Liam Kearns unhappy at Tipperary board’s backing for ‘elitism’

Tipperary manager Liam Kearns has expressed his disappointment with the county board’s decision to support the All-Ireland senior football championship revamp put forward by GAA director general Paraic Duffy.

Kearns said Tipp’s achievements in 2016, when the county reached a first All-Ireland SFC semi-final in 81 years, don’t “seem to have counted for much” after Premier County delegates voted 36-20 in favour of the proposed changes to the championship format.

Kearns believes the introduction of an “elitist” round-robin series of games at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage, from 2018, if passed at the GAA’s annual congress, would represent a step closer to separate A and B championships.