So close to picking a full 15

I WAS one out when picking the All-Star 15 which was selected last weekend.

I had picked 14 of the 15 in my September column and had given Cork seven positions. We got eight.

The player I had omitted was Hannah Looney (forgive me, Hannah!).

I had Carrie Dolan in the half-forward line as I felt she would get one for Galway’s league title and her performance in the opening round of the championship where she dragged Galway into that game to beat Cork by a goal.

Happy to be wrong, though, and glad that it’s Hannah. Congratulations to all recipients and to Beth Carton on her Player of the Year award.

Well deserved.

Something that has come to my attention in the past few days is that the association is looking to create a two-tier intermediate championship; in counties where intermediate is their top-grade play in a competition with the lure of an All-Ireland final in Croke Park and a step up to senior, and a second competition featuring intermediate players from senior counties playing their own ‘non event’ competition with the final in a backyard.

I’m shocked at this, and I genuinely wonder who comes up with these ideas.

What is their reason?

Giving intermediate counties a chance to get to Croke Park?

In the last five years, four of the intermediate champions were from intermediate counties — Westmeath, Down, Antrim, and Derry, with a fifth, Meath, losing the 2023 final after a replay.

So, five intermediate counties reached the final day of the competition in the last five years.

Who has the right to determine that an intermediate player from an intermediate county is more deserving of a chance to play in Croke Park than one from a senior county?

Only a handful of players get to play senior with their county.

The rest rely on the intermediate championship to wear their county colours, get to Croke Park, and win an All-Ireland title.

To take that away from so many players is just shameful.

If passed, this is going to have a detrimental effect on players progressing from minor to senior and will undoubtedly result in a fall-off of players playing after minor. Why would an intermediate player be interested in a competition that isn’t, let’s face it, ‘recognised’?

Because it won’t be recognised.

There will be no print media interest, no journey to Croke Park, and no live TV for these players.

Where is the incentive to play in this token gesture of a competition?

It will be fourth in the pecking order — senior, intermediate, junior, and minor will be placed ahead of it.

Who is going to train and put in an effort for that? For what?

If an intermediate county can’t beat a second-string team from a senior county, then they have no business winning the intermediate title because their joy will be short-lived; they’ll get eaten alive when they step up.

As it is, spending time in the current intermediate grade with all counties participating is fundamental to their development.

Take Dublin for example. They’re a senior county, yet are struggling. An intermediate title would be fantastic for them if they can get there from minor.

They need this bridge. They won’t bridge it with a meaningless competition.

There is talk that junior counties will be asked to partake in the vote.

Their vote could be short-term and self-interested. This drive to pin back counties that have worked so hard to get where they are is incredible.

As it stands, players who win an intermediate title can’t play that grade again for three years, so there is a healthy turnover of players.

Watch the standards drop over the next decade. Give it a couple of years before the intermediate standard becomes a junior standard, televised. I for one would have no interest in watching an All-Ireland intermediate final that is in effect, handpicked.

If passed, in 2024, Carlow, Meath, Laois, Westmeath, and Kerry will play each other and two will get to Croke Park.

Progression?

Cork, Kilkenny, Galway, Dublin, Wexford, Antrim, and Clare will be in a separate competition for a token cup.

There needs to be a vocal and serious objection to this.