Pat Spillane: GAA’s travelling circus act isn’t serving their target audience

A couple of weekend’s back, we had a ‘Super Saturday’ of Gaelic football action. Sky would have milked every last drop of publicity out of those last-round matches.

Instead, we put three of the four big championship games behind a paywall, meaning regular TV viewers missed three blockbuster games where in each case just one score separated the teams.

The only game that wasn’t televised, either free-to-air or behind a paywall, was Meath’s shock victory over Kerry.

Oh, and I should mention the two Tailteann Cup quarter-finals. There was no coverage of Offaly v Kildare, which was a thriller. Offaly missed a chance to win the game with the last kick.

Or the cracking contest in Enniskillen between Fermanagh and Sligo which got all of 75 seconds on the Saturday Game highlights show – that is one minute and 15 seconds. What a joke!

Some bright spark in the GAA decided instead to show the Tipperary v Laois All-Ireland hurling preliminary quarter-final which was available behind a paywall.

The bookies had offered a spread of 24 points and Tipp won by 23 points, a turkey shoot that does nothing for the promotion of hurling or the integrity of the Liam MacCarthy competition.

Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised at the lack of promotion, publicity and the glaring absence of live free-to-air of some of the top Gaelic football championship games.

The draw for the All-Ireland football preliminary quarter-finals was another missed opportunity. In the hat we had four of the genuine championship favourites – Donegal, Dublin, Galway and Kerry.

We had some riveting pairings in prospect, so surely the perfect time for the draw was after the Donegal v Mayo clash on television on Sunday evening?

It offered maximum publicity and a big captive TV audience. Instead, yet again, some genius in the marketing/PR department – I jest, of course – reckoned a draw at 8.40am on radio’s Morning Ireland on Monday was a better opportunity.

Are they serious?

Bad enough that the draw is getting so little publicity but spare a thought for the counties that had to travel.

Instead of making travel arrangements on a Sunday, having an extra day by knowing who they are playing, counties are needlessly delayed by a day. On Monday they start scrambling to find hotels and transport for their teams.

Spare a thought for Cavan players, management and supporters trying to book hotel accommodation in Killarney at the height of the tourist season. Good luck with that!

Or Louth players, officials and supporters heading to Donegal, another popular tourist destination, and it’s also the weekend of the Donegal Rally. What a joke.

Sadly, this GAA championship format is the equivalent of the travelling circus, speeding through different towns and villages every night. Supporters are having to travel and pay for two or three matches from the one cheque. And players are having to play matches non-stop

Seeing a mounting injury list in many of the counties is no surprise.

Kerry missed six regulars. Other counties are also suffering. Why? Because it is crazy playing so many matches in such a short space of time. Player welfare my arse.

And, of course, on Saturday the preliminary quarter-finals were played in football. A good opportunity to promote our games? Forget that, they were all behind a pay wall.

Even worse, the scheduling of the football and hurling championship is bonkers.

We had two box-office games, Dublin v Cork in football and Tipperary v Galway in hurling. Both were on at the same time, 6.15, one free-to-air, one behind a pay wall.

And what about Limerick GAA followers? They were in Croke Park for the hurling. While on Sunday, they are back for the Tailteann Cup semi-final at the same venue. You couldn’t make it up.

Now after that long introduction, I want to offer some praise to the GAA, GAA+ and RTÉ Sport, as a Kerry person, for not televising live the Kerry v Meath game last weekend.

It saved us having to watch one of the most abject, listless and impoverished Kerry displays for many years.

A Kerry team that displayed no hunger, no appetite, no energy, no work rate. Qualities you expect and demand of a team at any level.

So what went wrong with Kerry against Meath? Very simple. They lost kick-outs, won no primary possession at midfield and lost the middle-third battle for breaking ball. When you lose those three battles you are on the back foot.

Kerry’s midfield was abject and blown out of the water.

The dominance of Meath’s middle third can be seen in the stats. Meath’s midfield, half-forwards and half-backs contributed 1-13 of their total of 1-22. Jack O’Connor must have been seething this week.

I’d love to delve into the details of the great matches we had. Sadly, I’ve no time. But a speedy run through some of the highlights.

Wicklow and Meath registering shock victories over Westmeath and Kerry.

Pat Havern’s 12 points for Down.

The laser-like kickouts of Stephen Cluxton and Shaun Patton.

Bryan Menton rolling back the years at centre field for Meath.

Goalkeeper Ethan Rafferty’s 0-7 for Armagh against Galway.

Colm Reape’s foot block on Paddy McBrearty to dent what looked a certain goal.

And, finally, the Monaghan v Down game – 1-25 to 2-20 – was attacking football at its very best, showcasing the positive impact of the new rules. Thirty-four shots alone in the first half, evenly split. It was another really brilliant weekend for the Gaelic football championship.

And a quick run over some counties that I won’t be talking about for a long time again. Those are the championship casualties.

The big faller was Mayo.

I could approach this the way some do and ridicule Mayo. They don’t deserve that.

Winners get to write the history and, yet again, Mayo lost. But in defence of them, they went down in typical Mayo fashion. True warriors, they fought to the bitter end, showed great character and were damn good value.

They probably should have got the draw. But there are no medals for gallant losers, that is the cruelty of sport.

Sadly, when the history is written their footballers will be in that most unwanted list of greatest players never to win an All-Ireland.

Why is it so? It got back to the basic things. Forward failings. The same issues. There is no plan, no movement, no tempo – at times it looks like pass-the-parcel with nobody willing to take shooting responsibility.

Poor decision-making, poor option taking, 14 turnovers in the final third.

And the most damning attacking stat – with the wind, and most possession in the first half, just eight shots at goal from play.

I think only once in the championship have they kicked over 30 shots in a game, that is not good enough. Finally, of course, they were again naive, not learning from past mistakes.

Against Dublin last year when one point up, facing Cluxton’s kickout, they allowed Con O’Callaghan win the ball and set up Cormac Costello for an equaliser.

This year it was no different. They were naive in their set-up for Patton’s last kickout and they got caught for the winning point. You have to learn from your mistakes. Mayo haven’t.

Derry have been very unlucky in the group of death, going out after a two-point defeat by Dublin, a four-point loss to Armagh and a draw with Galway.

Given Paddy Tally’s late appointment they were always playing catch-up and it’s only now that they were beginning to gel. They were hitting form but too late.

If Derry were in any other group, they would be at least another week in the championship.

Roscommon have had a poor year. Okay, they got promotion, but they have been a pale shadow of former Roscommon teams. They have not moved on to the next level as expected.

Sure, they drew with Meath and lost by only two points to Cork, but the two games I look at were the 10-point hammering from Kerry and a nine-point beating by Galway in the Connacht semi-final.

Sadly, they looked stale and stuck in gear and are not making progress.

Finally, Clare put up a brave performance against Louth, a three-point defeat after coming from eight down in the second half.

They are entitled to play in the championship under the rules, but they are out of their depth. Losing by nine points to Monaghan and by 17 to Down tells its own story of a team that would be better off in the Tailteann Cup.