Reasons to love our Championship – Jarlath

Derry met Westmeath in the 2010 Championship qualifiers

SO FAR the championship has gone totally according to form. No upsets. No goals in the last seconds to secure emotional victories against the odds, no favourites biting the dust. No nothing.

The critics of the provincial system are having a field day. It is an annual event at this time of year. The opening rounds of the championship not providing us with nail biting action and all the blame being heaped on the poor old provincial championships.

It is an understandable sentiment, particularly when there is the magical 32 counties with eight groups of four sitting like a cherry waiting to be plucked like the most obvious idea since someone decided to invent a bread slicer.

The idea is simple. One team from each of the four divisions which would give the league a bit of jizz and sparkle and link it to the championship because now, relegation and promotion would decide which pool you would be in and how well seeded you would be.

So far so good. So take Group 1 for example. Kerry from Division 1, Derry out of Division 2, Westmeath out of Division 3 and Waterford out of Division 4 and all play each other in a round robin with top team going into the quarter final. Let’s say the first match sees Kerry v Waterford and Derry v Westmeath. Hardly two glamour ties to start with.

Just compare that to Cavan v Ulster champions Donegal which was what we got up here under the current system, with 12,000 fans in Breffni to see it.

Derry v Westmeath is hardly the tie we’ve been waiting for and Kerry v Waterford is an all Munster clash anyway, so nothing new here.

So from this non-descript start, we see Kerry and Derry on two points apiece and next up is Kerry v Westmeath and Derry v Waterford.

The full story is in the current issue of Gaelic Life, published June 8. Buy your copy now in your local newsagent or, for only 90p, purchase the online edition by clicking here