Provincial championships alive and well

As a new inter-county championship season got up and running last weekend, we were reminded that the provincial championships still hold an important place in the GAA calendar.

The provincial competitions have come in for some scrutiny over the last decade or more, with plenty of people wondering, with some justification, whether there was a need for them at all as routine hammerings were dished out, with Leinster held up as the prime example as Dublin won 14 titles in a row.

But if you’re to reflect on the fare over the course of last Saturday and Sunday, there were a couple of nuggets from across the country that provided a throwback to another era when provincial championships were the be all and end all for most counties.

The GAA is built on being local and parochial, and the maintenance of tradition also remains a central tenant of the association’s mission.

All that is good about the provincial competitions was on view at Markievicz Park on Sunday, where Leitrim produced a fine performance to secure a thoroughly deserved one-point victory over Sligo.

Yes, they will be up against it when they face Galway in the semi-finals in two weeks time, but Sunday’s win over an old rival will do as much and more for belief in Leitrim than their Division Four promotions of 2019 and 2024.

The scenes afterwards were reminiscent of 2011, when Leitrim last got the better of Sligo in championship football at the same venue. On that occasion, supporters stormed the field after Mickey Moran guided the visitors to a merited victory; this time around, supporters rejoiced as they saluted their heroes in green and gold following a win that was inspired by the outstanding Barry McNulty, who scored 1-6 and provided leadership at every key moment.

McNulty has operated with distinction at Sigerson Cup level with UCD in recent years and now he is maturing into a midfielder capable of holding his own with anyone in the inter-county game. His physicality and kicking ability means he is worth even more under the new rules.

The result is a sweet one for Leitrim, having come very close to beating Sligo on a couple of occasions in the last few years. More to the point, it’s a Leitrim squad that had to concede a match in last season’s Allianz Football League amid much criticism and, more recently, finished second from bottom in Division Four after a final round pummelling (4-22 to 2-5) at the hands of Carlow. Just last year, Sligo beat Leitrim by 22 points in a Division Three league fixture Therefore, from a Sligo point of view, it is a puzzling result and there will undoubtedly be significant soul searching in the coming weeks ahead of the Tailteann Cup.

Sunday was all about Leitrim, though, and they will rightly savour their success because it means more than most to a county that is as passionate about its football as any other in the country. Their manager, Steven Poacher, was beaming in the aftermath and rightly so after a tough run since taking the reins ahead of last season.

The victory will be worth its weight in gold to the county because it is a case of delivering in a provincial setting against an old rival. It will regenerate belief and offer an opportunity for younger players to see that it’s possible to compete on the provincial stage. It will also evoke memories for Leitrim supporters of bygone days when they were ultra competitive.

On a wider point, while the provincial championships do have their downsides, they still help deliver fixtures between local rivals year-on-year that speaks to those things that are really important in the GAA: pride of place, passion and the maintenance of tradition.

Elsewhere at the weekend, neighbours Laois and Offaly met in Leinster, while the clash of Armagh and Tyrone signalled the start of the Ulster Championship.

The latter fixture delivered in spades, with Tyrone mustering a performance well beyond anything they produced during a mediocre Division Two league campaign. The prospect of downing an old adversary in the Ulster Championship - the fiercest of them all - helped spark them into life.

In my assessment, the provincial football championships on a whole are in the healthiest state they’ve been in in 20 years.

This is because of one thing: competition.

In all four provinces, you can now make the case for multiple potential winners.

Leinster is the best example of this, with Dublin’s dominance ended last year. Now, you can reasonably suggest that Louth, Meath and Dublin are amongst the top cohort in the province with the likes of Westmeath and Kildare capable of causing an upset, of sorts, at some stage.

Ulster remains the most competitive province and, in Connacht, Mayo, Galway and Roscommon finished in a cluster together in Division One, indicating they are all operating at a broadly similar level. A Nestor Cup success would mean a huge amount in particular to Mayo and Roscommon this year, given Galway’s recent dominance.

Munster remains something of an outlier in so far as Kerry remain quite a bit ahead, but Cork’s recent upturn in terms of their league form suggests they are more than capable of landing a knockout blow this summer. The fact their likely final meeting will take place in Killarney - a venue they haven’t won at in over 30 years - doesn’t help their case, however.

I’m sure there will be one-sided games in the coming weeks too, but in an overall sense, the provincial football championships are in a good place.