DECISION MAY LEAD TO TIERS FOR EVERYONE

MOMENTUM appears to be building behind the controversial tier two football proposal that goes before Special Congress at Pairc Ui Chaoimh this afternoon.

While the motion has been widely panned by players and managers from Division Three/four counties, the fact it has Central Council backing having been pushed by GAA president John Horan gives it a sound footing straight away.

County delegations are cut for Special Congress compared to the Annual Congress, though Central Council’s voting power remains untouched. Furthermore, the sizeable overseas delegations are likely to side with Horan, all of which would bring the proposal close to the 60 per cent required.

Much of Ulster and perhaps half of Leinster is expected to vote against the proposal, but against that, there could be unanimous support in Connacht while

Waterford and Limerick have indicated that they will back Horan’s plan.

Several other counties are allowing their delegates to vote as they see fit on the day and the strength of arguments on either side of the debate could yet be decisive.

However, it’s lamentable that counties in the lower reaches of the League are set to vote in favour when it appears to fly in the face of the wishes of their own players.

There are also three playing rules down to be debated after they were experimented with in this year’s Allianz Football League – an inside mark, sin bin and the kickout being taken from the

20-metre line.

“I like the sin bin.. because if you get a black card your whole All-ireland final could be over, so that seems good,” says Dublin defender Davy Byrne (below).

“The other ones, I’m not sure. I played both of them, the mark makes it a little bit tougher to defend because the forward doesn’t need to worry about what he’s going to do after the ball. “The kickout can make it harder to win a short kick-out because he’s up into the space he’s going to be kicking into.”