Who's going to turn the light out on Connacht football?

Terry Reilly

BELIEVE it or not but there weren’t too many Connacht people enjoying Mayo’s near fatal collapse in Ruislip.

GAA supporters from the west aren’t like that. There’s a general togetherness every other province would abhor and seeing the red and green losing to lowly London would have been treated like hearing a close neighbour is on his deathbed. Years of underachieving and humiliating losses have led to an us-against-the-world attitude.

Mayo people cheer on Galway, Sligo, Leitrim and Roscommon once they’re out of the championship. There’s a genuine wish to see them excel (well almost genuine, you wouldn’t want to see the Rossies do too well!). It's the same in every other county. When Galway and Mayo were reaching All-Ireland finals it wasn't unusual to see their flags flying with pride in Roscommon, Leitrim and Sligo. It’s borne from years of pathetic failure and the constant failings of Connacht sides to dominate at the top level.

Yes folks, it’s got that bad.

But Sunday’s result was a new low. Even when Galway were almost toppled by New York two years ago it was only tight until the last ten minutes before the Tribesmen pulled away.

Connacht football is considered such a weak force that no serious side worries about meeting them in the back door. Every other team in Ireland believes they have a shot at taking down the best Connacht have to offer. Ruislip only added to that psychological belief.

The county boards and provincial council must accept a lot of the blame. In business terms any organisation charged with achieving a goal (winning Sam Maguire) and only achieving it twice since 1966 would be sending its employees to the dole queue and filing for bankruptcy.

Their failure to oversee adequate change has led to a demoralised attitude from most Connacht people. Proportionally they have less chance of winning an All-Ireland than any other province but because the GAA does not practice accountability in its approach and club delegates allow staid and broken practices continue, there’s little chance of change.

Perhaps the time has come for Croke Park to take direct control of the province. We’ve clearly reached a stage where the officers in charge offer little in the way of development to the province and if history teaches us anything, they never will.

Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/yZgQdfm5hH0/post.aspx

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