Kilkenny footballers withdraw from National League

The Kilkenny senior football team will take no part in next year's Allianz Football League, following a decision made at County Board level.

Instead, the Cats footballers will compete in the newly-proposed British Championship, playing the London 'B' teams as well as sides from other parts of England and one from Scotland.

It is hoped that competing with teams at a standard nearer to theirs will improved Kilkenny's footballing fortunes, as they have suffered some embarrassing results in the National League in recent years.

They did withdraw from the National League previously, but since their return to the competition four years ago they have only posted one win - beating London by 1-13 to 0-12 at Nowlan Park in 2008.

This past season, they finished winless and bottom of Division 4 having scored just 3-25 in eight outings and conceded a massive 26-195.

GAA officials, including the Association's current President Liam O'Neill, have advised them to opt out of the league and put their energies into another venture.

Their withdrawal from the National League was proposed at a meeting of the Kilkenny County Board on Monday night, drawing unanimous approval from the delegates present.

With part finance from the GAA, the Kilkenny senior footballers will travel to London, Manchester and Scotland next June to compete in the British Championship.

The winners of the competition, played on a round robin basis, will qualify to play in the All-Ireland Junior Championship.

As well as pulling out of the league, the Kilkenny board have withdrawn their teams from the Leinster Junior and Under-21 Football Championships.

Their U-21s have struggled at provincial level, suffering a 50-point defeat to Louth earlier this year.