Oisin McConville points out that Ulster counties are disadvantaged when it comes to trying to progress to the latter stages of the championship.

With Ulster big guns Donegal and Tyrone due to meet in the preliminary round of next summer's Ulster SFC and the winners set to face Armagh in a quarter-final, the challenge is much more daunting than that facing their rivals in Connacht or Munster.

"Obviously there is an imbalance in the All-Ireland championship when you look at the match-ups in the various provinces and the way in which some teams are spared involvement in the earlier stages of the respective competitions," McConville notes in The Belfast Telegraph.

"The GAA is being encouraged to have a look at the overall picture but I don't think that the provincial Councils will want to give up their autonomy.

"The provincial championships certainly have appeal but when you consider the very straightforward route which some teams in the country are offered it just doesn't seem fair.

"The Ulster championship still retains its allure but you can certainly take it from me that any team that wins it utterly deserves it."

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