Peter Canavan:Ditching league finals would benefit integrity of the competion

[Keyser soze]

For the life of me I cannot get the rationale for people within the GAA constantly belittling existing GAA competitions. The latest bandwagon is that the league final is a bad thing. Not too long ago there was a school of thought about how league success and AI success were inextricably linked but following Mayo's blip last year there appears to be a head of steam building towards doing away with the league final. And if you think I'm over reacting think back to when the black card and forward mark [to name but 2 shitshow ideas] were introduced and how the momentum for those were generated.

There seems to be a school of thought out there which would support the following:

The McKenna Cup & other provincial preseason comps are a waste of time and should be scrapped.
The provincial championships are not fit for purpose and should replace the preseason comps.
The National League is meaningless and should be used instead as a seeding competition for the Championship. 

TBF I never hear these things talked about, or indeed even mentioned, outside the confines of media studios, newspaper columns or this board. But you can be sure that if some windbag says something on TV or a podcast it will have a large band of people on here claiming it as their own original proposal during the following week.

PS not saying Peter C is a windbag, but if Tyrone were top of the league and gunning for the final instead of Derry there might have been a different slant to his argument ;-)

[dec]

Seems like everyone is jumping on the bandwagon

https://www.rte.ie/sport/hurling/2024/0319/1438841-scrap-league-final-or-give-table-toppers-just-rewards/

Should Tipperary and Kilkenny come out on top I think it would make for a more honest and open league final as neither will face each other again unless in the All-Ireland series, so no need to hold back there really. Tipp will be the last team to puck a ball in the Liam MacCarthy and Kilkenny's first game is against Antrim so that window for recovery is good for both those teams. So from a neutral viewpoint we all want a Kilkenny and Tipp win this weekend...
I think the winner of the league should be just that: the top team at the end of the group league games, no semis, no final. Straight away you've knocked off two weeks of games and thus allowed at least a four-week break for teams to fine tune for the championship. A chance for them to let the hair down, take a break away from the cauldron of inter-county life for a few days, maybe even a week, recharge the batteries and go at it full tilt again, just like the good old days!...

[Aaron Boone]

Whenever a player or manager retires, the media report always says he won x All Irelands then x National Leagues then the Provincial wins. Check it out the next time a star retires.

The National League is a national title, one of only two per year. It's important.

[Eire90]

Mickey harte says it be a disgrace if they scrapped league finals i agree with him and derry would have won league if there was no final.

[snoopdog]

Andy Moran desperately wants to play the div 4 league final. He said it will be a massive week in Leitrim ahead of their trip to croke pk.  Div 3 final winners have  a Sam maguire place to play for. 

[Eire90]

the division 3 final is effectively a sam maguire playoff and first all Ireland knockout match of the season unless either team rich provincial final.

[Armamike]

Armagh get a league final and wee Pete is looking them scrapped!  Typical!

[seafoid]

https://twitter.com/BrophShane/status/1772003527205716004

The GAA has got a huge problem with the hurling and football leagues as in you can't trust what you are watching. Managers pick games over others to prioritise. So much of this years league has been fake and supporters won't stay paying high admission prices for it.

[imtommygunn]

The hurling leagues are poor in division 1 as too many meaningless games. There's no way to change the football leagues without putting more weight on the top tier and some form of championship seedings. It is not a huge problem - it's a problem if you're expecting games with the meaning of the championship from January.

[JoG2]

https://twitter.com/BrophShane/status/1772003527205716004

The GAA has got a huge problem with the hurling and football leagues as in you can't trust what you are watching. Managers pick games over others to prioritise. So much of this years league has been fake and supporters won't stay paying high admission prices for it.

Easy solution, let the masses, teams etc get on with the leagues, and Shane and yourself can switch off until the Championship starts? 

[seafoid]

https://twitter.com/BrophShane/status/1772003527205716004

The GAA has got a huge problem with the hurling and football leagues as in you can't trust what you are watching. Managers pick games over others to prioritise. So much of this years league has been fake and supporters won't stay paying high admission prices for it.

Easy solution, let the masses, teams etc get on with the leagues, and Shane and yourself can switch off until the Championship starts? 

I still like the league but I don't think it reflects football reality.

[Cavan19]

Whenever a player or manager retires, the media report always says he won x All Irelands then x National Leagues then the Provincial wins. Check it out the next time a star retires.

The National League is a national title, one of only two per year. It's important.

The team that would top the league would be awarded the league title.

[imtommygunn]

https://twitter.com/BrophShane/status/1772003527205716004

The GAA has got a huge problem with the hurling and football leagues as in you can't trust what you are watching. Managers pick games over others to prioritise. So much of this years league has been fake and supporters won't stay paying high admission prices for it.

Easy solution, let the masses, teams etc get on with the leagues, and Shane and yourself can switch off until the Championship starts? 

I still like the league but I don't think it reflects football reality.

You give off an awful lot about it for someone who likes it. The lower divisions reflect the reality a lot more.

[Armagh18]

Whenever a player or manager retires, the media report always says he won x All Irelands then x National Leagues then the Provincial wins. Check it out the next time a star retires.

The National League is a national title, one of only two per year. It's important.

The team that would top the league would be awarded the league title.

Ask the Leitrim lads- the chance to play a final in Croker means loads to them. I'm in favour of as many games vs training as possible and it's another game, plus a great experience for teams that will realistically never get to a big day in championship.

[Cavan19]

Whenever a player or manager retires, the media report always says he won x All Irelands then x National Leagues then the Provincial wins. Check it out the next time a star retires.

The National League is a national title, one of only two per year. It's important.

The team that would top the league would be awarded the league title.

Ask the Leitrim lads- the chance to play a final in Croker means loads to them. I'm in favour of as many games vs training as possible and it's another game, plus a great experience for teams that will realistically never get to a big day in championship.

I'm not saying it's not i was just responding to the poster who seemed to think that there wouldn't be titles if there was no final. I think there should be finals btw.