O’Sullivan: seeded draw unfair

LIMERICK senior football coach Mickey “Ned” O’Sullivan wants the Munster Council to abolish the seeded draw for 2009.

O’Sullivan made his comments after Sunday’s victory over Tipperary which sets up a semi-final with Cork on Sunday week at the Gaelic Grounds.

Said O’Sullivan: “The seeded draw is stacked in favour of Kerry and Cork. If any of the so called weaker counties were to win the Munster championship, they would have to beat Kerry and Cork to do so. You might beat one or the other of them in a particular year, but the two in the one year is next to impossible. If the weaker counties are to have any chance of winning, they must be given an equal opportunity same as Kerry and Cork.

“The present arrangement is also unfair on the other counties who will compete in the Qualifiers. Neither Cork or Kerry will have to peak for their respective Munster semi-finals and if they reach the final, the losers will go into Round Three of the Qualifiers. That’s an unfair advantage.”

He added: “The present system was “politically” motivated and driven by finance. But should Cork and Kerry meet in a semi-final they will draw the crowds and if one of the weaker counties makes it to the final against either of them, you would still get 25,000 spectators.

“It not fair on the weaker counties. Limerick haven’t won a Munster title in over 130 years. Maybe if they had won one of the two finals they contested earlier in the decade, things might be different now. My view on that would be that a lot of the players who retired and the others who opted for hurling may well have stayed with football. They had laboured for so long without any reward, and had they won one it would have made all the difference.”

O’Sullivan also said that Jason Stokes is unlikely to feature this season as he recovers from a long term pelvic injury.

Said O’Sullivan: “He has been working very hard with Ger Hartman and has made great progress and I don’t want to rush it after all the setbacks he’s had. He was one of our water carriers last Sunday which shows he still has the interest and wants to be involved. It’s unlikely he’ll be back this season but the door is open if he feels he is ready. He is nervous that he might rush it.”

Another interesting water carrier on the side line last Sunday was Declan Browne with Tipperary — with the Premier County’s Junior footballers.