Turnstiles click for a game transformed and the most open championship in decades

Irish Times

6 hours ago

The
All-Ireland SFC
is down to the last eight. After this weekend there will be four teams and three matches left. So far this has been a brilliant season, showcasing the rule changes introduced by the
FRC
, which have impacted beyond the wildest and most optimistic imaginings.
By Friday teatime, Croke Park were reporting sales of 63,000 for Saturday's double bill of
Monaghan
-Donegal and
Tyrone
-Dublin with 74,000 shifted for Meath-
Galway
and the weekend's box office pairing of All-Ireland champions
Armagh
and brand leaders, Kerry.
If the tickets keep going, these quarter-finals could be the best attended in 16 years. Another 10,000 in sales and the combined attendance for the weekend will surpass 2017 and you would have to go back to 2009 to find a bigger turnout.
A game with additional space for forwards and the incentive to move the ball quickly into attack has blossomed into a spectacle that has captivated spectators.
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Providing a two-point scoring option has rendered big leads assailable and plenty of teams have availed of the opportunity to pull matches back into the undecided column.
Last weekend GAA president
Jarlath Burns
, who empanelled the FRC less than 18 months ago, permitted himself a tincture of self-congratulation in the match programme for the Croke Park double bill.
GAA president Jarlath Burns speaking at Croke Park last week. Photograph: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile
'The FRC and the new rules have had a dramatic and transformative effect on our game. The high quantity of scores in football now is being matched by the high quality of scores in matches and is being backboned by a welcome increase in drama and competitiveness.
'Usually, we urge caution before rushing to conclusions. But what we have seen in the last six months is a game rediscovering itself and is a joy to see.'
Vindication wasn't long in re-appearing. The following day, Galway went to Newry and led Down by 10 points at half-time. Within a minute and a half of the restart, the deficit was down to six after two two-pointers and closed to two with 15 minutes left.
They survived, drawing this haunted response from manager Pádraic Joyce: 'We were battle-hardened before today but we're battle-hardened again.'
Joyce's team, together with All-Ireland champions Armagh and back-to-back Ulster champions
Donegal
, lead the betting for this year's Sam Maguire. Having lost two of the last three All-Ireland finals, Galway have made a tightrope walk out of the campaign so far.
On Sunday they face
Meath
, rejuvenated under Robbie Brennan's management. This is seen as one of the clearer-cut matches but the Connacht champions will still have to cope with a team that became the first in 17 years to beat both
Dublin
and
Kerry
in the same championship campaign.
Meath manager Robbie Brennan after their win over Kerry at O'Connor Park. Photograph: Tom O'Hanlon/Inpho
They have also adapted really well to the possibilities of the two-point kicks, as have Galway. A rapidly-transitioning contest with orange flags in constant profusion? There could be more battle-hardening on the way for Joyce.
It is difficult to think of an All-Ireland denouement with a greater spread of credible candidates. Monaghan, facing Donegal on Saturday – much to Donegal's chagrin, having played their preliminary quarter-final only six days prior – is the only county in action this weekend not to have won the Sam Maguire at some stage.
The other seven counties have won every All-Ireland of the past 30 years with only the sole exception of Cork's triumph in 2010.
There has been very little between them. Every county has lost at least once this championship. It is unprecedentedly competitive, as Burns also referenced a week ago.
'Already, this 2025 football campaign ranks as one of the most open, exciting and enjoyable championship summers in memory and we are still only now at what some might call the 'business end',' he said.
One consequence of this is that virtually every county can have dreams going into this weekend – six of them without having to hallucinate too hard.
Dublin's Con O'Callaghan. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
The relentless tempo of the split-season schedule means that injury bites hard and a number of teams are awaiting prognoses on important players.
St Januarius maintains his feast day in September, as a good few people would prefer the GAA to do in regard to All-Ireland finals.
But not even the crowds that gather in Naples each year to see whether the saint's blood liquefies are as rapt with anxiety as Dublin supporters waiting to see if captain Con O'Callaghan's hamstring miraculously loosens for the fray against Tyrone.
Galway await a similarly positive prognosis on Shane Walsh's shoulder. Kerry will hope for Paudie Clifford's full engagement and Monaghan for Gary Mohan's. To name but a few.
Eight teams are poised but only four will make it out of this weekend with their hopes intact. At least one will hope to do so with a decisive display that establishes them as the contenders with momentum going into the semi-finals and beyond.
On your marks.