of the qualifiers and the impact it has made on the whole culture of Gaelic football.

For more than a century the provincial system perpetuated the misery of so many counties by becoming a strait-jacket for their perennially down-trodden ambitions. That lack of confidence in the face of unvarying opponents eventually became paralysis. With the qualifiers came deliverance. The championship format has framed significant achievements by so many counties - an astonishing 18 teams have reached All-Ireland quarter-finals since the qualifiers began.

The number of elite teams may not have changed but so many counties are more competitive now. The opportunity to play more matches and against different opponents has radically brought on teams. The sense of adventure and the expansion of possibilities mean the chase for the All-Ireland has become more competitive than ever before.

Looking back now, it’s just a pity that the new system wasn’t introduced sooner. Under the old format, at least 50 per cent of senior inter-county teams had only one championship game all year and it is hard to think of another sport in which its primary competition guarantees only one game. Some of those old do-or-die days provided fierce tension and excitement but many of those games were sub-standard too because both sets of players were so stressed by the fear of having only one game to show for all their training.

Because four of the last five All-Irelands were won by teams through the back door, some critics continue to say that the qualifiers only suit the best teams. But competitions shouldn't just be about who wins it; it should be a method and measure of teams progress. So many teams who have made breakthroughs in the last decade would not have done so without having had runs in the qualifiers in the preceding seasons.

One of the best examples is Westmeath. In 2001, they went on an epic journey through the qualifiers before meeting Mayo in Round 4 in Dr Hyde Park. The game went to extra-time before Dessie Dolan landed the equaliser from a brilliant sideline kick in the 98th minute before Damien Gavin nailed the winner.

When Dolan was interviewed on radio afterwards and asked about the difficulty in executing the kick, he said that he had been in Hyde Park practising those kicks the week of the Connacht final with his first cousin – Roscommon player Frankie Dolan. Indeed, if the All-Ireland quarter-final draw had worked out differently, Roscommon and Westmeath could have met in the championship for the first time.

That parallel symbolised the real beauty and potential of the new system. Although Dessie and Frankie Dolan lived just a couple of miles apart, they were never likely to meet in the championship because they were in different provinces, separated by the river Shannon. Westmeath had never even won a provincial title but the journey to the Holy Grail (their first title) in 2004 certainly began in 2001.

Since the new system was introduced, mid-tier counties have never been as competitive as they were in the first decade of the backdoor. Here’s hoping that this decade will be just as liberating and democratic.

If you are looking forward to the 2010 Championship please take a moment to make a carbon saving pledge and play your part in making Croke Park carbon neutral.

Christy O'Connor has worked in the national newspaper industry for over ten years and now writes primarily for the Irish edition of The Sunday Times. A former member of the Clare senior hurling panel, he is the author of the critically acclaimed hurling book 'Last Man Standing'. He has also written 'The GAA Quiz Book 1' and the 'The GAA Quiz Book 2'.

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