Pionships must stay relevant

e the ration of a lot eas they don’t city to think nds. goes thinking in the Allere are teams that winning his season is m. Progress or

o the latter stages is what they would aspire to.

‘If you took away the provincial opportunity, then, I don’t care what you call it – Champions League style or anything else – it’s not the same.

‘Provincial final day is fantastic. Ulster has proven it. Antrim got there after 30odd years. Fermanagh were in one. Monaghan last year. Donegal after 19 years. Roscommon in Connacht did Why should it be a case of another nue stream coming in that suddenly layers will be looking for extra? e players accordingly are getting r looked after, better treatment at ty level, in particular, with all the cal treatment they get, all the gear, their travel expenses, food quality, lements they get. So their lot is oving. me people will agitate for that [paylay] – as will always be the case. But nk the majority don’t want it. You ld learn the lesson from club rugby. suffered because of professional- it. And for anyone outside of Dublin in Leinster it will mean a lot.’

And he dismisses the idea of running off the provincial championships as a separate entity before an All-Ireland competition in a new format.

‘If it has no relevance to the All-Ireland it wouldn’t do for me at all. That’s just devaluing it. It would become an irrelevant competition.’