Just over 23,000 people turned up to watch Dublin win the Leinster final over Louth on Sunday. While it turned out to be an unexpectedly competitive affair, the prematch build-up was all about the moribund provincial championships.
Bringing the Munster final to Ennis made the Munster final more competitive. Paul Mannion would have no issues with playing games outside of Croke Park. In fact, he’d welcome it. HQ was only around a quarter full on Sunday as Dublin picked up yet another Leinster title, seeing off Louth by four in the end.
The Wee County certainly put it up to them and fairly trimmed down the 21-point difference from 12 months ago, the Dubs did enough to capture the Delaney Cup for the 14th consecutive season.
Crowds have dwindled in recent years, arguably due to Dublin’s dominance and Mannion, who chipped in with 0-1 in Sunday's provincial decider, says Dessie Farrell’s side would have no issues with playing the games in smaller venues.
The Kilmacud Crokes clubman, who won an All-Ireland Club title in 2023, goes as far to say that he’d like to see some of Dublin’s home league games players in Parnell Park rather than the Jones’ Road venue.
“I love to play games outside Croke Park,” said the three-time All-Star and Supervalu ambassador on Monday, speaking in support of SuperValu’s #CommunityIncludesEveryone campaign . “We've had a few of them now over the last few years. The first round of the championship has mostly been outside of Croke Park, and I think they've been great atmospheres.
“Certainly, Dublin supporters love getting on the road and travelling. We've always had huge support at those games, it's been a great atmosphere there. We're probably missing a trick having every game there when it seems that they mightn’t need to be.
“I'd love to have some of our home league games even in Parnell Park, which would be a brilliant atmosphere. We have this massive, amazing stadium in Croke Park as well, we don't want it to sit and idle there for months on end of the year so I can understand the dilemma.
“It's a conversation that needs to be had. How best do we use Croke Park? How do we create exciting atmospheres at our games?
“Would it be better served to take certain games outside Croke Park and make Croke Park more of a novelty factor for teams and supporters? I think that's definitely something that needs to be considered for sure.”
SEE ALSO: Peter Canavan Had Scathing Take On Dublin's Leinster Final Effort Levels
Dublin GAA in a neutral venue
The Leinster champions are now preparing for the All-Ireland group stages where they’ll face Roscommon at home, Cavan away and Mayo in a neutral venue.
Already chatter has begun that their neutral clash with Mayo, a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final, could be played at Croke Park.
Whether Mayo go along with that or not remains to be seen, but Mannion would be comfortable to travel outside of the capital. “We'd welcome that, we'd welcome the challenge,” added Mannion, who turns 31 in a few days.
12 May 2024; Paul Mannion of Dublin in action against Donal Mc Kenny of Louth during the Leinster GAA Football Senior Championship final match between Dublin and Louth at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
“As players, those are the kind of games and days you want to be involved in. To us it's never been about having to be in Croke Park.
“I was talking recently about that 2014 game in Limerick, the Mayo and Kerry game (All-Ireland semi-final), which was just brilliant to watch as an on-watcher that day. For fans, I think they'd love that as well.
“I think you've seen it in every league game and championship game we've had outside of Croke Park, Dublin fans love getting on the road, and we've always had massive turnout there, so I'd be up for that.”
Championship structure
In terms of the layout of the championship, Mannion liked that Ciarán Murphy had suggested in last week's Irish Times that would maintain both the provincial championships while keeping the best teams playing each other.
He thinks the GAA should look at how soccer manage league and cup competitions.
“We have a tendency to think everything has to be run sequentially in the GAA. Other sports don’t do that. They run competitions concurrently all the time.”
“So I think that’s probably a solution. Moving the provincial championships possibly earlier in the year as well. Who knows? It just feels like the League is definitely a really competitive competition.
“Lots of great games between the top teams and I think we just need to build a championship now that has that same excitement factor and intrigue. It’s going to take another couple of tweaks before we get there.”
thinks the GAA deserves credit for introducing the Tailteann Cup in recent years, but still believes there’s plenty that can be proved upon.
“I think it's positive that they've split the Tailteann Cup and Sam Maguire, it’s a massive positive,” he continued. “I think there's a lot of negativity but probably not a lot of self-recognition for good decisions that have been made as well.
“That for me was something that was badly needed for a long, long time. I think it would really help the smaller counties to progress and keep lads training and playing for more of the year and will help create a more exciting All-Ireland championship.
“The format now, it's not a controversial statement, it does need tweaking. I think players, managers and fans everywhere agree that there's probably one or two more tweaks needed, if it's not in the format but the timeline of how games are run off and that kind of thing.
“Whether two teams progress in the group or three as it is now, I think those are things that need to be considered again. The GAA have shown that they are very receptive to feedback, and they are keen to try and improve the game, the structure, the rules of the game as well.
“We see potentially coming to change as well and that's all I can ask for as a player and as a fan. The governing body of the game is constantly looking to improve it and willing to make tough decisions where needed.”
Monday, May 13th 2024: Pictured is Dublin footballer, Paul Mannion supporting SuperValu’s #CommunityIncludesEveryone campaign. Last month, SuperValu were joined by Gaelic Games role models and advocates from across the country in Croke Park to highlight the role of GAA communities in making Ireland a more diverse, inclusive and welcoming country for all.
