Dempsey wants structure change

THE TROUBLE with the championship is that it starts with a whimper and ends with a bang. Or worse, it’s become an increasingly lop-sided competition where only the strong survive. Which explains why it’s so hard to get excited about Sunday’s Leinster football opener between Carlow and Louth.

Carlow have never won the All-Ireland. Louth haven’t won it since 1957. And it could be another 125 years before either of them gets a realistic shot at ultimate glory. They may as well be playing a parallel competition.

Carlow manager Luke Dempsey reckons they are, and says the GAA need to think again about the way they structure the entire football championship – particularly after the Tommy Murphy Cup lived fast and died young. “The way football has gone now,” says Dempsey, “and in Leinster, with the population movement into places like Kildare and Meath, it’s getting harder all the time for the smaller counties to win the All-Ireland. I mean realistically, most of them now will never win the Sam Maguire.

“But right now the only major trophy that Carlow can aspire to winning is the Sam Maguire, which is an outlandish proposition, given the system as it is. It’s completely nonsensical to not have championship football for those smaller counties through the summer.

“I think the idea of having a secondary competition still very much appeals to me, but it would have to be one that counties are encouraged to take part, and is made exciting. The counties that won the Tommy Murphy Cup did take great confidence. The likes of Antrim, Wicklow, and Louth.

“If Carlow went into the qualifiers and did what Westmeath did in 2001, or what Sligo did a year later, or Fermanagh or Wexford, it gives them great hope. But for now that’s all you can hope for at the moment, the only thing you can use as a yardstick.”

Dempsey sees other problems with the championship structure. Even if Carlow upset Louth in Parnell Park on Sunday, there is little hope they’ll be playing competitive football later in the summer.

“Okay we’re getting some attention this weekend, but there’s only temporary advantages to that. There’s every chance we could lose on Sunday, then lose the first round of the qualifiers, and so wouldn’t meet again until the end of January.

“That’s half the year right there. So they need to keep more counties involved over the summer months. It’s essential counties like Carlow are given something to play for during the summer months, so that January doesn’t seem so far away. On top of that you have the closed season in November and December, so I’d have no idea what kind of group I’d have next January.

“Even if we had something coming up in late July or August it wouldn’t be so bad. I’ve always said there are three tiers to football now, and that’s the way the championship should be structured. I don’t know how they would do that in football, but it seems to be working all right in hurling, at least better than the old system. It’s all about developing a constant profile for the county.

“Like it’s great to see Jonathan Mullin down in Carlow with the RTÉ cameras this week. But I know from experience excitement like that ends very quickly, and once the championship interest is over, players get all too used to going back to the sanctuary of their clubs.”

Despite starting as underdogs, Carlow aren’t without some hope against Louth: “It’s a huge challenge for us, especially given Louth are looked on now as a fairly seasoned team. It was difficult for me starting out in Carlow in January, difficult in terms of getting the players to believe that playing for your county is very special. And finding out not everyone wanted to play for the county. Now that I have a group of players that are very committed I suppose I’d already be looking forward to the second year.

“We’ve a tiny population of footballers to begin with, but the other thing with Carlow is the county is split in two, 50-50, between football and hurling. Maybe Sunday is a step too far, for now, but at this stage, the players I have couldn’t have put in any more. The last month has been very enjoyable.

“Same as any team, it’s about trying get a good run. That gives players a lift, even a run in the qualifiers. That gives everyone more of an interest, and more of a belief I suppose, that the county team is going somewhere.”