Ulster says no - Provincial competition is no1 - Jim McGuinness

charlie14

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122078154#Comment_122078154

There is always that bit of bite between all teams in the Ulster championship. Nowadays other than Galway and Mayo in Connacht f their is none in the other two provincies. At this stage half the teams are out of the Sam Maguire and if it wasn`t for the Ulster championship this year many people would either not know there was a championship going on, or would have lost interest already from watching games other than those in Ulster. Ulster is competative because it means something to the players to win an Ulster medal. I doubt there is a player in Ulster that would not value it way above a nation league medal. Put those teams into a league champioship format and you would in all likliehood just have more of what we have seen from the other three provinces.

Hot favorites means little or nothing in Ulster. Derry at home were hot favorites to beat Donegal, Armagh and Donegal were hor favorites to beat Down and Tyrone with both only just getting over the line, and I expect the hot favorite tag for the final being as meaningless.

While winning your province gets you not much more than being a number one seed and your first game at home, whatever about teams in other provincies maybe doing the calculations on seeding I haven`t seen any of the Ulster teams showing any signs of it from the efforts the all put in to win their games.

The one draw-back I do see for Ulster teams is with the provincial games being so difficult to win that with this new shortened championship recovery time is way to short. Playing an Ulster semi-final 6 or 7 days after a quarter-final is crazy. The point could be made that with the short turn around going into the Sam Maguire after a tough Ulster campaign that the winner is battle hardened, but on the other hand the point could be made that they could just as easily be knackered. If the time comes under this format where Ulster teams feel it is a disadvantage to win Ulster then personally I believe the champioship would end up overall a very drab affair

BaywatchHQ

The Ulster championship will soon lose its charm when the final is moved to Casement anyway. Clones is a part of its heritage. The only way around it is to build a replica of St Tiernach's Park at Casement park but obviously that wouldn't happen. Having said that I think it will be scrapped by the time Casement is built anyway.

dxhound2005

Or there could be a resurgence of interest, which would see the Ulster Final back in Croke Park. Armagh v Donegal in 2004 attracted 67,000 spectators. When money was to be made, Clones got shafted.

charlie14

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122101637#Comment_122101637

I would not be too sure about that. Fan loves the Ulster final, whether they love Clones is questionable. It`s very much a one horse town and the roads, especially after a final, can result in very slow moving traffic. It`s no great shakes for parking either.

downthemiddle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058332965/ulster-says-no-provincial-competition-is-no1-jim-mcguinness

Turns out that Jim was right.