Time to overhaul inter county football scene

Talking Sport with Stephen Glennon

With a number of mismatches in the provincial championships already this year, concerns were raised at a recent meeting of GAA’s Central Council regarding the structure of the All-Ireland senior football championship. Their misgivings were not unfounded.

To date, the championship has seen some maulings, with Galway thrashing New York 2-18 to 0-8, Tipperary blitzing Waterford 1-24 to 0-5, Laois hammering Carlow 3-16 to 0-8 and Dublin humiliating Longford on a 4-25 to 0-10 scoreline.

Resulting from the Central Council meeting, it was decided that proposals should be sought in relation to a change in the current structure and, indeed, in a recent conversation with former Galway great Sean Óg de Paor, winner of All-Ireland titles in 1998 and 2001, he accepted that it was time to review the present format.

Although laying claim to six Connacht titles, he said the qualifiers introduced in 2001 had, to some extent, diluted the significance of the provincial competitions for the stronger counties. He said when he started playing in the early 1990s, there was no backdoor. It was win – or go out of the championship.

In recent years, the firm hold of Mayo and Dublin on their respective provincial championships has resulted in these titles becoming “maligned” and de Paor agreed it was now time for the GAA to reassess their senior football championship structure.

“It is a hard one to figure out. If you offered a Connacht title to Leitrim, or even Galway now, it would be a huge fillip to them. I think if the championship was evened up a bit it would be a start. Maybe if there were four groups of eight made out of it but something has to be done.

“At the moment, it is a lopsided kind of championship and with the long gaps between matches, it is a bit crazy. How long are Galway in the championship now? They played New York seven or eight weeks ago – then Leitrim – and Mayo still hadn’t played a match. So, it needs to be streamlined.”

Most people in favour of an open draw believe the provincial system would need to be disbanded to facilitate this new format. The former All-Star defender was not convinced. It would be a huge step to get rid of the provincial championships.”

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.