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Open Draw and Provincials reconciled

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  • 04-08-2016 12:40am
    #1
    feargale
    Registered Users Posts: 8,636 ✭✭✭


    Here's the plan:
    For simplicity, I use football as the model, assume 32 counties ( Kilkenny in, London and NY out, ) and suppose that, for the All-Ireland, by a remarkable coincidence the counties are drawn out of the hat in strictly alphabetical order. I'm not going to do a chart of the draw. Take out your biro and do it yourself. Now we will follow the All-Ireland trail and the Connacht championship, no more.
    First round winners include Galway ( beat Fermanagh,) Limerick ( beat Leitrim, ) Mayo ( beat Meath, ) and Roscommon ( beat Sligo.) Sligo, beaten by another Connacht team, are now out of the Connacht championship as well as the All-Ireland.
    Second Round: Dublin beat Galway, Louth beat Limerick, Mayo beat Monaghan and Tyrone beat Roscommon.
    Quarterfinals: Mayo beat Louth. Now Mayo have beaten Louth, who beat Limerick, who beat Leitrim, another Connacht team. Therefore Mayo are deemed conquerors of Leitrim who are now eliminated from the Connacht championship.
    Semi-final: Tyrone beat Mayo.
    Now all Connacht teams are out of the All-Ireland championship and both Sligo and Leitrim are out of Connacht.
    To determine the Connacht champions Mayo now play Roscommon ( because they are both on the same half of the draw ) and the winners play Galway.
    If, say Galway win the All-Ireland they are automatically deemed Connacht champions. You may ask, if that happens don't all the previous provincial only games go for nothing? So what? Remember Euro 1988? In the very last qualifying game Ireland's destiny was left in the hands of Scotland, who obliged us by beating Bulgaria.Putting the cart before the horse doesn't make the games less exciting.
    And what of poor Sligo and Leitrim, you say, getting just one game? Much of the excitement has gone out of the championship now that it's no longer knock-out. Soccer in just about every country has two competitions, a knock-out cup and an all play all league. The GAA which once had both now has neither. If you must, give the sixteen first round losers a consolation knock-out tournament, run in tandem with the championship.
    This plan preserves the provincial championships for the traditionalists, while it hardly impinges on the sensitivities of those who want rid of them. It also preserves the integrity of the provincials, ensuring that you don't have a repeat of the situation of a few years ago, where Westmeath won their first Leinster SF championship, only to have it subsequently devalued when Dublin, another Leinster county, won the All-Ireland championship of the same year.
    The same template can be used for hurling.
    Discuss, comment and criticise, please.


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    #2
    shiibata
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,277 ✭✭✭shiibata


    Anything better than Kerry getting their Mickey Mouse route to All Ireland Semis n able to nurse players along the way.....


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    #3
    namloc1980
    Registered Users Posts: 18,103 ✭✭✭✭namloc1980


    feargale wrote: »
    It also preserves the integrity of the provincials, ensuring that you don't have a repeat of the situation of a few years ago, where Westmeath won their first Leinster SF championship, only to have it subsequently devalued when Dublin, another Leinster county, won the All-Ireland championship of the same year.

    When did this happen??


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    #4
    Fr Tod Umptious
    Registered Users Posts: 15,061 ✭✭✭✭Fr Tod Umptious


    namloc1980 wrote: »
    When did this happen??

    It didn't, but anytime a back door team has won an All Ireland similar has happened.

    Anyway OP, sorry but your plan is terrible.

    No one is going to be bothered playing a provincial championship if they are out of the All Ireland championship.

    The only way the provincial championship can be relevant is it remains part of the All Ireland championship, other wise its the McGrath/O' Byrne/McKenna cup or FBD League.


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    #5
    BonnieSituation
    Registered Users Posts: 18,923 ✭✭✭✭BonnieSituation


    That is a mental scenario.

    Anything that keeps the Provinicial Championships as part of All Ireland series is a no go.

    32 team open draw. First round seeded based on your League status at the start of that year. Gives added impetus to the league as well.
    If there are more than 32 teams; as there are, then the lowest ranked team in the league at the start of the year (In this year's (based on 2015 results) case that would have been London should play off/round robin before the AI series starts with NY or any future KK side etc to get into it.

    And then like the FA Cup have an open draw in every round thereafter. Simples.

    Now if you want to keep the provincials for traditions sake then you could have teams enter it as they are knocked out of the AI series and let it play out for local pride. But as a method of qualification for the AI, no dice.


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