Itâs absolutely ridiculous. At least if just two teams escaped there would be some element of suspense. Before a ball is even kicked you can say with some confidence that Westmeath and Sligo will be eliminated in groups 2 and 3.
It would be classic Tyrone to lose 3 games in this years championship but still go on and win the All-Ireland.
That was the format for the Super 8s, there was rarely any suspense for the final round.
Itâs nearly as bad as the Munster hurling championship.
Youâd imagine one game from each group will be brought to Croke Park to create two exceedingly attractive double headers on June 17th/18th, with the other game in each group throwing off simultaneously.
Iâll go with:
Saturday June 17th:
Derry v Clare - 4pm Croke Park
Monaghan v Donegal - 4pm Omagh
Dublin v Sligo - 6pm Croke Park
Roscommon v Kildare 6pm Tullamore
Sunday June 18th
Kerry v Louth - 2pm Portlaoise
Mayo v Cork - 2pm Croke Park
Galway v Armagh - 4pm Croke Park
Tyrone v Westmeath - 4pm Breffni Park
Itâd be beautiful if the GAA moved Kildare v Dublin to Croke Park.
That was in my thoughts as I typed it. The only real final day drama that springs to mind involved Mayo v Donegal in 2019 and Donegal v Tyrone 2018. But to allow 3 teams advance just makes the whole process tedious and unnecessary.
What needs to happen is the third placed teams need to go into the Talbot Cup, and then the semi-finalists in that competition get back into the main draw.
Back doors and reverse back doors.
Armagh will have played 7 (seven) games by the completion of the Round Robin. 7 games before the serious business begins. Youâd have won an All-Ireland with that number of games under the previous system.
Armagh have used a serious amount of players across league and championship to date.
I think they will handle this quite well. McPartland barely featured in the league but is flying now, Oisin Conaty made his debut off the bench on Sunday too. They are picking up a bit of form at the right time.
Sligo are now favourites for Sunday.
Kildare have NO home venue. Dublin will NOT be heading to Newbridge. Croke Park it is!
Does where you finish in the round robin group (apart from last) matter going into the next round Sid or is it a new draw again?
Group winners into quarters.
As far as I know the second placed teams are then put in one bowl and the third placed teams in another and four ties drawn.
The four winners of those ties then get drawn against the group winners in the quarter-finals
Remember the Super 8 format that everyone hated?
Well lets take that and make it worse.
Dublin heading to play Kildare in Glenn Ryanâs back garden will be box office
What Newbridge capacity?
Joe Duffy will be taking calls from Dubs who canât get a ticket, âlike gold dust Joe, like gold dustâ
Iâll call the groups:
A
1 Kerry
2 Mayo
3 Cork
4 Louth
B
1 Tyrone
2 Galway
3 Armagh
4 Westmeath
C
1 Dublin
2 Roscommon
3 Kildare
4 Sligo
D
1 Derry
2 Monaghan
3 Clare
4 Donegal
Looks like a good battle in that last group between the other three.
Teams who finish 2nd have home advantage against teams who finish 3rd in the preliminary quarter finals which is a fair bit of an incentive.
Clare have a puncherâs chance of making the top 2 in their group.
Some great groups there. If top 2 only qualified itâd be a proper dog fight.