Ulster elect to go it alone

Football / All-Ireland 2006: One section of the 2006 All-Ireland championship will be decided at lunchtime today when the Ulster Council breaks with tradition and stages it own provincial draw during a live BBC broadcast from Armagh city.

Last week plans were surprisingly announced for the independent draw, which means only one part of the 2006 championship schedule will be known for at least another week.

In recent years, RTÉ have been providing a live broadcast of the entire championship draw in co-operation with the four provincial councils. Ulster, however, had decided that coverage wasn't available throughout their province, and that prompted the move for an independent draw for the first time in many years.

According to Ulster Council chairman Michael Greenan, the draw will follow the same format as carried out in the overall draw format of recent years. There is no seeding amongst the nine competing counties in football, which means All-Ireland champions Tyrone could end up in the preliminary round match.

"We haven't used any sort of seeding for a long time," explained Greenan, "so it's very much a case of first come, first served. We had a system a while ago where teams that had been in the preliminary round for a few years would be exempt, but that's no longer the case.

"So there's every chance that Tyrone could be out in that preliminary round. It happened to Armagh the year after they won the All-Ireland, where they ended up being beaten by Monaghan."

The Ulster draw is straightforward. The first two teams out of the hat go into the preliminary round game, and then it's a simple process of deciding the four quarter-final pairings - one plays the preliminary winners.

"We'll even know the dates and most of the venues after the draw," added Greenan. "The preliminary game is down for May 7th, and the quarter-finals take place every consecutive Sunday after that, and the same with the semi-finals.

"The first team out of the hat also has home advantage, provided their grounds can accommodate the fixture. So, if say Tyrone are the first county out then their first game will be played at Omagh. In the case of Armagh the game may have to be set for a neutral venue."

However, the possibility of playing the Ulster football final in Croke Park for a third successive year won't be decided until the semi-final pairings are known: "That's always been the case," added Grennan. "We've never set a definite venue for the Ulster final, whether it's Clones or anywhere else, until that stage."

Ulster's decision to go alone has left the other three provinces somewhat in the lurch. However, Munster Council secretary Simon Moroney confirmed negotiations with RTÉ were ongoing in an attempt to have the remaining three provincial draws during a live television broadcast.

"That would still be our first preference," said Moroney. "We've discussed it briefly with Leinster and Connacht about how to best deal with it.

"We have a few options open to us at this stage, but ideally we'd like to see it done on an RTÉ news broadcast. It's a little disappointing that Ulster are doing it on their own, because in my mind the optimum way to do it was to have all four provinces together."

Among the possibilities was for the draw to take place during the International Rules tour in Australia: "That's very unlikely at this stage," said Moroney.

"Our main concern now is having it here, and maximising the exposure, and that means doing the remaining three provinces together. But once we get it done in the next week or so we're still well within the usual timescale of having the fixture decided by the first week in November."