Colm O'Rourke: 'Tis the season to be confused as winter turns to spring

The seasons have been mixed up and this is spring for all county players, with a training regime that is greater than any other time of year. And with the sheer volume of training, the ladies must lose out too.

A stranger would find it extraordinary that this native game of football is played mainly by the best players in the darkest months and that most of the training is done at the worst time of year. The flip side of this of course is that the least amount of football is played in the best weather and there is far less training in summer than winter. And so the race is on again. Now spring is for a multitude of competitions, and winter has been mixed up with summer.

The balance between training and playing is lost in the GAA. I think it should be a maximum of three training sessions for every game but it is more like 10 sessions to each match. The cost of all this is enormous and many counties would be better off withdrawing from county football altogether and putting their money into club, schools and underage football. Some county boards have drawn up a proper club schedule; players may get up to 20 competitive matches and train 50 or 60 times. County teams, meanwhile, may have 30 training sessions already and won't play for another couple of weeks. A long season could mean well over 100 sessions which is as hard on the mind as the body.

There is nothing wrong with training. Athletes in general train every day, swimmers spend much more time at their sport than most footballers and the same is true in many more disciplines, but the wear and tear on body and soul from travel, injuries and being outside in bad weather can drain the sort of enthusiasm which is needed to drive all players. Those who train smart rather than more often will be the winners when people talk of freshness next July. It does take a manager with real confidence and courage to adopt an approach like this.

Maybe that was the Kerry way this year. What we would need was an ongoing honest appraisal from Eamonn Fitzmaurice when results were not good at times during the league. Was he telling everyone to relax, that it would be all right on the night as they say in the theatre? Maybe he was but few others could see it. Now after a wonderful year he has raised expectations to a high level again. With Gooch back and Tommy Walsh home from Australia, Kerry look a far more potent force as a lot of their younger players grew as this year progressed.

Who had heard of Fionn Fitzgerald or Paul Murphy before this year's championship? One captains an All Ireland-winning team, the other gets man of the match in the final. What were the odds on James O'Donoghue for player of the year? The Kerry problems will be of a completely different nature next year: Expectations.

The other big winners were St Vincent's, if you agree with the All-Ireland club championship being the next most important competition to winning the county equivalent. They move on and look better all the time. I thought Rhode would give them their fill of it last Sunday but they were swatted aside with ease.

It should really have been a landslide victory if Vincent's had converted half their goal chances. Diarmuid Connolly may not have been at his best in terms of football or, on a couple of occasions, behaviour, but there seemed to have been any amount of baiting going on. He must learn to live with the trappings and hassle of greatness yet it was surprising that the Vincent's management left him on with the battle over as a red would have ruled him out of the semi-final.

This should be a season of goodwill to all men, a time of peace, calm and reflection. Yet for many in the GAA family it is also a time of sadness for those who have loved and lost people close to them. None more so at this time than the family of Andy Kettle. His great granduncle was the Irish war poet Thomas Kettle, who was killed at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and the tribute to him in the French journal l'Opinion could be written about Andy. "All parties bowed in sorrow over his grave for in the last analysis they were all Irish and they knew in losing him, whether friend or enemy, they had lost a true son of Ireland."

You could just put in Fingal Ravens and Dublin for Ireland and the sense of loss is the same.

Andy Kettle was a true Dub; both football and hurling prospered on his watch. He did so too while keeping a low profile nationally, something Dublin chairmen have been very good at. He was happy with Dublin on top at most grades and left the big stage to others. He leaves his county in good shape. Sincere condolences to his family.

Of course it is also a time to eat, drink and be merry. So special good wishes to all the volunteers who oil the wheels of this wonderful, infuriating organisation. The important people, those who mow the pitches, put up and take down nets, put out the flags, clean out the dressing rooms when all the players have left, stand at the gate and collect enough for the referee's expenses, the person who picks the jerseys off the floor in a losing dressing room and goes away and washes them quietly, those who make the tea and butter the sandwiches, the mothers who wash the socks and iron the togs and tell their sons that they will be stars.

And the players who perform in every park as well as Croke Park and make us smile and feel good about ourselves and who we are and where we come from. To you all, happy Christmas.