The qualifiers and super 8s have already devalued the provincial championships in a serious way...Central Council has severely undermined the provincial championships with the backdoor and super 8s and the provincial councils haven't batted an eyelid despite this supposed political power.
Yes, you're right there, it definitely has. But its the tradition and the status that dies hardest, denuded though they are they still enjoy massive prominence as the foundation stone and jumping off point for all that follows - that was principally what I was alluding to. There's a reason why you, I and the dogs on the street can all recognize that the provincial championships are devalued, and in my opinion, now an impediment, yet no single championship structure advocating for their removal ever, ever sees the light of day and is instead taken to a dark corner and quietly strangled by self-preservation. There would not in my lifetime, I reckon, be any appetite to put the 'greater good' of the GAA and the equality or health of its competitions before this status, power, tradition, fiefdom and tribalism, as we've seen with quite a few decisions and non-decisions over the decades.
Despite all the above and the serious inequities around the provincial championships, I wouldn't like to see any further demise, if only because it remains meaningful in Ulster. At the moment a provincial win would be a huge thing for Armagh (10 years since last success), Down (24 years), Derry (20 years), Cavan (21 years) and Fermanagh (never). Given where they are at at the moment, an Ulster Championship win for Cavan could be the catalyst the greater success. It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that one or two of these teams will emerge to win Ulster in the next five years.
I don't strongly disagree with any of this either but none of it addresses the point that the provincials, overall, in the wider view, are a hindrance to progress and true equality and until they are dispensed with/decoupled from the main business, no championship structure that can actually, genuinely level the playing field will ever become a reality.
The romance of lesser counties winning provincials isn't entirely lost on me either, I'm from a county where we've one a solitary title since 1969. However I don't think the wider health of the sport and organization can be hidebound or held to hostage by the humanitarian notion of waiting for our likes to have an occasional day in the sun. It might be a catalyst, it might not - what have we done in Cavan off the back of an absolutely massive breakthrough in 1997, when the provincials really were worth winning and it truly was a prize? In most counties that lack the wherewithal to win provincials regularly, winning one sporadically tends not to magically address the reasons why they failed so regularly for so long beforehand.
I'd argue that success in a remodeled, equitable championship and progression to August matches would be just as cherished by anyone from the counties you've mentioned anyway. Besides, you could run the provincials in place of the McKenna Cup and so on if it was really necessary to preserve them in some form so they don't disappear from history.
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