Provinces to battle boundary realignment

THE GAA’s provinces will fight against any attempt to redraw their boundaries after president Christy Cooney raised the subject in his address to Congress on Saturday.

Ranging from scepticism to downright opposition, the four provinces have all reacted negatively to Cooney’s suggestion the “ancient geographical borders” might be replaced by a realignment of “our provinces along more practical lines”.

On RTÉ’s League Sunday, Director General Páraic Duffy voiced his reluctance to do away with the current provincial championships, stating there is balance with the All-Ireland qualifiers acting as an open draw.

Last night, the provinces responded in force to the idea their areas might be compromised.

“I accept the concept of bringing in teams to a provincial championship but we’ll fight to retain our championships,” vowed Leinster chairman Martin Skelly.

“We have opened our doors, Galway and Antrim have greatly added to our hurling championship, which was in need of new blood because of Kilkenny’s success, and they are welcome. Since they’ve come in, we’ve had some great games such as the Galway v Offaly and Antrim v Offaly games last year. It’s a lot more palatable taking in counties than shedding them and we don’t want to do that. As the biggest province, that might be the idea. There would be huge logistical problems and psychological ones too for counties being removed from Leinster.”

Munster secretary Pat Fitzgerald cautioned it is too early to completely rule out Cooney’s thinking on the provinces.

However, right now he can’t see the benefit of a redrawing of the provinces. He also championed the sanctity and strength of the Munster senior hurling championship.

“It all took us by surprise,” said Fitzgerald of Cooney’s remarks. “We haven’t discussed it. Christy and Páraic reinforced the belief the provincial councils provide a proper and vital role and I welcome that. It is revolutionary but the Munster hurling championship from a media point of view has a huge impact and you’d have to look at all the elements of that in terms of what it would bring to the table.”

Ulster secretary Danny Murphy believes convincing supporters to switch their allegiances — even if it is by way of what competition they play in — will prove an onerous task.

“I think we can have a look at it but the geographical infrastructure that exists in each province at the moment would be difficult to tamper with,” said Murphy “There may be a mechanism that may be deployed in competitions but asking people to change from one province to another would be difficult and uncomfortable for a lot of them. I know Christy was looking at it from a competition point of view but I wouldn’t be getting too exercised about it until we see what emerges.”

Connacht Council President Paddy Naughton also remarked there is no strong sentiment in his province to take such a revolutionary step.

“As it stands, there wouldn’t be any appetite right now — not just yet anyway. That’s not to say it won’t happen. We have already broken boundaries with Galway going into Leinster. Longford also play in our minor league in Connacht and we had Clare in one year for the FBD League. There would be bits and pieces like that happening and you can never say never but I cannot see it happening in the immediate future.”

However, former Longford chairman Skelly admits his county have looked at the level of football competition in smaller provinces and wondered would they be better off out of Leinster.

“For some, there are two sides to this,” acknowledged Skelly. “From my own base in Longford, we sometimes looked upon other provincial football championships with envy about the relative ease of access to a provincial final compared to Leinster.

“In Munster or Connacht, on the law of averages the draw would be favourable to a team like Longford and they would have a much better chance of reaching a final than in Leinster. In Leinster you’re coming up against the big guns from early on but in saying that every team in our province goes out with the feeling that this year is their year.”