Super idea or superfluous matches?
This columnist was one of countless people saddened by the death of comedian Brendan Grace last week, the multi-talented Dubliner whose shows needed no ‘parental guide’ warning, as they were ideal viewing for grandchildren and grandparents alike.
Occasional harmless plays on words were Grace’s stock-in-trade and, in this regard, I recall him recounting the tale of the lady who approached an inebriated male bystander on the street one night, enquiring of him: “Do you want supersex?” “I’ll have the soup,” the impoverished man replied!
I am still unsure as to who coined the term Super 8s, the amended and elongated quarter-finals/last eight series en route to deciding who wins the Sam Maguire Cup, but the idea was certainly driven by former Ard Stiúrthóir, Páraic Duffy. The Monaghan man was adamant that the concept wasn’t money-driven – many cynics still question that – but rather a well-intentioned attempt to reward the leading teams and their supporters with more top quality games in July and August.
Some tweaking has been done to the format from last year’s inaugural Super 8s, with provincial winners now (correctly) rewarded by playing their definite home game to open their campaign.
This certainly helped Connacht champions Roscommon to bridge what would probably be a significant gap against qualifier Tyrone were the game to be played in Croke Park or Omagh. It also aided Kerry and Donegal in their respective wins against Mayo and Meath, while Dublin would most likely have defeated a plucky Cork outfit regardless of the venue.
When yours truly finished a formal interview for this newspaper with Jack Cooney last autumn, the affable Coralstown/Kinnegad man asked me what I felt could be achieved in his first season as manager. I opined that the Super 8s could be reached with a bit of luck here and there. Drawing both Waterford and Limerick at home was certainly lucky, and third round opponents Clare were undoubtedly beatable but for some totally unnecessary indiscipline and downright hard luck. In truth, it may prove very difficult to get as close to the Super 8s again in a hurry.
In one of the tribute programmes to the aforementioned Brendan Grace last week, the loveable Liberties man spoke of his contentment with his life and the futility of using the word ‘if’. How right he is. However, I decided to turn the clock back and have a peep at how Westmeath might have fared when they actually managed to reach the quarter-finals of the All-Ireland senior football championship under Luke Dempsey, Páidí Ó Sé and Tomás Ó Flatharta in 2001, 2004 and 2006 respectively.
Westmeath were unquestionably the main beneficiaries of the introduction of the ‘back door’ all of 18 years ago, Dempsey’s very talented crew remaining in championship action despite a galling one-point loss to Meath in the Leinster quarter-final. Defeats of Wexford (after a replay), Limerick, Louth and Mayo (ah God be with the days when our now-invisible fans used to outnumber their Mayo counterparts) set us up for an All-Ireland quarter-final rematch with Meath, and that man who will forever haunt us, Ollie Murphy.
The provincial champions in 2001 were Meath, Kerry, Roscommon and Tyrone, while the round 4 Qualifier winners were Westmeath, Dublin, Derry and Galway (ironically, champions-elect in the first year of the ‘back door’). Our home game, probably our third, would have been against Meath or Roscommon. Considering that Cusack Park was packed to the rafters for an O’Byrne Cup final against our Royal neighbours in January 2004, the mind boggles as to the likely atmosphere for a Super 8s clash in Mullingar when the men in maroon and white were arguably at their peak in the summer of 2001.
Nobody from the Lake County needs to be reminded of the magnificent Delaney Cup win of 2004 under the late, great Ventry maestro. The other provincial winners were Kerry (later that year to win Sam under Páidí’s successor in the green and gold bainisteoir bib, Jack O’Connor), Armagh and Mayo. The ‘back door’ sides were Derry (ouch – it still hurts!), Fermanagh, Dublin (memorably knocked out of Leinster by little ol’ Westmeath) and Tyrone. Of course, Cusack Park would have hosted one of the latter four teams to open our campaign.
In hindsight, Ó Flatharta, Páidí’s right-hand man and fellow-Kerryman, had a good innings as Westmeath manager, with unlucky narrow defeats to Dublin and Tyrone in 2008 in arguably his best year in charge. Two years earlier, a wonderful ‘back door’ journey, culminating in the elimination of Galway in their own back yard, set up a quarter-final meeting with Dublin in Croke Park. While defeat was Westmeath’s lot, the margin was respectable when compared with some horrendous hammerings this decade at the hands of the same county at the same venue.
In 2006, Cork, the aforementioned Dublin, Armagh and Mayo lifted the respective provincial silverware on offer, while Kerry (en route to yet another Sam success), Donegal and Laois came through the Qualifier ordeal alongside Ó Flatharta’s charges. Again, mouth-watering fixtures would have been Westmeath’s reward and reaching a semi-final would not have been out of the question.
The upshot of it all is that while Wicklow and Fermanagh remain as the only two counties not to have won a senior provincial championship, Westmeath’s success in 2004 is slightly tarnished by the entirely preventable quarter-final loss to Derry, thereby not getting to an All-Ireland semi-final as would have automatically happened pre-2001. It will take mammoth work and lots of help from Lady Luck to change that statistic. We truly long to be a super power again!