Minnows can forget it: Kearns
TIPPERARY football manager Liam Kearns says fairytale runs such as that by his side this year will be much less frequent if the new Championship proposals are adopted.
GAA director general Paraic Duffy has framed a new structure which would see the All-ireland quarterfinals replaced by two groups of four to be played off in a round robin format.
It will be voted on at GAA Congress in February with strong indications that it will be passed in time for the 2018 Championship. But Kearns insists it only facilitates the big guns.
He said: “You’d have to say that Dublin could get caught once but then they’ll go back and they’ll look at everything and then they’ll come back out in two weeks time and they’ll play somebody else and they’ll address it and they’ll have a different attitude because Championship football is all on the day.
“If your attitude is wrong on the day or your game plan is wrong on the day, you’re going to get done and you’ve no chance to come back.
“But this will change that completely,” he insisted. “It’ll mean the strong counties can go away and do their homework and come back better again.
“In my view you’re going to have the same three or four teams in the All-ireland finals.
“I mean Tipperary coming from nowhere last year, you’d have to say that’ll be very unlikely to happen any more.
“We did it but I’m still surprised that we broke through that ceiling, from that quarter-final to an All-ireland semi-final from Division Three.
“As Mickey Harte said, nobody from outside Division One can win an All-ireland. He’s not that far wrong, I’d have to say,” added Kearns.