by Jackie Cahill

Páraic Duffy was present at a Tipperary county board meeting on Wednesday night to urge Premier County delegates to back his proposals to revamp the All-Ireland senior football championship. 

The GAA's CEO travelled to the Thurles Sarsfields centre after it was revealed in late September that Tipp would be voting against plans to spice up the championship from 2018. 

Duffy's blueprint for change includes the introduction of a round-robin series at the quarter-final stage of the All-Ireland championship, a suggestion that was met with a thumbs-down from Tipperary.  

Under the stewardship of Liam Kearns, Tipp contested a first All-Ireland semi-final in 81 years when they lost to Mayo in August - and the fear is that the new system is heavily weighted in favour of the traditionally stronger counties, and would make it far more difficult for Tipp to reach that stage of the competition again. 

At the time, county football board chairman Joe Hannigan informed delegates that extra championship games would heap even further pressure on an already congested local fixtures programme, adding that it would require a deep county panel to survive in an expanded inter-county calendar. 

Hannigan re-iterated his fears on Wednesday evening, insisting once again that the format will "suit the strong counties."

He added: "Whatever chance we have of catching one provincial champion on a given day, in this format we would have to beat two provincial champions. "There is less of an opportunity for someone to catch out the big teams." 

But Duffy's counter-argument is that Tipperary should embrace the opportunity to play top teams on a more consistent basis - and will in fact benefit from doing so. 

He said: "Tipperary would benefit enormously from playing these teams. 

"You should have no worries about playing three of the best teams in the country - you have no reason to. 

"There seems to be a fear here in Tipperary that you will not be able to compete, but you should have more confidence in yourselves. 

"You can compete with the very best and you have already proven that. 

"I think this proposal is a reasonable one and I believe that you have to change before it is forced upon you." 

Duffy added: "I am not here to persuade anybody. 

"I am asking you to read the document, to take it back to your clubs, to discuss it with your club members and to then make an informed decision about what is best for the Gaelic Athletic Association.

"I would not be here tonight talking to you unless I thought this was good for the GAA. I would ask you to read this before you do anything else." 

New Meath manager Andy McEntee has already slammed Duffy's plans as a "money racket" and speaking to Tipperary delegates, the Monaghan native conceded: "It will boost revenue. 

"We want to generate funding at inter-county level in order to support the games at provincial, county and club level. 

"The more we take in, the more we give out and I don't think we need to apologise to anyone for that. 

"I would not have come forward with a proposal unless it involved condensing the inter-county championship - my concern is with the clubs first and foremost. 

"I want to bring the All-Ireland finals forward to allow time for the club championships to be played in decent weather and under this format clubs will have access to inter-county players for an uninterrupted period of time." 

Tipperary CCC secretary Tom Maher, who plays a key role in the formulation of local fixtures, said that Duffy's proposals, if implemented in 2016, would have freed up three extra weekends for club games. 

Hannigan added his concern about the heavy schedule at the quarter-final stage of the All-Ireland SFC, with counties set to play three games in four weeks under the new plans. 

But Duffy argued: "Our players spend too much time training and not enough time playing matches. 

"We seem to be afraid to ask our inter-county players to play games back-to-back, but we are not afraid to ask our club players to do that. Why? I don't think it is excessive." 

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