Provincial Championship Draws 2018 tonight

[Il Bomber Destro]

Would it be fair to say the Ulster draw is reasonably well balanced compared to previous years where there was a definite weaker side

That's because it's the weakest Province. Most teams are at a poor level.

Odd that it had 3 of the 4 up for grabs spots in the last 12.

[Il Bomber Destro]

To Bomber and other Ulster whingers - why don't ye put up a motion to either abolish the Provincials or to have them as  stand alone competitions with no direct link to the All Ireland Championship.

The provinces can stay but the qualifier system should redress the imbalances of the Provincial system, not compound them.

[mrhardyannual]

Mayo again, Roscommon certainly have had the luck with the draw this decade.

Nos dates released yet, would imagine it will be mid May at the latest.

That's a very pessimistic outlook considering you've been drawn against a team you've beaten for the last two years!

[giveballaghback]

Dates will be released as soon as the gaa and sky tv divide the sweets

[Rossfan]

To Bomber and other Ulster whingers - why don't ye put up a motion to either abolish the Provincials or to have them as  stand alone competitions with no direct link to the All Ireland Championship.

The provinces can stay but the qualifier system should redress the imbalances of the Provincial system, not compound them.

Go on give us an oul hint as to how that might be done?

[giveballaghback]

Heres the only way to redress the imbalance and unfairness of the Ulster situation,
Ulster champs go straight to the all-ire final
Runners up to the semi-final
beaten ulster semi-finalists play off for one of the 2 remaining quarter final places.
Sounds about right and fair

[Main Street]

I'm content enough with Monaghan getting Tyrone. Get those rascals out of the way as early as possible and hope they don't return  through the back door with 2 dozen chips on each shoulder looking to stab you in the back.
Probably it will be a Tyrone team attempting a "transition",  a journey into discovering a new ways of playing football,  or what ever buzz word is used  by some coach Mickey brought in to actify the transition phase.
Beating them in Tyrone would be an added strawberry on the dessert.

I'm missing big Sean already.

[Il Bomber Destro]

To Bomber and other Ulster whingers - why don't ye put up a motion to either abolish the Provincials or to have them as  stand alone competitions with no direct link to the All Ireland Championship.

The provinces can stay but the qualifier system should redress the imbalances of the Provincial system, not compound them.

Go on give us an oul hint as to how that might be done?

Teams from provinces should be kept apart in the qualifiers as far as possible. You will have Tyrone or Monaghan and two of Derry, Cavan and Donegal.

Apart from Connacht where the big two (Galway and Mayo) meet in the QF and one will enter the first round of the qualifiers, the three Ulster sides who enter that first round of the qualifiers will be the best teams in it. I think teams who find themselves in the qualifiers early as a result of  the provinicial structure should not have that repeated again as far as possible.

Just having a look at things here, I would wager the first round entrants would be this year in order of ranking teams best to worst:

1. Monaghan
2. Galway
3. Derry (depending on whether they have the majority of their best players making themselves available next year)
4. Cavan

They would be the four likely teams from Round 1 who you would fancy at being capable of getting from R1 of the qualifiers to an AI QF or the Super 8 as it is now termed. 3 of those sides will have been put in there due to the draw in Ulster, in the next round Armagh and Down will probably be joining them. I think it's fair that they should avoid teams from their own Province until the qualifiers have ran their course (ie the Super

[Rossfan]

Round 1 will have 7 Leinster teams,  5 Ulster and 2 each from Munster and Connacht.
Very hard to avoid same Province clashes with an open draw.

[Il Bomber Destro]

Round 1 will have 7 Leinster teams,  5 Ulster and 2 each from Munster and Connacht.
Very hard to avoid same Province clashes with an open draw.

Not that hard in round 1.

That mix means it is fine to have no same province clashes.

Even if the 5 Ulster sides progressed to round two then it should still be able to have no same province clashes.

The only way a same province clash would be possible is if the 7 Leinster sides won their first round qualifiers (never going to happen).

Round 3 is the earliest round you could have a same province clash in probability and it should only happen in the case it's unavoidable.

Same province clashes should not happen as long as it's possible not to happen.

For instance, were there no A or B side to the draw this year then there would have been no All Ulster Clash between Down and Monaghan.

The draw would have been:
Cork/Galway/Kildare v Armagh/Donegal/Monaghan
Down v Mayo

If there is an imbalance in the Provincial system then qualifiers should intend to redress that rather than compound it.

[Rossfan]

There is no A and B nonsense this year.
Only way to address the imbalances between the numbers in the Provinces is to have no link between the Provincials and the AI.
You'd have to play the Provincials as stand alone so and then start from scratch with an AI.
That will happen many years from now when you have Senior, Inter and Junior AIs.
Meanwhile you'd have to bring in some system where any win in a Provincial let's you jump a round of Qualifiers.

[Il Bomber Destro]

There is no A and B nonsense this year.
Only way to address the imbalances between the numbers in the Provinces is to have no link between the Provincials and the AI.
You'd have to play the Provincials as stand alone so and then start from scratch with an AI.
That will happen many years from now when you have Senior, Inter and Junior AIs.
Meanwhile you'd have to bring in some system where any win in a Provincial let's you jump a round of Qualifiers.

There is a way to redress the balance of the Provincials.

Better teams who enter the qualifiers at an earlier stage have done so generally due to the strength of their province. This is compounded by the fact that you can then meet other teams from that province in the middle of June and July.

This should not be the case, teams from the same Province should not be clashing in the qualifiers (where possible).

Just for argument say the teams that go into the R2 draw of the qualifiers next year are:

R1 winners:
Cavan
Galway
Derry
Fermanagh
Monaghan
Laois
Louth
Longford

SF Losers:
Armagh
Down
Meath
Westmeath
Sligo
Leitrim
Clare
Tipp

In that case the draw is very simple.

Armagh and Down can only face Galway, Laois, Louth or Longford.
Meath and Westmeath cannot face Laois, Louth or Longford.
Sligo or Leitrim cannot draw Galway
Clare and Tipp can draw any of the R1 winners.

So let's say Armagh draw Laois out of the hat and Down get Louth.
Meath and Westmeath then have five possible opponents, for argument sake, we will say they draw Cavan and  Galway.
Sligo and Leitrim can then draw any of the 4 opponents and Clare and Tipp likewise.

It's pretty easy to implement and would go some way to redress the imbalance of the Provincial system without having to restructure the current format.

[Rossfan]

Ros can still get into Round 4 by winning 1 game v a D4 team.

[Syferus]

Ros can still get into Round 4 by winning 1 game v a D4 team.

We could have just as easily had Mayo, Sligo and Galway to win a Connacht final. In fact it was more likely than the draw we got. It's called a draw for a reason. Some amount of whining done here.

[weareros]

The easy way to solve the inbalances between provinces is to change it from provinces to North, South, East and West. Donegal would move from North to West. Then both Connacht and Ulster would have same with one simple move. Send Wexford to South, etc.

It would still not solve the greatest in-balance - population sizes. That creates an imbalance from player picks, to fundraising ability, and so on.