McConville wants conversation on third-tier football

Wicklow senior football manager Oisín McConville claims that the Tailteann Cup is working well for smaller counties and believes that ‘there’s a conversation’ to be had around creating a third-tier football competition.

McConville’s side exited the Tailteann Cup at the weekend following a 1-18 to 0-12 quarter-final defeat against Down.

However, that defeat came after a competitive round robin phase and a preliminary quarter-final victory over Leitrim, giving McConville’s men some valuable experience and competitive games.

The two-time All-Star for Armagh feels that Wicklow are benefiting from the structure of the competition and that it’s helping to raise the standards of football in the county.

“I think I like the current system,” McConville said, speaking on Morning Ireland. “You know, you’re going to get your seven league games at a level where you’re able to compete, whether that be in Division 3 or Division 4.

“There’s the possibility, the way the groups work, there’s a real good chance of you getting out of your group. And then when you do, you’re playing knockout football.

“For teams like Wicklow, I think that works well. Wicklow got six Tailteann Cup games this year, you’d go a long way to try and find or gain that experience through some other routes.

“So you’re talking about 13 or 14 really competitive games every year.

“I think the format works. I like the format. I like the way it works because I think it gives you an opportunity to get into the competition.

“It’s tough. It is tough because there’s always an outlier. There’s always one or two teams that, are probably of Division 2 standard or yo-yoing between Division 2 and Division 3.

“I think that makes it tough because in order to win it, you’re going to have to beat one of those teams.”

Such is McConville’s belief in the Tailteann Cup, he feels that it’s now worth considering added a third-tier football competition.

The former Armagh player makes the argument that inter-county football could be organised on a senior, intermediate and junior basis, with a new competition joining the All-Ireland series and the Tailteann Cup.

He said: “You see the different tiers in hurling. Some people would argue that they’re not working that well, but I would say for all the teams that won the Nicky Rackard, the Lory Meagher, and Christy Ring that was a very special occasion that they had this year in Croke Park.

“I think there is a conversation to be had at the very least. I’m not sure what way that would structure or would it be the bottom eight teams because I think there’s a lot of teams still aspiring to play in the Sam Maguire, no matter how unrealistic that is.

“I think one more tier is definitely worth a conversation or certainly it’s something that we should be looking at.

“If you look at some of the results this year, you look at London’s results, you look at how competitive New York were, and you’re talking teams like Wicklow and Carlow you’re thinking ‘would that be a competition that would be really competitive and really worth getting your teeth in there?’

“You would have to say yes. So I definitely think there’s a conversation to be had around a senior intermediate and junior.”

Watch the Tailteann Cup semi-finals, Antrim v Laois (2pm) and Down v Sligo (4pm), on Sunday from 1.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1