COLM COOPER FEELS it’s time to take a look at the structure of the All-Ireland senior football championship.
Once again Cork and Kerry will play off for the Munster crown on Sunday week, having easily navigated the road to Killarney.
And the Dr Crokes talisman reckons the ‘so-called weaker counties’ in the province need to be more battle-hardened when facing up to the traditional powers down south.
“If Kerry and Cork are going out and winning by 15 or 16 points, it doesn’t help anyone,” Cooper said yesterday. “The other side of the coin is we played Tipperary the year before in Thurles and they should have beaten us.
“I definitely think a review should take place to see how they could better it. Would I get rid of the provincial championships? I’m not so sure. But you hear different things about round robins and giving teams a few games before they come and play the Kerrys and the Corks…
“How you formulate things in terms of fixtures [in a round robin], I don’t know. But it should be discussed and chatted about but some counties probably need that bit of help before they play other teams. The so-called weaker counties, they need as many games as they can get. Definitely in terms of preparing for the Kerrys and the Corks. It highlighted the gap between them.
“That does nothing for Tipperary football. Getting to the stage where they have a few games before they come in and that should definitely help them. That’s my take on it.”
