Munster Makes it easier for Big two!

[Tankie]

Yeah, you're right all the provinces should be seeded. Mayo and Galway should never have been on the same side of the draw this year. God Sligo should have had to beat both to win their title. Same with ulster Armagh and Tyrone should have been on opposite sides, how can you let Monaghan to an Ulster final without beating either of these teams? God we do not want to be promoting weaker teams getting their big day in provincial finals and having a goal to win a title!

we ar e taking about the Munster title hear, nothing else, even tho i am fully in favour of scapping all the provincial titles. But Munster in particular is a joke, there is not one other team down there even close to Kerry or Cork and that is not because Cork and Kerry are so good, its purely that the other teams are not good enough, and would not be good enough to contend in any provincial title!

[From the Bunker]

Yeah, you're right all the provinces should be seeded. Mayo and Galway should never have been on the same side of the draw this year. God Sligo should have had to beat both to win their title. Same with ulster Armagh and Tyrone should have been on opposite sides, how can you let Monaghan to an Ulster final without beating either of these teams? God we do not want to be promoting weaker teams getting their big day in provincial finals and having a goal to win a title!

we ar e taking about the Munster title hear, nothing else, even tho i am fully in favour of scapping all the provincial titles. But Munster in particular is a joke, there is not one other team down there even close to Kerry or Cork and that is not because Cork and Kerry are so good, its purely that the other teams are not good enough, and would not be good enough to contend in any provincial title!

Fair enough, but why give either Kerry or Cork the advantage of knowing year in year out that they will be in the last 12 for an AI. Do you not think that that idea stinks? Why cannot either of these teams have to hit the backdoor earlier and make the feckers peak earlier, if they are good enough sure they should not need to be seeded, the argument works both ways ? Are they that special?

[Onlooker]

Waterford County Board really stand accused on this one.  Not only did they let down Clare, Limerick and Tipperary, but they stabbed their own footballers in the back.  Is it just a coincidence that Waterford have got a bye into the Semi Finals of the Munster Club Championships in both hurlingand football.   It is grossly unfair that a draw should be made in a manner that gives an extra advantage to Cork and Kerry over the other 4 counties.  It also more or less ensures that Cork will be in the last 12 of the All Ireland Championship every year, even if they are hammered by Kerry in the Munster Final.  Fair play and sportsmanship don't count for much in Cork or Kerry GAA circles.  As for Waterford they have lost a lot of goodwill by their attitude.  Not even Cork or Kerry can really admire what they did!!!.

[Declan]

Limerick footballers boycott Munster
Thursday, 11 October 2007 08:26

The Irish Examiner has reported that five Limerick footballers have refused to play with Munster in Saturday's Martin Donnelly Inter-provincial semi-final against Leinster, in protest at the decision made by the Munster Council last week to revert to a seeded draw in the Munster Senior Football Championship.

Speaking in today's Examiner, Limerick manager Mickey Ned O'Sullivan confirmed: 'I was asked to contact five players in Limerick this week to play for Munster at the weekend. They all felt that they would not have the heart to play for a province that has treated them the way it has and that has no interest in the development of football in the weaker counties.

'So they decided against playing - which is a big decision. The players felt that they are being left out on a limb. I agree with them totally and to the best of my knowledge, there is a similar feeling in the other counties like Tipperary, Waterford and Clare.'

He added: 'The people in charge of football are completely out of touch.'

The Munster management are already without a host of Cork, Kerry and Clare players because of personal and club commitments.

[Shamrock Shore]

Hats off to the Limerick lads.

Shocking decision by the Munster Council and (poking head above parapet) perhaps another reason to get rid of the Provincial championships.

[From the Bunker]

Glad to see the Limerick lads not taking this one lying down!

[Kerry Mike]

I've mixed feelings on this, on the one hand I love Munster finals against Cork but this is a backward step from the Munster Council, the smaller counties have now no chance of progressing. Whatever progress has been made in Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford and Clare over the last few years they now have a huge hurdle to over come in both Cork and Kerry. The very least the MC could have done was to try and introduce some sort of round robin system for the 4 smaller counties each playing 3 games against each other and then let the leading two have a crack off either Kerry or Cork in the Munster semis. maybe the same outcome would be expected but at least they are getting competitive games against teams of roughly their own standards before they fall through the door to Tommy Murphy, that may help in the long term in getting those counties out of Div 4 and away from Tommy Murphy.

There is no easy answer for Munster football, this may drive lads away from football and to hurling where players will see better chance of Munster success. Its no good for Kerry either we are told we need tough games to prepare for the hard battle for Sam.

We are told that dwindling crowds are a factor in the change but we will see if the change brings improvements, I doubt it.

[Kerry Mike]

BTW fair play to the Limerick players for taking a stand, and given the Kerry and Cork withdrawals due to a backlog of club games this will be a very weak Munster team.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Wouldn't argee with this at all. Would hate to see Connacht going down the same road. In such small provinces you are much better off leaving it as an open draw.

[zoyler]

If they really want to screw the Munster Council they should withdraw from the champioship altogeather and just play in the subsidury comp. 

[Onlooker]

Interesting to see the Munster team next Saturday's game in Fermoy- 7 from Cork, 5 from Kerry and 3 from Waterford.  Nobody from Clare, Limerick or Tipperary, of course.  Waterford really must have improved since the last time I saw them playing earlier this year!!!.

[darbyo]

The more I think about the Waterford county boards decision the more annoyed I get. Surely a county board delegation has to discuss this type of decision with club delegates before hand. This isn't the case here it seems, as during a county board meeting last week the 'top table' recieved sever criticism from the floor as club delegate after club delegate rounded on the decision. How the delegates who made the decision had the gall to face other Waterford GAA folk and tell them it was in the best interests of Waterford football i'll never know. They should be ashamed.

[deiseach]

Interesting to see the Munster team next Saturday's game in Fermoy- 7 from Cork, 5 from Kerry and 3 from Waterford.  Nobody from Clare, Limerick or Tipperary, of course.  Waterford really must have improved since the last time I saw them playing earlier this year!!!.

Is that why we voted for this? Christ, we're easy!

[Onlooker]

My understanding is that Waterford voted for the seeded draw in football in the expectation that Cork and Kerry would also support a seeded draw in hurling, so that Waterford and Limerick as this year's Munster finalists would get byes to next year's semi finals.   This did not happen so the Waterford members of the Munster Council were left with quite a lot of egg on their faces.

[darbyo]

Surely that's not true, seeding in the hurling is of little advantage to anyone, and with Limerick(not Cork) being the other seeded team, it would be a disadvantage for Waterford next year.