A sop to weaker counties
As if you needed reminding but Dublin hammered Longford on Sunday in one of the most depressing games of football we’ve seen in a very long time.
The 27-point beating in our estimation does more damage to GAA than any defensive tactics employed by teams to try and stifle their opponents.
The game was a farce as Longford are clearly ill-equipped to challenge Dublin, and now it seems the Leinster Council are coming around to the idea of eliminating junk games by altering their championship structure.
According to the Irish Independent Leinster chairman John Horan feels that if Dublin claim this year’s Leinster title, then in 2016 they won’t even have to play a Q-final.
The Dublin native believes that if Jim Gavin’s side secure a 10th Leinster title 11 years, the capital’s footballers should get a bye straight to the semi finals, to limit the crushing defeats suffered by weaker counties.
The Leinster hurling championship currently sees the defending champions enter the competition at semi final stage due to Kilkenny’s grip on the Bob O’Keefe and it now seems that the football championship will follow suit,
“We gave Kilkenny a bye to a Leinster semi-final. Do we give Dublin a bye into a football semi-final?’
‘That’s something we have to look at and it will be arrived at by democratic decision.’
The logic is to try and give weaker counties at least one win under their belts before facing the might of Dublin who have won 30 of the last 32 Leinster championship games they have played.
The idea seems genuine but we suspect that instead of teams being hammered in a Q-final you’ll now see sides being walloped in the last four.
The Leinster Council will discuss any change to their competitions in October before the draws for the provincial championships are made.
