O’Neill: No second tier championship

GAA president Liam O’Neill has ruled out the introduction of a second-tier football championship to cater for the growing number of counties whose involvement in the race for Sam Maguire is no longer justifiable.

O’Neill says an All-Ireland B championship, similar to the Tommy Murphy Cup which existed from 2005-2008, “probably won’t happen”, calling instead for a review of the qualifier structure which he believes has no benefit for the Carlow’s and Leitrim’s of the football world.

Carlow were subject to a 28-point hammering by Meath in the Leinster quarter-final, with Leitrim on the receiving end of a 4-18 to 0-9 trouncing by Down last month. The Páirc Esler bashing represented the county’s second substantial beating in successive summers, falling to Armagh 8-13 to 0-10 in the 2013 qualifiers.