The above was taken from Richie's interview in the Tribune this week in the run up to the Intermediate final. It was all put in as a direct quote, so I'm going to work off the basis that it's fairly close to what he said and doesn't misrepresent him. If that's the case can I just say....."WHA....????"Richie Connor wrote:When I came on the scene, we didn't have to go through this process of having to win intermediate, we went straight to senior. It would be okay if it was over three or four months, but the way the championships are dragged out, it (the intermediate championship) can be full of pitfalls. Teams that are serious about playing senior can be left behind and I think it is the county that suffers. I would also say that St Brigids have an attitude that deserves to be senior and maybe the system needs to be addressed. There may be a better way of assessing teams that want to be senior and some teams are senior in name only. They are just doing enough to stay senior, they have no aspirations of winning it and they don't work hard at their game. They should be found out.
I can't fathom it - is Richie advocating some kind of self assessment to decide who plays at what grade? Or alternatively, it it some form of X-Factor style panel? I really don't get it. I agree that Brigids deserve to be senior - they proved it by recovering from last year's setback and winning the Intermediate Grade. The fact that they were the second team in a row to come straight back up after going down suggests to me that the other contenders at the second level simply aren't quite good enough.
Is there anyone out there who understands our manager's viewpoint, or who could put some flesh on the bones of this way of thinking? I'm open to being convinced, but right now it just strikes me as being hare brained.
Incidentally, I don't know what clubs he is suggesting are coasting at senior, but the fact remains that if they didn't put the work in, they wouldn't be able to coast at that level. Every club mightn't be maximising their potential, but it's up to the others to take full advantage and put them down. Either way, I can imagine that a couple of clubs might take offence as there are very few potential clubs that he could be referring to here.