'The championship system is now broken and needs to change' - Anthony Molloy

Anthony Molloy has criticised the All-Ireland round-robin draw process as well as its timing with Donegal set to face either Tyrone or Derry again, depending on their Ulster final result.

There has been much conversation around the draw since it took place on Tuesday afternoon with many observers noticing that Jim McGuinness’s men will, in total, have to play four or five games against 2025 Division 1 opposition just to reach the knockout stages.

While in contrast, with the expectation that Kerry and Dublin will once again win their provincial titles, The Kingdom wouldn’t meet any 2025 Division 1 team to reach that same juncture.

With the All-Ireland draw being held before the provincial finals have even taken place, Molloy says it’s further proof that those in power are doing their utmost to diminish the significance of the provincial competitions.

However, he concedes that while Ulster remains “a bear pit”, and Connacht also retains a competitive edge, the likes of Leinster and Munster are “dead as dead”.

“We look at the last two games that Donegal played in Ulster, it was absolute mighty stuff,” said 1992 All-Ireland winning captain Molloy.

“But then when you look at how and when the GAA are conducting the draw for the All-Ireland series, you would start to wonder why we are even doing the provincial championships anymore, I just don’t get it.

“We played two extremely tough games against Tyrone and Derry in Ulster and now we see that we will have to play one of them again in the round-robin. It’s a system that seems to be all over the place.

“If you play a team in the provincial system, you shouldn’t play that team again until much later in the competition - the business end of things.

“Surely there’s a way for the GAA to structure things so it’s not possible to meet a team twice so soon”.

While Ulster has once again been the shining light in the provincial competitions, the Ardara man highlights that it should not hide the fact that there is a serious lack of competition in Leinster and Munster.

And because of that, Kerry and Dublin continue to face much easier passages towards the All-Ireland series.

“It’s great when you see such a classic Ulster game like we’ve had the last two weekends in Celtic Park.

“But that can often blind you because there is no excitement or jeopardy whatsoever coming from Leinster or Munster. They are two provincial championships that are as dead as dead can be with Kerry and Dublin always prevailing.

“Surely in any other system, in any other sport, if you saw a team winning a competition as much as Dublin are, it wouldn’t take you long to realise there’s something wrong here and a change is needed.”

Molloy admits that a redirection is badly warranted in terms of the structuring of the championship.

And with the condensed season playing a role, the former All-Star midfielder believes the association has to also look at the issue of player burnout, with more matches in a smaller space of time.

“There’s another major problem that’s just not being discussed, and that’s the issue with player burnout.

“I hear people talking about players suffering from injuries and there being too many games, but they’re not doing much to prevent it. We have more games now than ever.

“Something has to be done, either get rid of the provincials altogether or do a straight knockout across the board and if you lose, then you’re gone.

“In terms of the current format, I understand that Tyrone and Derry get into the group stage based on where they are in the league.

“But it should be done in such a way where they have to face the winners of one of the other three provinces.

“I don’t know - maybe the powers that be just want to burn out all the Ulster teams!” Molloy joked.