Levelling the playing field: A new inter-county proposal

Championship structures are once again topical with the group format being replaced by a back door format structure next season. Paul Quinn has drawn up a proposal that would give all counties a similar look to the season. He spoke with Michael McMullan…

WHEN Leitrim took the decision not to field against Fermanagh in the league earlier in the season, it caused a weekend of debate that spilled even further.

Opinions were aplenty. Leitrim were decimated. Injuries. Numbers were scarce. The u-20s were focusing on their own house. Surely, a handful of club players would’ve zipped up their gear bag.

Paul Quinn saw it differently. A Donaghmore man living in Magherafelt, he sees the angle from a big club. Under manager Adrian Cush, Quinn helped deliver Rossa their last county title in 2019.

He also managed Ogra Colmcille in the Derry junior league. Now defunct, Quinn had a different balancing act with Ogra. Getting 15 players every week.

He can see it from Steven Poacher’s side of the table. A thinker of football and a watcher of games, he can see the problem. The strong getting stronger. The gap will keep growing. Who will be the next Leitrim?

It was time to think. This was it. A new three-tier inter-county format was worth a delve.

Coincidentally, Poacher, in a pre-season interview with Gaelic Life, outlined something similar for the championship.

Quinn went deeper, keyboard in hand, and, based on the 2025 NFL final positions, he went to work.

A 12-team senior league linked to a 12-team race for Sam Maguire. A knock-out format. That’s 11 games.

An official launch in early January. The first ball kicked four weeks later.

Top team wins the league. The top four advance to the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

The next eight play in the preliminary quarter-finals. Teams finishing fifth to eighth have home advantage.

The top six will have six home games the following season.

Every league game matters, there are more of them and it gives the yo-yo team from the existing eight-team leagues a chance to establish themselves long enough to give Sam Maguire a real cut.

There’s more. The bottom three are relegated to intermediate the following year unless they win the championship. In that case, the team fourth from bottom will drop.

Intermediate has the exact same format, 12 teams and 11 league games. The top two and championship winners are promoted to senior. The third placed team of the championship winners are in the top two.

It’s the same for championship. Top four into the quarter-finals. Next four a home preliminary quarter-final against someone from the bottom four. The bottom three are relegated to a nine-team junior grade for the following year.

There it is. A three-tier structure. Three up, three down where championship is linked to the league. Championship is knock-out.

New York competes at junior level. They play at home. Another reward for junior counties. A trip to America.

When All-Star time comes around, there are three sets. Senior, intermediate and junior. The teams taking home the bacon at intermediate and junior level are treated to a team holiday. Another indication of a format for all counties. Not just the elite.

Let’s say Donegal win Sam this year, they’ll have played 18 games. Under Quinn’s new format, it would be 19.

Quinn’s decision to take out a piece of paper is based on bringing in a bit of equality.

“If you’re a Leitrim footballer, what incentive have you to try to catch a Galway or Mayo,” he asked

“Give them an incentive, give them a trip to New York every year, give them a championship they can win,” he said. “Give them a chance to play in Croke Park. Give them a chance to win an All-star.

“Then, they might be able to close the gap a wee bit whenever they’re enjoying it.

“I think if the GAA don’t change it, there’s going to be a load of counties just petering out.”

The big counties, a Dublin or a Kerry, are always going to be alright. Scratch the surface and the top seven or eight teams will be jostling around in Division One.

In absence of the all-conquering Dublin team under Jim Gavin, the race for Sam is wide open. Quinn questions how that stretches to double that, to 15 or 16.

“If you have 12 teams in Division One, all of a sudden you have 12 teams at the top table,” he points out.

“Now, some might struggle to stay there, but they’ve a chance if there’s 12.

“Within the first two years (of his proposal), 15 teams will have been in Division One.

“Nobody is going to tell me there’s more than 15 teams who can win the Sam Maguire but there’s a load of teams that could win an Intermediate Championship.”

It works at club level. With the lure of holidays and All-Stars and a chance to move up the ladder, this new version of county football might be worth the squeeze.

Look at Tyrone. Dungannon Clarkes went from junior champions to get their hands on the O’Neill Cup, the most competitive senior race in the land.

Trillick lost to them in the 2014 intermediate final, but were senior champions the following season.

“I’ve heard that debate recently, we don’t want a third tier,” Quinn added of the county narrative.

“You have to be realistic because a load of the teams have no chance of winning the Tailteann Cup either.”

The solution – give teams a level they can breathe in and emerge from. In hurling, there are more grades to give counties a chance to grow if they want. Whether they do, that’s up to the county’s ambition but they need an opportunity.

“You might get all the best players in every county playing,” Quinn said of the three-level format.

As it stands, unless players are zoned into being an inter-county player, the teams in the lower echelons are always going to be on the outside.

Given the chance, players might think they’ve a chance of winning a junior medal.

“They might think they can give intermediate a lash, the way it works at club football,” Quinn added.

“In most cases, your level is your level. If you’re always going to be in Division Three or Division Four, there’s very few cases of it changing. If you’re always going to be one of the top teams, there’s very few cases of you falling away too.”

Look at Louth. Winning Leinster was a big deal. Look further, imagine another raft of teams winning the middle tier and building for Sam Maguire.

Above that, the top 12 teams paired off – on a knock-out basis – should get bums on seats. In a 12-team league, every game is important. Everybody will want to make the top four.

It’s the same idea that topping the group stages is a big deal in the ‘super sixteens’. Armagh can take whatever steps they want ahead of their All-Ireland quarter-final.

How will counties approach intermediate and junior? That’s their call but if it’s a chance to grow, teams have an onus on making themselves worth following.

“If it took off, a senior knockout championship with 12 teams, there would be in a packed house every day, Croke Park would be packed for every match,” Quinn said.

Part of his thought process comes from the Tyrone in him. League games that matter and a championship that only gives you the right to 60 minutes. Then it’s up to you.

He looks at the county game. Two or three important Division One games followed by indecision about the value of a league title. Weeks tiptoeing around until jeopardy taps a team on the shoulder.

This all comes from being a Tyrone person: seeing how competitive the Tyrone League and a knockout championship is the way it should be in every county because every game counts.

In Quinn’s proposal, the All-Ireland final is a week later with the intermediate and junior as double header a week earlier.

There is an open draw for a 32-team cup competition. A knockout format played on designated weekends during the season. The semi-finals and final would be played in Croke Park, with the winners getting a team holiday.

The elephant in the room is a wave goodbye to the provincial finals. If the GAA decide this can’t happen, the provincials would take place on the cup weekends.

They would be detached from the All-Ireland with the overall GAA coffers helping fund their day-to-day business if there is a loss.

With more breaks, there is room for players to rest, media to give a wider range of coverage and families having to fund less costly matchday experiences from the same monthly income.

So, what are the advantages?

“To me, the way the game is going at the minute It’s going to be very, very hard for anybody to break into the top six or seven teams,” Quinn said.

“There is just going to put a massive gap between them and everybody else because they’re getting all the big games. Whereas, this sort of system would give everybody the exact same season.

“Matches start at the same time, finish at the same time.

“Everyone has opportunities to win, has opportunities to experience big days and collect All-Stars on the same night and places. They have the opportunity to win holidays the way big teams do.

“Ultimately if it stays the same, the gaps are going to get bigger and bigger and the competition is less and less. You just want to open up opportunities for more counties and more players to win and experience better days.”

With commitment levels always on the rise, players may feel it’s not worth the effort. Then, it’s a cycle. Counties with smaller playing pools are not able to challenge so the small get smaller.

History tells us that Dublin and Kerry will always adapt. They’ll lead the way and talented youngsters growing up can dream of making it big.

As for the rest, success comes in cycles to the middle third.

At the bottom, the climb is steep. If only they’d a more level playing field.

****

The layout…
Senior (12): Mayo, Kerry, Galway, Donegal, Dublin, Armagh, Tyrone, Derry, Monaghan, Roscommon, Meath, Cavan

Intermediate (12): Cork, Louth, Down, Westmeath, Kildare, Offaly, Clare, Fermanagh, Sligo, Laois, Wexford, Limerick

Junior (9): Antrim, Leitrim, Wicklow, Carlow, Tipperary, Longford, London, Waterford, New York

Grades based on league placings after the 2025 season.

02/01/2026 Launch of NFL

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19/07/2026 Intermediate and Junior Championship semi-finals

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Nov-26 All-Stars – senior, intermediate and junior