Last year's thread went down a treat but unfortunately a few of the dubs on here missed the point and took it as sour grapes . Was nearly tempted to sign up with a new username to write this and go under a USA county tag to avoid a repeat of last year's petty views but alas I couldn't be bothered!

Anyway I've modified my solution to save what was once a great championship with great excitement. If leinster is to continue we have 2 choices. The first is the easy option . It will change nothing and the championship will rot into obscurity. Dublin will win at least 8 of the next 10 but nobody will even care .

The second option or solution as I like to call it is this . Rotate the Dublin region around all 4 provinces. This means every 4 years they will walk leinster but for the other 3 it will be extremely competitive . We've seen carlow who are probably the worst county by far put it up to meath , louth and laois but they seem to have just given up and many of their best players have quit. If Dublin were gone they would have an achievable standard and would improve no end. You would probably have 5 different winners over a 10 year period.

Benefits for the dubs are just as big. They will play teams like kerry, Cork, mayo, Galway and all the ulster teams given them a proper match. Their supports would have some epic Road trips. Could you imagine the excitement of kerry v Dublin munster semi final down in tralee or against mayo in mchale Park?

Lein$ter council could split the money from dublins matches with whichever province they're playing in that year . Another benefit is a fairly boring province like munster or connaught would be extremely exciting the year the dubs are playing and I think ulster would be epic .

Win win for all but it will probably never happen. More chance of the failed Tommy Murphy returning I'd say .

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 31/05/2015 16:53:52    1730531

27 point win for Dublin over Longford and they're better than a few other leinster counties. The time for change was 5 years ago but do it now before its too late.

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 31/05/2015 17:41:55    1730570

Well after today something has to be done, its a ridiculous structure that pits a team like Longford against a team like Dublin. I'd prefer if they just scrapped the Provincial's but that is not going to suit Munster/Ulster - maybe connacht and Leinster can come up with a format that makes the competitions more meaningful. But right now that game was a huge turn off.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4898 - 31/05/2015 17:53:29    1730578

Arock still to this day, 3 of the best supported teams in country are dubs obviously, but also Meath and Kildare, the Leinster council is by far the most profitable, and would probably be the same even if you take dubs out.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 31/05/2015 18:04:04    1730584

Is there any logical reason to have a unified Dublin team in the first place? I mean the political reality is that there are 3 Co.Councils in Dublin, there is a definite argument for splitting the county into 3 teams. You wouldn't be stuck for numbers either.

Ned_Stormcrow (Cavan) - Posts: 1071 - 31/05/2015 18:15:46    1730588

I think rotating the dubs annually around the provinces is a better solution than splitting them up. Maybe split them for minor and u21 first but I don't want to see them split at senior anytime soon.

They can win a provincial every year for all I care but at least with my idea no province would be damaged beyond repair.

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 31/05/2015 18:52:27    1730597

Im sick of these uneven mismatches.Have been for a long time.Untill counties dont feel its demeaning to play in a Championship level that suits their ability,well then today and many more days like it,will remain their lot.Ive even proposed some counties amalgamating,but admit that probably wont happen.There has to be a Championship 1 & 2.16 counties on each.Both finals played same day in HQ,with promotion & relegation.I was going to go to todays game,especially as the hurling was on,but decided not to at last minute.I knew the football would be nothing more than a training ground shooting bonanza.There will be many more days like this if n acion is taken,and fans will stay away.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 31/05/2015 19:05:46    1730603

Jack_Goff
County: Meath
Posts: 1429

You're basically dismembering the provincial championships though.

It'll be called the Ulster (plus Dublin once every four years because they're too good for Leinster) Senior Football Championship etc.

Ned_Stormcrow (Cavan) - Posts: 1071 - 31/05/2015 19:08:20    1730605

The concern the leinster council will have soon is that even the Dubs fans won't bother coming to Croker. It's too boring even to watch when your own team is winning at a canter on a regular basis. Revenues will suffer.

Headtheball1 (Louth) - Posts: 67 - 31/05/2015 19:09:02    1730607

Ned thanks for the reply.

I disagree because at the end of the day Dublin are a massive region so shouldn't be treated like a county especially now that they are utilising their advantages.

Do you not agree that leinster as a province would recover and you'd get also improve the other 3 aswell?

Especially connaught and munster that have too few teams as it is . Ulster would almost be overkill as it's an unbelievable championship without the dubs!

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 31/05/2015 19:24:34    1730613

Headtheball I agree. Meath rarely hammer any team but they gave carlow a similar beating recently and it was the most unenjoyable match I ever seen! If I was a dub I'd love this proposal.

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 31/05/2015 19:27:18    1730617

Jack Goff, you're right. There is a concern there and solutions need to be looked at. Looking at the game today, I can see why the topic of Dublin's dominance is being discussed more and more. Saying all that I think you're suggestion would never work and you clearly have not given it much thought.

1. Dublin would in all probability go round the country and beat teams like Waterford, Leitrim and Antrim by a similar margin. You talked about the positive aspect of Dublin getting a challenge from the Kerrys, the Mayos and the Donegals but glaringly overlooked this.

2. Dublin and Waterford in a first Munster clash or Dublin and London in the Connaught championship - sounds like just what we need.

3. You're the only Meath man I know that would like to win a Leinster championship without Dublin.

4. When Meath hammer Carlow like they did last year, what do you then? Start rotating Meath?

Longford is a county similar to Monaghan in terms of population and size. When you examine their records in football championships going back 40 or 50 years they are arguably quite similar too. Yet there's a world of difference between the two counties when it comes to competing. Without being too harsh, Longford could take a look at Monaghan's success story and try copy them.

Of course it's going to take more than that but what it does show is that there are possibilities there. The League also represents an opportunity for counties like Longford to make progress and that is where their focus should be. Everyone can't be an All-Ireland contender and every game can't be close.

My overriding belief is that no matter what fiddling you do with the championship structure, there will still be hammerings and the good teams will still win the thing.

Former_Poster (Meath) - Posts: 394 - 31/05/2015 19:38:09    1730624

The administrative counties of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin along with Dublin City should enter the All-Ireland Championship.

The Dublin Region could enter the Railway Cup run in a round robin format:
Dubin
Leinster
Munster
Connaught
Ulster

As crazy as it might seem, the only fairest competition is the capital taking on the other provinces.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7873 - 31/05/2015 19:50:05    1730630

Headtheball1
County: Louth
Posts: 44

1730607
The concern the leinster council will have soon is that even the Dubs fans won't bother coming to Croker. It's too boring even to watch when your own team is winning at a canter on a regular basis. Revenues will suffer.

------
Yes but is it that the Dubs are so good or that the rest are so bad. It's clearly the latter. Look at the league tables. Taking Dublin out of Leinster will make it a competitive province full of bad teams who will take a hiding once they get out of the province. Very poor teams like Meath, Kildare and Laois will have themselves convinced that they are half decent until they take a hiding off Armagh or somebody. It will take the pressure off county managers in Leinster and remove any incentive that currently exists to up their game. It would serve no purpose. Donegal have proven that this Dublin team are well beatable. If Mayo had hammered Leitrim by a similar score would everyone be calling for Mayo to rotate around the provinces? I think it has been a quarter of a century since a team other than Cork or Kerry won the Munster championship. Should Cork and Kerry not be moved to Connaught and Ulster?

If change is required then it has to be a fundamental redesign of the championship and not a change designed to punish one county because they have put the work in to become successful.

Joxer (Dublin) - Posts: 4700 - 31/05/2015 20:01:11    1730636

Its a result of the redefinition of Gaelic Football

worple (Roscommon) - Posts: 340 - 31/05/2015 20:14:09    1730641

Former poster cheers for the reply .

In regards to meath , I'd at this stage be delighted if we got moved to another province . We had less than 10k meath fans for the leinster final last year . People are speaking with their feat. It's stale and crap. I enjoy the league a lot more than the leinster championship. And yeah they would hammer waterford if they drew them but then they would have a big match vs kerry or Cork next .

Compare that to leinster . They go from one hammering to another to the final for another . And it would only happen to maybe 1 team in one province every 4 years . No terminal damage would be done and the 3 years leinster would have of no dubs would allow the championship to become as competitive as ulster .

Positives far outweigh the negatives . Leave leinster as it is and only Dublin and maybe meath/Kildare once in 10years will win leinster apart from dunlin . Take them out for 3 of 4 years and you'll have a plethora of winners .Teams wining major honours for once will improve no end and the GAA at grass routes in these counties will reap the rewards .

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 31/05/2015 21:12:31    1730670

How dominant have Kilkenny been in Leinster over the last 20 years. Yet nobody has suggested splitting them. GAA is still a minority sport in Dublin, there are more GAA Clubs in COrk than Dublin. Dublin gaa people would walk away if they tried to split Dublin.
The provincial system is dead, it has been for a while. Look at Munster. I agree with the idea of a 16 team all Ireland; a championship based on 4 groups of 4, round robin, top two in each section going into AI quarter finals.

Drummerboy (Dublin) - Posts: 85 - 31/05/2015 21:35:10    1730692

Also joxer the point you make about munster. Wouldn't it make sense then to have Dublin in munster every 4 years to break the Cork, kerry duopoly? Liven it up. In connaught mayo wouldn't be going for 4 or 5 in a row this year if they had to face the dubs in one of them.

And so what if the leinster counties don't go onto much. To counties like westmeath , Longford ,louth, laois, offaly etc winning the delaney cup would be as good as an all Ireland . They'd celebrate it more than some counties celebrate the all Ireland that's for sure .

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 31/05/2015 21:37:47    1730695

Drummerboy
County: Dublin
Posts: 81

1730692
How dominant have Kilkenny been in Leinster over the last 20 years. Yet nobody has suggested splitting them. GAA is still a minority sport in Dublin, there are more GAA Clubs in COrk than Dublin. Dublin gaa people would walk away if they tried to split Dublin.
The provincial system is dead, it has been for a while. Look at Munster. I agree with the idea of a 16 team all Ireland; a championship based on 4 groups of 4, round robin, top two in each section going into AI quarter finals.

You know what . They did actually do something in leinster hurling . They invested millions into Dublin hurling underage and brought Antrim and Galway in. It's now a great championship. Way better than the football borefest .

So why not have my idea . It would make the provincials so exciting.

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 31/05/2015 21:42:33    1730699

Down right embarrassing thread

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20601 - 31/05/2015 21:46:44    1730706