Kerry's enduring quality is one of the fundamentals of the GAA - they don't need the leg-up the current championship structure affords them...

By Gerry Robinson

In ten days' time, Kerry will meet Clare for a place in the 2017 Munster SFC final. It will be the third championship meeting of the Kingdom and the Banner inside twelve months. Including Sunday week's game, three of Kerry's last five championship outings will have been against Clare. If ever there was a statistic that highlighted the urgent need for a complete championship overhaul, then this is surely it.

How can one of the strongest teams in the country be afforded such an easy path to August football year in, year out? Look, we all know Kerry would beat most teams anyway - but it's not just about that. It's the amount of effort they need to invest (or not) in these games, how much they can keep in the tank for August and September.

Kerry are able to go into their Autumn schedule completely fresh every year, while others can't. Some will argue that the Leinster and Connacht championships are equally lopsided and that Dublin (who are an exception to every rule) and Mayo hardly exert themselves in their provinces either (Galway will have other ideas), but when is the last time you saw a fresh Donegal, Tyrone or Monaghan side taking to the field at Croker for a championship game?

Some decent teams are weary going into the latter stages - or don't get there at all - while others are almost ushered through by a grossly unfair and imbalanced system. Contentions that 'the cream will always rise to the top' or 'the best team will win regardless' can be countered with the undisputable fact that 'a good team have a better chance of succeeding if their task is simplified'.

It should be the same playing field for everybody. As things stand, the current championship structure - tied to the provincial competitions like a prisoner carrying a ball and chain around his ankle - is totally antiquated and essentially unfair. It facilitates some and hinders others.  

On June 12th, 2016, defending champions Kerry faced Clare in a Munster SFC semi-final at Killarney, winning by 2-23 to 0-17 in front of an attendance of 11,358.

In the final, on July 3rd, Tipperary provided the opposition - again in Fitzgerald Stadium - and this time the Kingdom prevailed by ten points to claim their 78th provincial crown. It certainly wasn't the most difficult one they've ever captured and there are at least ten county managers in Ireland who would give their right arms to have such a navigable path to the latter stages of the championship.

Unbowed and unbloodied, Eamonn Fitzmaurice's charges entered the All-Ireland series ... and another clash with the Banner County at Croke Park on July 31st. Duly, they won again, 2-16 to 0-11. The rest of the nation looked on with more envy than admiration.

The semi-final against Sam Maguire Cup holders Dublin presented Kerry with their first meaningful test since the previous year's All-Ireland final. They lost a thrilling contest on a 0-22 to 2-14 scoreline and their season was over. One difficult game.

Fast forward to 2017 and the mighty Kingdom are currently preparing to face Clare again. On Sunday, June 11th, they will square up to the upwardly-mobile Banner for the third time in twelve months. Victory will guarantee one of the best teams in the country a provincial final berth and they will be just one win away from the last eight. Worst case scenario, should they slip up against Cork or Tipperary on July 2^nd (assuming they win on Sunday week, which is hardly a wild leap of the imagination), they will enter the Qualifiers at Round Four and will still be just one victory away from an All-Ireland quarter-final.

This is an obscenely facile path to the business end of the championship compared to many other counties. A host of teams would justifiably feel that if they had this same route that they could put together a genuine challenge for ultimate glory.

It's not Kerry's fault that they have it so easy but I imagine they would be content if things stayed like this forever. Who wouldn't like such an easy life - cruising along while other contenders reduce one another? An easy draw or an easy path is half the battle, whether you are a great team or an average one.

It's time for an open draw to give every team the same chance of achieving glory, an equal opportunity of featuring in major contests at the business end of the year. Of course, Kerry would still be there. Didn't they just win a very competitive national football league that was fair to all? They'd still be more than a match for nine teams out of ten. They would continue to prosper. But at least it wouldn't be so easy for them to do so.

Defenders of the current system and those who wrongly believe I'm having a cut at the Kingdom will feel that it's the same for everybody, and can point out that Donegal (Antrim), Monaghan (Fermanagh), Tyrone (Derry), Mayo (Sligo) and Dublin (Carlow) all enjoyed equally-easy openers this year. All against opponents that Kerry would have defeated with a minimum of fuss. This is true but, generally speaking, these sides tend to run into heavy traffic earlier in the year than Kerry do.

For now, as the mind-numbing status quo remains, we await Kerry's big entrance into the 2017 championship in a game that they are almost definitely going to win. It's not fair on Clare, either.

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