Gaelic Games

Paul Mannion says GAA should tweak the format of the All-Ireland championship

‘It’s a credit to the GAA that they do at least listen and try to change - I don’t think they have got it right in its current format’

Dublin's Paul Mannion and Donal McKenny of Louth during the weekend's Leinster final. Photograph: Tom Maher/Inpho

Gordon Manning
Mon May 13 2024 - 13:45

Paul Mannion believes the GAA has to look again at tweaking the format of the All-Ireland senior football championship – and consider the primacy given to the provincials in the fixture calendar.

Mannion helped Dublin on Sunday to maintain their overwhelming dominance of the Leinster Championship with victory over Louth in the final.

And while the Dublin players went out on Sunday night to mark the victory, the county’s 14th consecutive provincial title was captured in a very lowkey fashion – in front of just 23,113 at Croke Park.

“For years in the early part of my career, I was crying out for change because I felt we did need more games,” said Mannion at a media event marking SuperValu’s sponsorship of the GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.

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“More big games with the top teams so I was actually very happy when they did change it.

“It’s a credit to the GAA that they do at least listen and try to change. I don’t think they have got it right in its current format. But I’m sure it will change again.

Dublin footballer Paul Mannion. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

“That’s all you can ask of any governing body in any sport, that they’re listening to feedback and continuously trying to improve it. It started with the Super Eights, it was tweaked again in the current format.

“I don’t think it will stay the way it is now in its current format, I don’t think it’s really exciting and pleasing fans and teams and managers.

“Just the format itself is strange, the timeline is strange. I think a lot of that needs to be changed.”

One suggestion put forward by the Kilmacud player is to run the provincials during the National League or All-Ireland series – similar to how other sports run league and cup competitions simultaneously.

[ Five things we learned from the GAA weekend: Don’t mess with the Ulster final ]

[ Ciarán Murphy: FA Cup could provide a model for provincial GAA championships to prosper ]

“I saw someone mention recently that the provincial championships could be run throughout the year, across the season, as part of the All-Ireland group stages or something like that.

“We have a tendency to think everything has to be run sequentially in the GAA. Other sports don’t do that, they run competitions concurrently all the time.

“So I think that’s probably a solution. Moving the provincial championships possibly earlier in the year as well.”

Gordon Manning

Gordon Manning

Gordon Manning is a sports journalist, specialising in Gaelic games, with The Irish Times

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