Are the Provincial Championships Friar Tucked?

[Hurler on the Bitch]

Ok - Cork v Kerry in the semi-final and - perhaps - Dublin v Wexford in the other... What was all the sh1te about about Provincial finals about? Cork v Kerry - 1 final and 2 semis in the last five years... makes a monkey out of the Munster final. I do feel sorry for the punters who paid good money into the to see that. The Leinster Council are milking the Dubs..  If Kildare v Loais had been the Leinster final for the last three years... well?  The sooner that we get a new system the better.....

[RadioGAAGAA]

The sooner that we get a new system the better.....

Rubbish.


Look at the attendances of the qualifiers. The only decent attendances this year have come from the provincial championships.



I don't understand the rabid need to do away with the provincial system - playing your neighbour adds an edge that a first round game simply wouldn't have otherwise.

[Yes I Would]

Provinincial finals can be maintained, but should be irrelevant to who goes on and wins Sam.

Could perhaps be held to replace the micky mouse national league during the months of Jan Feb. More games under lights and a bit more significance to each game.

A league format should then be used to give all teams more game time with the consistent teams progressing to knock out, be it quarter final/semi final/final. No back door system shite.

[orangeman]

Winning the AI final can now be down to a lottery - if you're lucky with the draw in the qualifiers, you can go on a good run so it's very much luck of the draw ! Time to get rid of this lottery !

[Bogball XV]

Provinincial finals can be maintained, but should be irrelevant to who goes on and wins Sam.

Could perhaps be held to replace the micky mouse national league during the months of Jan Feb. More games under lights and a bit more significance to each game.

A league format should then be used to give all teams more game time with the consistent teams progressing to knock out, be it quarter final/semi final/final. No back door system shite.

Yeah, I agree, don't know what system exactly should be used, but the current one is muck and something like you suggest is really the only way forward.  That way we get to see more of the truly great teams (like the current kerry side) play meaningful matches and it can only improve everyone's game.
Attendances could suffer, but home and away games should make up for the lack of some travelling support and if everyone has a decent stadium holding 20K odd the atmosphere would be excellent.

[orangeman]

We need a champions leaguie format - play a competition on a home and away basis for the top 8 teams -
top four go into the semi finals -

[An Laoch]

Provincial championships are a waste of time. The local rivalries would still be there as neighbouring counties will have to rub off each other sooner or later in the All Ireland championship. I really like the idea of seeded groups, 8 groups of 4 followed by knock out stages. The seedings determined by the National Leagues.

[Our Nail Loney]

We need a champions leaguie format - play a competition on a home and away basis for the top 8 teams -
top four go into the semi finals -

What of the teams not in the top 8? No chance of all ireland glory? What would you introduce for them, a sort of uefa cup/inter toto thing?

[Yes I Would]

There will have to be an incentive for the teams who obvioulsy arent going to qualify. Perhaps an external independant body should be set up with no links to make recommendations.

The provincials will still be in place giving each county the chance of local bragging rights. Ulster perhaps 2 groups five and four with top 2 making semi-final knockout stage.

Will take alot of planning and foresight to make work, but just think the current system is flawed, and that the customer is getting short changed.

[orangeman]

We need a champions leaguie format - play a competition on a home and away basis for the top 8 teams -
top four go into the semi finals -

What of the teams not in the top 8? No chance of all ireland glory? What would you introduce for them, a sort of uefa cup/inter toto thing?

Yep - a secondary competition - let's face it - these secondary teams are only cannon fodder at the minute !

[IolarCoisCuain]

Provinincial finals can be maintained, but should be irrelevant to who goes on and wins Sam.

The Provincial Finals are currently irrelevant to who goes on to win Sam. This is the whole problem, isn't it?

[Bogball XV]

Provinincial finals can be maintained, but should be irrelevant to who goes on and wins Sam.

The Provincial Finals are currently irrelevant to who goes on to win Sam. This is the whole problem, isn't it?

nope, the main problem is that the path to the quarter finals is totally lop-sided.

[orangeman]

The back door suits the stronger teams, especially in Ulster where the Ulster c'ship is now just a war of attrition.

[Our Nail Loney]

We need a champions leaguie format - play a competition on a home and away basis for the top 8 teams -
top four go into the semi finals -

What of the teams not in the top 8? No chance of all ireland glory? What would you introduce for them, a sort of uefa cup/inter toto thing?

Yep - a secondary competition - let's face it - these secondary teams are only cannon fodder at the minute !

But sure among the teams left now we have a third tier team and a second tier team. Under your idea they wouldn't get a look in.

What about wicklow beating kildare this year? That wouldn't even get a look in under your structure.

[orangeman]

We need a champions leaguie format - play a competition on a home and away basis for the top 8 teams -
top four go into the semi finals -

What of the teams not in the top 8? No chance of all ireland glory? What would you introduce for them, a sort of uefa cup/inter toto thing?

Yep - a secondary competition - let's face it - these secondary teams are only cannon fodder at the minute !

But sure among the teams left now we have a third tier team and a second tier team. Under your idea they wouldn't get a look in.

What about wicklow beating kildare this year? That wouldn't even get a look in under your structure.

That's what the FA cup is for ! Premiership is for the true champions - FA Cup is a chnce for the Wicklows of this world -Wickow beating Kildare was a one off - Antrim beat Wicklow in the Tom Murphy final.