Open draw will ‘heighten interest’

Munster Council chief executive Simon Moroney has expressed relief that the controversy which overshadowed this year’s provincial senior football championship has been resolved.

The reintroduction of the seeded draw for the 2014 campaign saw the competition plagued by “bad press”, with the four aggrieved counties — Tipperary, Clare, Limerick and Waterford — refusing to participate in the McGrath Cup or allow players represent the province in the Railway Cup.

The seeded format was scrapped at Thursday night’s Munster Council meeting and Moroney is confident the open draw will “heighten interest” for 2015.

“There was a lot of comment, articles in the media and so on with regard to the seeded draw,” he said.

“Last year a decision was made democratically to reintroduce the seeded draw, no differently than this year.

“That is the entitlement of the various counties to put forward a recommendation. On both occasions a decision was taken by the elected members who are there to represent (their counties).

“Naturally some were unhappy with last year’s decision. That was understandable and they were entitled to be unhappy.

“Hopefully now we will just move on and have a great championship next year. Obviously it is nice to have this issue put to bed. We are going to make our draws on October 9 and at least we now have clarity in relation to the format of the 2015 Munster senior football championship. We can now move forward. All in all, it is a positive move and we can look forward to a good competition in 2015.”

The agreed format will see Tipperary, Clare, Limerick and Waterford comprise next year’s quarter-finals.

The winners will progress to the semi-finals where they will join Cork and Kerry who qualify for the penultimate round as this year’s Munster finalists.

As the draw is open, however, Cork and Kerry can be pitted against one another unlike this year when they were kept on opposite sides. Moroney acknowledges the provincial coffers will take a hit if the traditional derby final does not materialise, but believes the open draw restores a sense of intrigue to the Munster championship.

“There is that potential impact (to Munster Council coffers). That is part and parcel of this decision. So be it. The council has decided democratically what kind of a regulation to have for the 2015 championship and this is the way it will be run. We won’t know until October 9 if a Cork/Kerry final is on the cards. The new format will heighten interest in the draw. There is no doubt about it. It will put a positive spotlight on it which wasn’t there last year. That is good, that is what we want. We won’t know until the season is over if gate receipts were down. We will deal with that then. This decision was made for a one-year term and will be reviewed again next year. This format is not set in stone for a fixed long-term period.”

Waterford footballer Shane Briggs welcomed the demise of the seeded draw for 2015: “All counties deserve equal status,” he tweeted.

Meanwhile, Louth’s sole All Star football recipient Paddy Keenan has called time on his inter-county career.

The 29-year old, who joined the Wee County set-up in 2002, was selected at midfield on the 2010 All Star team.

“Due to work commitments and the need to clear up some long-standing injuries, I feel I would be unable to devote the necessary time to the team and I believe now is the right time to call it a day,” he said yesterday.

“While we didn’t have the success we worked so hard for, I have only positive memories of my county career and the people who I soldiered alongside.”