A thousand cuts: The provincial championships are being marginalised

Dwindling in duration and slowly being marginalised as events, the provincial championships are only going one way and this new All-Ireland SFC structure serves merely as a sticking plaster

DIMINISHING REWARD: Derry captain Christopher McKaigue lifts the Anglo Celt Cup after the 2022 Ulster football final. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

With little in the way of promotion other than the nuisance of the Mayo-Roscommon Connacht SFC opener being so close to the former’s Division 1 final, the provincial football championships begin the weekend after next.

Scant build-up, minute anticipation and the majority of the Sam Maguire Cup places already being taken, love for the competitions is close to non-existent with the notable and customary exception of Ulster.