Munster Senior Football Championship - What's the point of it?

Right, they give us a great hurling championship and no one can argue that, but the Munster football championship is the biggest waste of time ever.

You have to go back to 1992 for the Cork/Kerry duopoly to be broken, then way back to 1935 before that! At least in Connacht you get a different winner the odd time!

While the hurling Championship in Munster is helping hold the provincial structure in place for hurling, the Munster football Championship (like the Ulster hurling Championship) is a great advert for an open draw/seeded group system!

Discuss.......

This is rich coming from a Derry man ...

Parouisa wrote:This is rich coming from a Derry man ...

I resent that comment!

I think the talk of re-seeding the Munster Football Championship is disgraceful, motivated purely by:

1) Money, and the desire for a glamour final;

2) Guaranteeing Cork/Kerry's interest in the championship at least until the end of July.

It is point 2 that most annoys me. This year Kerry went out in the semis, so they may have to meet Armagh in the 2nd qualifier round. Then, say, Donegal/Tyrone in the third? And only then would they be at the same stage as the beaten finalists. Next year, they could cake-walk to the Munster final, lose to Cork, and get a bye into the 4th qualifier round. It is completely unfair.

In answer to your question, BE, I would strip the provincial championships out of the all-ireland series completely, and play them as stand alone contests. They no longer have any relevance as part of the AI series, as they are no longer designed to find a provincial representative to do battle in the all-ireland semis.

NFL: Feb-April

Provincials: May-June

All Ireland 32 county knockout: July-Sept

bald eagle wrote:

Parouisa wrote:This is rich coming from a Derry man ...

I resent that comment!

Sorry - I'll rephrase ..... This is rich coming from a Londonderry man .....

I think more emphasis should be put on the League. Make that the secondary competition, McKenna cup etc the third competition. The provincial system is unfair to say the least.

Connacht and Munster should be amalgamated. The 3 winners of the respective provincial final would go into the All Ireland semis with one team coming through the qualifiers to join them. This would equal the provinces up(give or take) and make winning one imperative again. Would be tougher too on those who find themselves facing the qualifier route

Thomas Clarke wrote:I think the talk of re-seeding the Munster Football Championship is disgraceful, motivated purely by:

1) Money, and the desire for a glamour final;

2) Guaranteeing Cork/Kerry's interest in the championship at least until the end of July.

It is point 2 that most annoys me. This year Kerry went out in the semis, so they may have to meet Armagh in the 2nd qualifier round. Then, say, Donegal/Tyrone in the third? And only then would they be at the same stage as the beaten finalists. Next year, they could cake-walk to the Munster final, lose to Cork, and get a bye into the 4th qualifier round. It is completely unfair.

In answer to your question, BE, I would strip the provincial championships out of the all-ireland series completely, and play them as stand alone contests. They no longer have any relevance as part of the AI series, as they are no longer designed to find a provincial representative to do battle in the all-ireland semis.

NFL: Feb-April

Provincials: May-June

All Ireland 32 county knockout: July-Sept

what the clubs TC - they are f**ked about enough by county boards without adding to their woes with another competition being added to the calendar

mossbags wrote:Connacht and Munster should be amalgamated. The 3 winners of the respective provincial final would go into the All Ireland semis with one team coming through the qualifiers to join them. This would equal the provinces up(give or take) and make winning one imperative again. Would be tougher too on those who find themselves facing the qualifier route

This is reasonable.

bocerty wrote: what the clubs TC - they are f**ked about enough by county boards without adding to their woes with another competition being added to the calendar

It wouldn't be an extra competition Boc. It would basically be the same as it currently is:

Same timeframes (Feb-Sep); Same number of trophies to play for (3); Same number of summer losses and your season is over (2); roughly the same number of games to be played if you were to win all 3 competitions.

Basically the same, except with the provincials stripped out of the AI equation. Makes it fair for everyone, as all sides will have to win the same number of matches to win the AI. I'd rather do something like that, that start to pretend that Galway/Antrim are in leinster like the hurling does. When you get to that stage, the provincials aren't provincials anymore.

Both ideas that have been put in place are ideas that i think are good, both would have merit in my eyes. If i were to lean towards one then it would be TCs due to the fact that all teams would have to win the same amount of games to win an All Ireland.

Provincials are pretty much finished, but the Munster SFC has absolutely no merit at all, Kerry have won 74 out of 123 titles, leaving the rest to hope for a final outting. Clare won it in '92, Tipp won their last title in 1935 while Boxty might remember the days when Waterford (1898) and Limerick (1896) last had their names etched on the cup! Complete waste of time and effort for the other counties that compete in it with Kerry & Cork having a handy enough run to the All Ireland Q/fs!

I think people are being a bit hasty in calling for the scrapping of the provincial championships. If you remove them then you are taking away any chance of success of 25+ of the sides in the Championship at present. While the likes of Kerry and Cork in Munster and Galway and Mayo in connaught have dominated making a provincial final in itself is a big achievement for the likes of Limerick, Clare, Waterford, Leitrim, Sligo and Roscommon. With the backdoor in place there is no real possibility of these sides making an A/I semi final and the chance to have a big day out is few and far between. If you scrap the provincials then you are only strengthening the vice like grip the bigger counties already have on the football championship and there will be very few days in the sun for the lesser lights.

I agree with that Puke, and it is part of the reason why I'm completely opposed to a 'champions league' set up, where one side wins it all.

However, I think that the inequalities associated with the provincials in relation to advancing in the AI series means that they should be played separately, as stand alone competitions.

Puke, that's why i would prefer TCs model, the provincials are retained as competitions in their own right but do not tie in in any way to the All Ireland series.

I think 8 groups of 4 is the way forward ultimately. The provincial championships have been neutered by the back door.

This seems as good a place as any to mention I've put together a tactical preview of this Sunday's game
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For those of you who thought there was a point to today's game, here's my breakdown of the tactical factors
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