Tommy Murphy Cup R.I.P.

[believebelive]

According to the person who proposed the Wicklow motion at congress the motion was driven by the inter county players from Wicklow. I accept that when teams get to the Tommy Murphy Cup final they do put in an effort to win the game but if you look at the majority of teams preparation for the competition in recent years it is clear that there is little enthusiasm for the competition among county players.
If the players do not want it then why should it remain? I find it a little arrogant of posters from stronger counties to purport to know what is better for weaker counties. If the players in those weaker counties think that it belittles them further then the competition is pointless.

[cornafean]

I was amazed last night to read this, from Monday's Independent report from Congress

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/tommy-murphy-cup-dead-in-the-water-says-gaa-boss-1346829.html

GAA Director-General, Paraic Duffy, warned that allowing those teams back into the championship would have a negative impact on the local club scene as it would use up an extra weekend and add to already hectic schedules.

Duffy also said that it would be naive to expect that a Division Four team would start winning championship games and questioned why change was being proposed so soon.

Did Paraic Duffy really say this? Did he mean it? Does he really, really believe that it is "naive" to expect, for example, Offaly, Antrim or Wicklow to make any impact whatsoever in this year's Championship? Did any of the representatives from the Division 4 counties respond to his comments?

[AZOffaly]

The last time Offaly won a Leinster Championship (in 1997 when Meath, Kildare and Dublin were all competitive) they finished the league with promotion from Division 4.

[INDIANA]

the gaa don't want to have to scrap the competition and say it was  dumb idea. I don't see how the gaa has the right to impose a competition on teams that don't want to play in it. Like i said the fact that most of them will be regularly hockeyed every year is entirely their business but if that's what they want to do then that's their decision.
Hypocritical though to say it causes club fixtures problems when the international rules causes more bloody problems than anything else for club fixtures. The tommy murphy cup was a badly attended joke of  a competition that played havoc with club fixtures from what i could see.

[cornafean]

I am still wondering if its appropriate for the Association's Director General to hold a full-time paid executive position while at the same time attempting to influence Congress by publicly advocating policy positions that so clearly discriminate against the interests of a number of counties.

[Onlooker]

I am still wondering if its appropriate for the Association's Director General to hold a full-time paid executive position while at the same time attempting to influence Congress by publicly advocating policy positions that so clearly discriminate against the interests of a number of counties.

I was more than surprised at Padraig Duffy's intervention in this debate and his support for a continuance of a system that discriminated seriously against a number of counties.  It was clearly unfair that every county could get a second chance in the Championship except 8 counties in Division 4.  This year, for example, the winners of the Munster Championship match between Clare and Waterford would have to beat Kerry to get into the qualifiers.  How can Duffy or anyone else say that is a fair system.  Congress took a fair and wise decision last week and I would have been very angry if Duffy had swayed the vote on this issue.

[magpie seanie]

Duffy is starting off to be a bit of a disappointment.

[burgh]

cant understand what duffy could be seeing. the tommy murphy cup was an unsuccesfull experiment. as some1 previously said, if the reward for winning the tommy murphy was place in the qualifiers at some stage then it might have been more successful. several counties have benefited greatly from the qualifiers and this is far better for improving weak counties. for instance sligo and longford are two teams who greatly improved from the qualifier system, these two teams play this weekend with a good chance of one of them been relegated to division 4 for next year. the tommy murphy system would then prevent them from gaining access to qualifiers if they dont make provincal final. that would be a disaster for either team and more counties in similar system. i also think a number of division 4 teams have a chance of affecting the championship, offaly in particular

[INDIANA]

i doubt any div 4 team will have any impact on the qualifiers or the championship this year- antrim might cause a surprise but the rest are poor. but they are entitled to play in the qualifiers if they want to- the gaa shouldn't be shoving counties into mickey mouse tournaments they don't want to play in. the fact that on average they will be hockeyed most years is their decision.

[Rossfan]

i doubt any div 4 team will have any impact on the qualifiers or the championship this year-

You are dead right as none of them can play in the Qualifiers unless they get to their Provincial Final.
The new( or return of the old) scenario only comes into play in 2009.

[Bogball XV]

i doubt any div 4 team will have any impact on the qualifiers or the championship this year-

You are dead right as none of them can play in the Qualifiers unless they get to their Provincial Final.
The new( or return of the old) scenario only comes into play in 2009.

Which is stupid too, if the rule is stupid next year, it's also stupid this year.  Maybe they reckon it would play havoc with 'The Master Fixtures' as set out on the gaa website - it makes me angry even thinking about that site tbh.

[burgh]

Which is stupid too, if the rule is stupid next year, it's also stupid this year.  Maybe they reckon it would play havoc with 'The Master Fixtures' as set out on the gaa website - it makes me angry even thinking about that site tbh


i agree with ya there its stupid for this summer too. so the teams that get regulated to division 4 wont play in qualifiers dis summer f dont make prov final? wel i reckon sligo limerick and longford are not bad teams and could be in that senario. some of the teams at the bottom of div 4 are very poor though

[AFS]

cant understand what duffy could be seeing. the tommy murphy cup was an unsuccesfull experiment. as some1 previously said, if the reward for winning the tommy murphy was place in the qualifiers at some stage then it might have been more successful. several counties have benefited greatly from the qualifiers and this is far better for improving weak counties. for instance sligo and longford are two teams who greatly improved from the qualifier system, these two teams play this weekend with a good chance of one of them been relegated to division 4 for next year. the tommy murphy system would then prevent them from gaining access to qualifiers if they dont make provincal final. that would be a disaster for either team and more counties in similar system. i also think a number of division 4 teams have a chance of affecting the championship, offaly in particular

Perhaps if the 'experiment' was let run for more than 1 year we could have seen attitudes change.

[Rossfan]

[ the gaa website - it makes me angry even thinking about that site tbh.

Why
Are you against modern technology or what?

[burgh]

Perhaps if the 'experiment' was let run for more than 1 year we could have seen attitudes change.
[/quote]


wel i suppose it would take time for something like that to develop properly but it doesnt seem right to be forcing teams into it while its still a bit of a joke.