Colm O'Rourke: 'The Leinster championship is a shambles'

“Look, at the risk of repeating myself, I just think the trajectory of the season is wrong," added Dessie Farrell.

SHAMBLES: Meath manager Colm O'Rourke during the Leinster GAA Football Senior Championship quarter-final match between Dublin and Meath at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Colm O’Rourke has branded the Leinster senior football championship “a shambles”, while Dessie Farrell said he is “blue in the face” talking about the need for structural change.

O’Rourke made it clear what he thought of the competition after seeing his Meath team lose by 16 points to Dublin, their ninth consecutive provincial defeat to the neighbours.

He has called on the GAA to flip the provincial championship with the Allianz Football League.

“The Leinster championship is a shambles but that’s not Dublin’s fault, I suppose it’s the fault of teams like Meath who haven’t been competitive for a long, long time.

“To me, anyway, the obvious thing is the Leinster championship should be played before the league. It’s absolutely ridiculous that teams in the league are waiting, waiting, waiting and don’t know what competition they are going to be playing in or when they will be playing.

"If the provincial championships were over, everyone would know exactly before they start the league, particularly those teams in the second and third division, what they had to do to ensure they play in the Sam Maguire. It’s very unsatisfactory, the present system.”

Farrell has long called for the system to be altered and reiterated his view for change.

“Look, at the risk of repeating myself, I just think the trajectory of the season is wrong. We should be building. We've come from a decent enough league campaign which seems to capture the imagination of GAA people.

"Then we move into the championship and apart from the obvious outlier (Ulster), I think the others are sort of mundane enough at this stage.

“I don't think they're helping. The crowd today and everything else, I just think it's probably time for a proper root-and-branch review of the competition structures. I've been saying that for a few years now."

Farrell believes the provincial championship moving to the start of the season should be considered.

“Yeah, I saw some commentary about that. It’s definitely an option. I’m blue in the face to be honest having this conversation. Nothing has changed and probably won’t in the immediate future. I think we’re missing an opportunity, that’s all.”

Watched by 21,445 people, Farrell felt: “the atmosphere was strange. It’s a shame. I know that can stem from not necessarily the competition structure, it can be the difference in the strengths of the two teams or whatever.

"But for us, a little bit like the league, we’re taking it game by game. We definitely have stuff we need to get better at.

“We weren’t looking at it through the lens of ‘what’s this doing for the GAA?’ or ‘should we be playing in this competition at this time of year?’ You don’t have that luxury when you’re going from week to week, fortnight to fortnight.

"For us, it was about preparing as best we can, getting the victory and getting ready for the next day.”