Sorting the structures: Are provincial leagues the solution for football’s future?

If the GAA is so unwilling to cut ties with provincial football, they will have to find ways of living with it. And if football is to advance, it may have to hold onto part of its past.

RTÉ's Marty Morrissey during the 2018 GAA Championship Draw at RTÉ Studios in Donnybrook. Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Six years ago, the Leinster Council along with Carlow and Longford put forward a motion which would allow the provinces to organise their competitions as they saw fit. The proposal received 61.3% support, enough to pass at Congress now but at the time two-thirds majority was required.

After four consecutive Leinster SFC titles for Dublin, the province, led by then chairman and future GAA president John Horan, recognised something had to change. Seven more successes have since followed for Dublin and while there was a more competitive feel to this year’s staging the gulf remains considerable.