Covid likely to wipe out February GAA plans, time for due recognition for Kevin McLoughlin
THE MARTIN CARNEY COLUMN
A few weeks ago, I felt confident that the proposed fixture schedule for 2021 had a good chance of taking off and going the distance.
The likelihood of running off a four-game League campaign beginning in February seemed a reasonable prospect then.
However, in an everchanging world where health bulletins are hard to predict from day-to-day, it is nigh on impossible to forecast when, or indeed if, games will restart.
Covid-19 has done its worst, taken a firm grip in every community and compromised the prospects of sporting codes far and near from having a reasonable chance of seeing their well-intentioned annual fixture lists ever getting completed.
Right now, I am getting increasingly nervous about the prospect of the National League resuming at all.
Its intended restart date at the end of February can be forgotten about as I can’t imagine competitive fare resuming without a reasonable lead-in preparation period.
To the best of our knowledge, at this point in time, official training will recommence at the start of February.
This is grounded in the realm of wishful thinking more than anything else, for if the virus continues to show little prospect of waning over the next number of weeks, training will once again be pushed back even further.
It doesn’t require a vivid imagination to envisage the entire month of February further consumed by the war to contain the virus and if this becomes reality prospects of game time will recede even more.
On top of all this, of course, is the issue of money. Croke Park will be acutely aware of the fact that for the foreseeable future, games, if they go ahead, will take place in empty stadia.
With income from gate receipts wiped out, counties nationwide will find it hard at best and impossible in the worst-case scenario, to finance running their teams.
Money to cover the cost of gear, meals, travel and all the other incidental ancillary expenses won’t fall from the sky.
Asking the GAA, already having suffered a €17 million hit in 2020, to subsidise teams may prove very difficult unless they in turn get ample funding from government.
Expect this scenario to gain traction over the next month or so but don’t be shocked if the League is cancelled for the coming season!
Championship 2021 only? I hope not but let's wait and see.
But back to the local matters and the Mayo senior team.
After last weekend we were left with a nagging probability that more retirements were imminent from the Mayo squad.
Sure enough, last Friday brought an announcement from Chris Barrett that he had played his last game for the county.
In many ways Barrett represented the stoical, unsung hero of the group as over his years involved with the team he rarely played a poor game, went about his role in the defence quietly and clinically and made life a nightmare for any forward who had the misfortune of his attention. He was hard. He was reliable.
A wonderful tackler who mastered the art of ripping the ball from his opponents grasp once he came in contact. He was concentration personified.
An astute reader of the game, he performed equally with distinction in the full back line and at centre half back. Like many others from the squad, he was part of the victorious 2006 Mayo All-Ireland Under-21 team.
It was here he forged a formidable defensive partnership with the likes of Keith Higgins, Colm Boyle, Ger Cafferkey, Tom Cunniffe and Trevor Howley that stood him good stead throughout his senior career. For whatever reason it wasn’t until 2013 that he became a familiar face in the senior defence.
However, in the 25 championship games that Mayo have played since 2015 Barrett started 24 with his sole role as sub being in the opening game of last season’s championship against Leitrim.
I hope this is the last we hear of retirements until Championship 2021 concludes. It’s encouraging to see so many new faces on the squad but to lose too many of the experienced core at the same time isn’t in the team’s overall best interests.
On Friday we also got a look at the list of candidates for the All-Star team. The nominations reflected well on Mayo and were due recognition for what was again a successful season.
Winning a Connacht title and reaching an All-Ireland final is never to be sneezed at. Apart from 12 nominees, seeing Cillian O’Connor as one of three chosen for player of the year award is nothing less than he deserved for his scoring record over the five-game championship season.
Five goals and 41 points was a wonderful return from a forward who rediscovered his best form in 2020.
In a year when Mayo made a big investment in new faces it is wonderful to see that from three of them – Eoghan Mc Laughlin, Tommy Conroy and Oisin Mullin - one will be chosen as Young Player of the Year.
Speculation on my part won’t cut any mustard when it comes to influencing the final selection of the actual team itself but there is one Mayo player more than anyone else that I’d love to see win an All-Star.
For years Kevin McLoughlin has performed to the highest standards for Mayo. Displaying a consistency over the longest period of time, I don’t believe that his year-on-year excellence has been given the full recognition it deserved.
Four of his colleagues from a forward division he has been part of over a twelve-year span have been awarded All-Stars on numerous occasions.
Andy Moran, Alan Dillon, Aidan O’Shea and Cillian merit everything they got in this regard but equally I feel the Knockmore man has been unfairly overlooked on more than one occasion. Rarely has he underperformed for the county.
His game intelligence, skillset and awareness of others sets him apart. His ability to maintain the pace and rhythms of a game and recognise the needs of his team at any particular moment are marks of an outstanding player.
Here’s hoping that on this occasion good fortune will come his way.