Plenty of merit in Kelly’s revamp plan, says Healy

Football Review Committee (FRC) member Tim Healy believes there is a lot of merit in former GAA president Seán Kelly’s All-Ireland SFC restructuring proposal.

Outlined in yesterday’s Irish Examiner, the Kerry native suggested dividing the competition into two cups following the four provincial campaigns. Kelly also connects the league and championship by recommending a county’s NFL finish should have an influence on whether they compete for the Sam Maguire or Tommy Murphy Cup.

Healy, a former Wicklow footballer and author of the well-received Can You Manage? GAA book last year, and the other members of the Eugene McGee-led FRC will put forward a recommendation on the football championship structure to the GAA in November.

The Cork-born businessman agrees with Kelly’s idea that the two competitions be linked.

“What Seán Kelly has put forward doesn’t differ that much from what other people are saying. It will get attention because it’s coming from him and that’s understandable.

“He’s dead right on the national league and there seems to be a desire out there to link the league and the championship.

“His point about the minor championship is very good. It’s strange that Tipperary should beat Kerry twice in a season and yet face the possibility of playing them again.”

However, Healy points out the committee are in receipt and continue to welcome ideas about the championship format from the public.

“We’re in the early stages of the process rather than midway or close to the end. We’re looking for as many submissions as we can and we’re already getting several.

“This week already, I received a proposal from a prominent Dublin GAA person which looks at the whole relationship between club and county and looks at giving each scene blocks of time in the season.

“There are a number of people unhappy with how the national league has been treated, while there are a lot of people who seem to think that the championship needs restructuring in some way or another.”

After Conor Counihan yesterday acknowledged there is “a bit of unbalance” with its composition, Healy believes there’s an appetite for change.

He cites the paths of the respective All-Ireland quarter-finalists this weekend as an example of how inequitable things are in the competition.

“There have been ideas about making four even groups of eight instead of the current provincial championship.

“You look at the eight teams that have reached this weekend’s All-Ireland quarter-finals and see what they’ve done to get there.

“Some have played only two games, other have played double that or more. My fear as a Corkman is that Kerry lost to Cork, went away, regrouped, got a few competitive games and are back in Croke Park. In the meantime, what have Cork been doing but training?

“What the recommendation will be, I don’t know, but even at this stage, the soundings are you’re look at a restructuring of the All-Ireland championship.”