Is there really need for the championship to go on for 20 weeks. Is there no way to speed it up even without changing provential systems? Kerry only played 4 teams to get to final and Donegal played 5. Now heading for October and club championship is only starting for some players. This will probably mean that some players in Donegal and Kerry will get 2 weeks off around Christmas before they start over again in January.
I agree 100% with you. In my opinion, all first rounds, all semi-finals should be played the same day. It is way too drawn out. For next year we can say for certainty that Dublin, Kerry and Mayo will be in the ALl-Ireland semi-finals given the lack of competition they face before that in their provinces. Do we need a 20 week championship to tell us that?
22/09/2014 12:37:00 Mfs Is there really need for the championship to go on for 20 weeks. Is there no way to speed it up even without changing provential systems? Kerry only played 4 teams to get to final and Donegal played 5. Now heading for October and club championship is only starting for some players. This will probably mean that some players in Donegal and Kerry will get 2 weeks off around Christmas before they start over again in January. Yes championship should be speeded up but format really needs to change as well Club championships should never be only starting this time of year and should be ran through the summer no matter what the county head coach says. Club players will get more than 2 weeks off but want do you want done. The inter county championship could still be played over its existing timeframe and club players could play more games in summer if correct procedures were put in place but nobody in GAA with authority to enforce things like giving the majority of GAA members enough game time in summer has the balls to make sure club players get plenty of championship games in summer 22/09/2014 12:42:23 TheMaster Nobody stopped Donegal from playing their club championship, other than Donegal. You cant blame the gaa for that. +1
ormondbannerman - Only speaking from experience I have seen county championship matches played in December in Mayo in the last 2 years and in fairness to mayo county board they try to fit in as many championship matches as is possible in summer.
This debate has been goin' on for years and is no closer to a resolution as too many vested interests in the status quo. Long past the time for an Intermediate competition to run in parallel with Senior. Promotion/Relegation from both. TM cup was scrapped, why? Start with Div 1 and Div 2 teams in Senior with Div 3 and 4 in Intermediate. Include NY in Intermediate if you're serious about overseas games promotion, 1 game a year does what exactly for NY? 4 groups of 4 for both competitions, champions league format, top 2 in each group go to 1/4 finals (knockout). Bottom of each senior group play off for relegation. Extra time in each game to get a winner, only a draw at end of extra time. 3pts for a win, 1 for a draw, bonus point system similar to rugby. Winner of Intermediate gets promoted for following year. 8-12 weeks max to run both off. It'll never happen of course but I can only hope!