ON the first weekend of the new year we were treated to three club classics in the form of the double header in Páirc Uí Chaoimh and the camogie final in Thurles.

The second senior football semi-final between St Brigids and Scotstown did not have quite the same drama but still held the interest of the viewer all the way through.

I bumped into my old schoolmaster, James Hicks, over the Christmas holidays, a man who was fundamental to my early academic and footballing education, and he implored me to ‘keep banging the drum’ for the club games. It really isn’t too difficult when the product keeps doing the job for me.

Perhaps soon the penny will drop with the governing bodies in the GAA – yes, you, Croke Park and the provincial councils – that we should be allowing more time for the club championships to breathe fully, rather than trying to wring every last drop out an inter-county season that is still too bloated and unwieldy.

For example, Cork were in McGrath Cup action in Cappawhite on Tuesday evening against Tipperary. On what would have been most people’s second day back at work after the Christmas period, if Cork followed regular pre-game procedures, players would have been expected to get off early to be in Cork at probably around 3pm, assuming a pre-game meal and a bus leaving at around 3.45pm to allow time on tricky roads during peak traffic.

Even if management decided players can feed themselves and make their own way, they will have to be at the venue at 5.30pm at the latest. Bantry to Cappawhite is two and a half hours according to Google Maps, and there is plenty of ground west of Bantry still for other aspiring Cork footballers. Long story short, it’s a big ask for anyone in the first week of January. Consider also that the GAA have now correctly decreed that students involved in college competitions at the weekend cannot feature in mid-week inter-county games, that means it will be mostly those working full-time required to travel for these games.

It’s a form of madness to be honest, and mostly because the GAA is trying to flog a dead horse in these pre-season competitions. Give January and most of February to the schools and colleges and the completion of the All-Ireland club championships, and we’ll all be better off. And while those pre-season games will hold very little meaning to almost everyone, what we witnessed in Páirc Uí Chaoimh last Saturday again showed what our games and organisation are all about.

Excitement, great football, players doing everything they can to get their club to the biggest stage in club football, and some controversy thrown in as well for good measure. In the end, it was the good people of West Kerry who were celebrating, and looking forward to the All-Ireland final weekends in Dublin. Sallins of Kildare and Ballyboden St Enda’s, in particular, will feel that they left huge opportunities behind them, but we must give credit to An Ghaeltacht and Dingle for sticking to their task to the bitter end.

An Ghaeltacht had the winning of their All-Ireland intermediate club football semi-final in their hands in normal time of the curtain-raiser, before the first big moment of controversy of the day. According to the TG4 commentators and every Kerry person in attendance, there was a clear three-up breach for Sallins in the closing stages when An Ghaeltacht led by a point. This was not picked up by the officials and Sallins took advantage to kick a late equaliser to force extra-time.

With injuries to both midfielders and West Kerry legs tiring, Sallins looked the more likely victors. But it was to be a case of lightning striking twice as a team from the western Kerry peninsula got the benefit of a last minute 50-metre advancement – remember Dingle against the Barrs in the Munster final? –before Eanna Ó Conchúir bravely chose to eschew an easier equalising score to launch over a two-pointer from outside the arc. Cue the first scenes of West Kerry delirium of the afternoon at Cork GAA HQ.

In the main event, the senior semi-final, Ballyboden St Enda’s looked the winners all over as they flew out of the blocks against a Dingle side that started without the not-fully-fit Paul Geaney. Without Geaney, Dingle looked rudderless as the Dublin and Leinster champions led them a merry dance in the first half. The half-time score read 0-14 to 0-5 – the Kerry side was fortunate that Ballyboden failed to convert some presentable goal chances also. Unfortunately, just before half-time, a clear refereeing error chalked off as good a goal as there would ever have ever have been scored on the old ground as the Kerrymen looked to mount a fightback.

Dingle centre-back Conor Flannery was blown back for a double hop when the first bounce had merely been his attempt to control the pass aimed at him. A player is entitled to a controlling hop and so should have been free to do so again, and Flannery’s stunning 20-yard bullet to the top corner should have counted. At the time, it looked like a vital lifeline had been wrongly denied.

Dingle could hold Paul Geaney back no longer and his introduction at half-time was the catalyst for a rousing comeback. Geaney claimed the very first ball delivered into him to set up a score, and would provide an outstanding focal point for their attacks into the city end. His Kerry team-mate Tom O’Sullivan was equally influential and they would combine for 14 points between them before the day was out. Geaney’s kick to equalise at the end of normal time off his left foot from well beyond the arc joins the pantheon of great scores when the need was greatest in a huge game.

Extra-time saw very little between the sides and Ballyboden led by one with time nearly up. Dingle were awarded a free again beyond the arc from the opposite side facing into the city end and Geaney used his right foot on this occasion to complete a remarkable day for West Kerry clubs. Geaney and O’Sullivan are both multi All-Ireland winners and All-Stars and midfielder Mark O’Connor has won an AFL title with Gellong in Australia, but I guarantee if you ask any of them, the run they are on with Dingle at the moment is at least a match for anything they have experienced in their stellar sporting careers.

What a testament that is to our games and the place of your own club within the GAA. To keep Master Hicks happy, I’ll say it yet again for those that need to hear it: we need to value our club games more, not less, than we already do. Those scenes, and the scenes from Thurles later the same evening and before Christmas will be hard to beat as we look ahead to 2026.

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Given that it is the first week of a new year, I had intended to do more projection than reflection in this piece, however the drama of the club action put paid to that idea. Next week, in addition to continuing to highlight the finals of the All-Ireland club championships (which by the way should be given more recovery time after the semi-finals than the single week the intermediate teams are getting), I will look ahead to Cork’s prospects for the season ahead, and possibly some of my own hopes and football aspirations also. Getting to more live games than last year would be a good start!

Happy New Year to all, here’s hoping that the rest of 2026 gives us as much enjoyment as we got on only the third day of the year.