Is the earlier Championship a success or failure?

[Rossfan]

Is Prenty losing his marbles?
He wants Provincial winners to be let straight to Qtr Finals entailing sitting around for 7 weeks waiting for the AI series to end.
He also wants Div 3 winners a place in Sam, presumably at the expense of a Div 2 team who are 1,2 or even 3 League places above them.

[Eire90]

so does that mean he wants the old backdoor system back except he backdoor would be a groupstage


and what is he  on about playing provincial finals on st stephens day.

[Eire90]

provincials have more chance of being scrapped or seperated from all ireland than ever going back to giving them automatic quarter final spot.

[seafoid]

Is Prenty losing his marbles?
He wants Provincial winners to be let straight to Qtr Finals entailing sitting around for 7 weeks waiting for the AI series to end.
He also wants Div 3 winners a place in Sam, presumably at the expense of a Div 2 team who are 1,2 or even 3 League places above them.

Prenty and the rest of the Provincial secretaries are the power brokers in the GAA

[Rossfan]

Breheny (must be past retirement age) spouting in the "Independent" that there should be 20 Counties in Sam.
Him, Prenty, Spillane and the rest moaning about the current system and calendar never produce an overall plan of how their soundbite alternatives would work.

[Eire90]

i think 20 might work 3 out of 5 makes more sense than 3 out of 4 for group stage  could you do a thing where teams that come 4th drop down into Tailteann cup.Would 20 make provincials even more less meaningful

[Armagh18]

i think 20 might work 3 out of 5 makes more sense than 3 out of 4 for group stage  could you do a thing where teams that come 4th drop down into Tailteann cup.Would 20 make provincials even more less meaningful

??

Theres a massive drop off after the top 2 in division in division 2. 16 teams in Sam is plenty. Taking 4 division 3 teams to get tankings is doing no one any good.

[imtommygunn]

Realistically there should probably be 3 competitions.

[Armagh18]

Realistically there should probably be 3 competitions.

Yeah maybe the bottom Tailteann teams could go into a junior All Ireland? The likes of Down are surely miles ahead of the bottom division 4 teams

[imtommygunn]

Middle of 2 to middle / bottom of 3 into an intermediate. Kildare / Down etc will be far far too good for most division 4 teams. Laois are actually half decent now they have their house in order but the rest of them there's a big gap to.

[seafoid]

Realistically there should probably be 3 competitions.

It would be too much like the League

[Blowitupref]

Breheny (must be past retirement age) spouting in the "Independent" that there should be 20 Counties in Sam.
Him, Prenty, Spillane and the rest moaning about the current system and calendar never produce an overall plan of how their soundbite alternatives would work.

Full article.

Dessie Dolan branded it "ridiculous"; Conor Laverty described it as "unbalanced" and RTÉ pundits agreed that it's unfair on some counties.
Actually, it's unfair on many counties. It always has been and will remain so for as long as the provincials remain as the starting point for the All-Ireland football championship. They should have that status removed, but don't bet on it because provincial councils are experts in the art of self-preservation.
Linking the provincials with Allianz League placings for championship purposes was a step forward, but there are still glaring anomalies. Dolan and Laverty, who incidentally are doing excellent jobs in Westmeath and Down respectively, unloaded their views after the Division 3 final and were supported by Tomás Ó Sé and Ciarán Whelan on 'Allianz League Sunday'.
With respect to all of them, I suggest they are missing some key points. Yes, it's wrong that Westmeath and Down, top two in Division 3, aren't guaranteed a place in the Sam Maguire Cup tier unless they reach provincial finals, whereas one team from Divisions 3 (Clare) or 4 (Tipperary, Waterford) will qualify because the Munster draw has them all on the same side.

Last year, Sligo (25th in the league rankings) qualified for the All-Ireland 16 by beating London and New York, while Meath (ranked 14th) were despatched to the Tailteann Cup. They duly won it, thereby guaranteeing a place in the All-Ireland 16 this year. Westmeath enjoyed a similar bonus last season after winning the 2022 Tailteann Cup.
Dolan is aggrieved that winning Division 3 doesn't guarantee Westmeath an All-Ireland slot; Laverty referred to how Down might miss out while Clare, who they beat in the league, could make it. Whelan reminded RTÉ viewers that Down beat Clare by 11 points in Division 3.
Indeed they did, but is one game enough to decide championship rankings? Clare finished right behind Westmeath on the table after losing to them by a point by so clearly they were well-matched.
Besides, I would argue that Fermanagh and Kildare, who were relegated from Division 2, have more claims to a top-16 ranking than Westmeath and Down. Fermanagh and Kildare had finishing league positions of 15th and 16th respectively this year, with Westmeath and Down 17th and 18th.
Relegation/promotion should not kick in until next year, but instead it applies in mid-season for championship rankings. There's a lot of sympathy for Down on the basis that they would have to beat Antrim and probably Armagh to reach the Ulster final and ensure a place in the All-Ireland series.
But what about Fermanagh, who face Armagh in the Ulster quarter-final? Why no sympathy for them? They beat Cavan, Kildare, drew with Meath, lost to Cork by a point and to Armagh by four points in Division 2. It was a much more competitive group than Division 3, yet Fermanagh are now deemed to be behind Westmeath and Down for championship purposes.
It's understandable why Westmeath and Down are disappointed that a place in the All-Ireland series is not guaranteed, but it's not solely the fault of the lopsided provincial system. Even more relevant is the structure of the Tailteann Cup, which has too many counties and is now a reset home for mid-ranking counties.
Westmeath, Cavan, Meath and Down were the finalists over the last two years. They should all have been in the All-Ireland series, leaving the Tailteann Cup to the bottom four in Division 3 and the eight in Division 4.
Its role should be to give those 12 counties a chance of winning a championship title, rather than also including teams from the bottom of Division 2 and top of Division 3.
Given the complaints from Westmeath and Down, top Division 3 teams want to be in the All-Ireland series, rather than the Tailteann Cup. So why block them?
Extending the All-Ireland field to 20 would not only sort out that problem but would also give the rest a decent chance of winning the Tailteann Cup. Instead, Division 4 teams in particular, have little chance of winning a competition which was supposed to be designed for them. Instead, they have to fight against big cuckoos taking over the nest.
Blaming the lopsided provincial championships for All-Ireland eligibility is easy but it's not the main reason for the problem. That's down to a bad decision to include too many counties in the Tailteann Cup. It could be fixed very easily.
League final was a spring mirage that won't last
Word has it that Jim Gavin, chairman of the Football Review Committee, is driving the process hard and fast. It needs to be done but only time will tell if the recommendations are radical or based on what might be acceptable as opposed to what's really needed.
Those who argue that there isn't much wrong with the game will claim their case was enhanced by Dublin v Derry last Sunday. It was quite an open game with slick and quick movement and much less defensive banking than usual.
Don't be fooled. A degree of risk-taking is acceptable in spring, but not once championship time arrives. Watching Derry v Dublin, I was reminded of the Galway v Kerry 2004 league final, which was a really entertaining contest, appreciated all the more because 2003 had a been a dour year, ending with Tyrone beating Armagh by 0-12 to 0-9 in the All-Ireland final.
Kerry beat Galway by 3-11 to 1-16 in an entertaining final after which Armagh manager Joe Kernan had an interesting encounter on his way out of Croke Park. A Galway man tapped him on the shoulder and said: "Joe, that's how football should be played."
To which Joe replied: "Yeah, but ye lost." The moral of the story? Don't overvalue what you see at this time of year. That's why Gavin and his group should – and probably will – ignore last Sunday. Football still needs a major overhaul.
Who is driving the ridiculous colour changes?
Just who is deciding jersey colours these days? Did we all miss a missive from on high which effectively ceded authority so that jersey designers can interfere with a county's identity as established through its traditional colours?
Some weeks ago Cork hurlers wore a combination of black (mainly) and red in a mixture which looked like the result of an explosion in a paint factory.
It was followed by Galway hurlers discarding maroon and white to wear a sickly dark blue jersey and black shorts against Limerick.
Last Saturday, Westmeath footballers wore mostly green jerseys while Down wore black. Unlike in the Cork and Galway cases, a change of colour was required as maroon (Westmeath) and red (Down) clashed.
Still, it was hardly necessary to go so far off the traditional shades. Mayo, Kerry and some others have also had bizarre deviations from their established colours. Why? Surely changes should only apply when there's a clash. Is there something else at play here, perhaps even an attempt by manufacturers to create an alternative market?

[Londoner89]

Breheny (must be past retirement age) spouting in the "Independent" that there should be 20 Counties in Sam.
Him, Prenty, Spillane and the rest moaning about the current system and calendar never produce an overall plan of how their soundbite alternatives would work.

They spent years complaining about one sided games. The provincials are the biggest sticking point here. Prenty's proposal would make the group stage meaningless for Dublin/Kerry. Provincial councils will never give up. Having the Div 3 champs qualifying would only work if the provincial link is broken because then they won't overtake a Div 2 county.

[thewobbler]

What a buffoon he is.

Left to their own devices we'd have blue on blue and red on maroon every week. Horrible to play in. Horrible to watch.

If it was up to me, every club and county in Ireland would have an all white away kit, and would wear it every time they play away.

Any club or county that plays predominantly in white would just have to wind their necks in an accept that this is for the greater good.

[screenexile]

3 fairly big upsets today!!