New Football Championship in the Déise County

The last few years has seen the Senior Football Championship in Waterford pan out along familiar lines.

With too many years we have seen two clubs from Stradbally, Ballinacourty and The Nire reach the county final to see who takes home with them from Fraher Field the Conway Cup.

Along with the big three, most people with an interest in football in the county could predict at least four of the other sides that reached the knockout stages, and most would have a fair idea what four sides would most likely fight it out to see who would have to play in the Intermediate Championship the following year.

There can be no disputing that things had become stale.

Officers of a Board are often the first to be criticised when it comes to how the different championships are fought out. Often the clubs are not asked to take their share of the blame when a championship or competition becomes stale, as they bye in large opt to keep things the way they are. Often when it comes to change, it’s a case of Turkeys not voting for Christmas.

So, full marks must go to the Officer Board of the Waterford County Board for coming up with something new and to the clubs that supported such a move.

The new competition will see the four sides that reached the semi-finals of last year’s championship be seeded teams in an open draw for the first championship with six fixtures. The sides that reached last year’s semi-finals could not meet each other, meaning there would be six first round games.

The six winners of the first round games would advance to the winners section of round two, the six losers would play in round two losers group.

The three winners from the winners group of the winners group would advance to the semi-finals of the competition. The winners of the round two losers group would advance to round four, with the six round two losers in round two would advance to round thee.

The three winners of the round three games would advance to round four to meet the round two loser’s group winners, while the round three losers would play off to see who gets relegated.

The three round four winners would then play off in rounds five and six to get one team who would be the fourth team to play the semi-finals along with the three winners from the round two winners group.

What all this means is that all clubs taking part (The Nire, Ballinacourty, Stradbally, Kilrossanty, Rathgormack, Clashmore, An Rinn, Ardmore, Gaultier, Brickeys, Ballinameela and Portlaw are all guaranteed three games of championship football in 2017 at a minimum, two games less than the sides that competed in the 2016 championship played.

It also means that unless we see a shift in power when it comes to football in the county, The Nire, Ballinacourty and Stradbally are all likely to reach the semi-final stages of the competition again in 2017, even if they were to be paired together in round two. The only way we can guarantee that all three don’t reach the last four of the competition is if at least two of them what would experience what would be a shock defeat before the round three draws were to take place.

For the record, the draw for the first round of the championship as drawn by Ken Begley representing Championship sponsors JJ Kavanagh & Sons on Monday night was:

Ballinacourty V Rathgormack

The Nire (Holders) V Clashmore

Ballinameela V Portlaw

Stradbally V Ardmore

Kilrossanty V Gaultier

An Rinn V Brickey Rangers.

So will the new style championship work?

I for one can’t see anything changing in the long term. We will see the big three reach the last four once more in 2017, with four or five of the usual suspects battling it out for the last place.

There is also a plan in place to cut the numbers taking part from its current number of twelve to ten, which from the neutral point of view is a welcome move.

But further changes could take place, but what I would suggest might be considered too radical.

With some time I have said that we have too many senior clubs in Waterford. To me, the ideal number would be eight.

Cutting four from its current total won’t go down well with some. They all would not like to drop to the intermediate grade in one swish move. Therefore a new competition, a Senior ‘B’ or and Intermediate Premier Competition could be set in place. The four teams left out of the senior championship along with the four sides that contested the Divisional Finals of the Intermediate Championship the year before such a competition would come into place would form the teams in this new competition.

There is little appetite for a County League and a League style championship in the county. Should such a new competition come into place, the County Leagues/Phelan Cup as we know them would be scrapped.

The eight teams would play each other once in a league style championship and all eight would advance to the championship proper, with the top team playing the bottom team, the second playing the seventh and so on in a knockout championship.

The quarter final winners would advance to the semi-finals while the quarter final beaten sides would play off to decide which team would be relegated.

This style of competition would guarantee each team in both the senior and the Senior B/Intermediate Premier competition would have a minimum of nine games, up from the current five which they are getting.

The County Final winners would continue to be presented with the Conway Cup after the County Final while the winners of the County Senior B/Intermediate Premier Competition would be presented with the Phelan Cup, which would always be the curtain raiser to the County Senior Football Final.

In time similar would be done with the Senior Hurling Championship, cutting the numbers from twelve to eight and the introduction of a Senior B/Intermediate Premier competition.

The winners of the County Hurling Final would be presented with the Waterford News and Star Cup, while the Senior B/Intermediate Premier winners would be presented with the Sargent Cup. Relegation from the Phelan Cup and Sargent Cup Competitions would be in line with relegation from the Conway Cup and Waterford News and Star Cup Competition.

With an increase in the number of games in the club championship from its current five to nine, it would mean that inter county managers would have less time with their players to prepare for the League and Championships. Is that a good thing? I am one of those that think the Club Scene is the most important unit of the G.A.A., so will let you decide what I think.

For the record, the there was no change to the Senior Hurling Championship for 2017, so we have two groups of six.

The draws for the 2017 championship is:

Group One	Group Two
Ballygunner	Passage
Dungarvan	Mount Sion
Tallow	Lismore
Abbeyside	Fourmilewater
De La Salle	Roanmore
Ballyduff Upper	Portlaw