Contrasting routes to the Super 8s shows up provincial mess for exactly what it is

Niall McIntyre

Roscommon supporters will have high expectations.

While plenty of changes are coming into play for the 2018 All-Ireland football championships, the provincial competitions will still be played out as normal.

The provincial winners, the beaten finalists in the respective competitions, and the teams who progress from the qualifiers will then face off against each other in a Super 8s competition.

And this is how that system will look.

Group 1

Munster champions
Connacht champions
Ulster runner-up or a qualifier team that beats them in Round 4
Leinster runner-up or a qualifier team that beats them in Round 4

Group 2

Ulster champions
Leinster champions
Munster runner-up or a qualifier team that beats them in Round 4
Connacht runner-up or a qualifier team that beats them in round 4

In this competition, each county will have one home game, one away game and one game in Croke Park. The semi-finals will be comprised of the top two teams from each group.

2018 is set to be different but some things will remain the same. The provincial championships, despite the imbalance and unfairness they create, are still there. This is the GAA.

Winning them will again be vital for teams but that’s much easier for some counties than others. Because of their place on the map.

It will ensure teams avoid the treachery of a difficult qualifier run, and they will also be sure of the dates that will be playing which would help with training schedules and so on.

Teams won’t want to run the risk of receiving a tough assignment in the qualifiers but some of them will face exactly that, which will mean some of the top teams will be knocked out before the Super 8s.

While it doesn’t bode well for the weaker counties, who will play less games, it’s certainly going to be an exciting summer of championship football with the top counties clashing every weekend.

Permutations

Going on the form book, you would expect Dublin, Kerry, Tyrone/Monaghan and Mayo/Galway to progress to the Super 8s as provincial championship winners. After that it will come down to the beaten provincial finalists and the sides beaten earlier in the provincial championships who are then plunged into the qualifiers.

We took a look at the respective routes to the Super 8s and it just shows up again how out-dated these provincial competitions are.

Every team in the All-Ireland is supposed to be on an even keel coming in and yet some teams are trying to qualify for the quarter-finals through a six-team tournament and others through a 12-team tournament.

Kerry have an easy passage this year. They have an easy passage every year when compared to what the Ulster teams face.

What Monaghan have to do to reach the semis compared to Kerry is a complete joke | SportsJOE.ie https://t.co/M1cQMf7X9I

— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) May 8, 2017

All they’ve to do is beat the winners of Clare and Limerick to reach a Munster final. Even if they lose that, they only have to win one game to make it into the Super 8s.

Meanwhile, the non-competition that the Leinster championship is just makes the case even stronger to get rid of these provincial championships.

An improving Clare side may provide a test for Kerry, but Roscommon have the easiest draw of all.

Roscommon’s run

All the Rossies have to do to reach the Connacht Final this year is defeat the winners of New York and Leitrim. With respect to those sides, that should be an easy task for last year’s provincial champions.

That will mean they will then be playing the winners of Mayo-Galway in the decider. Win that and they’ll be straight through to the super 8s. Lose it, and they still have the safety net of the qualifiers.

In the qualifiers, they will only have to win one game to progress to the Super 8s. Here they could face a tough Ulster team, but they could just as easily be facing a poor Leinster team which all just adds to the inconsistencies of it all.

When you compare this to the task facing any of the counties in Ulster, it just shows up how favourable Kerry’s and Roscommon’s draws are.

Ulster draw

Donegal and Cavan both pulled the short straw in having to face into a preliminary round. One of the favourites for the competition, in Tyrone or Monaghan will be knocked out at the quarter final stages and will face a minefield of games in the qualifiers before they can sign off their places in the Super 8s.