Replying To Lockjaw:  "Yeah the provincials are on the way out. I think the GAA strategists decided on these groups stages this year as a kind of mechanism to further weaken the purpose of the provincial championships. So rather than the GAA coming out and saying outright, "the provincials are now obsolete and will be disbanded as competitions", which would undoutedly cause some uproar, ranting and raving. They have instead added these groups with their excess of matches required to come up with a last 8.

You saw it with Kevin McStay's recent comments. While not saying for a minute that Mayo intentionally lost to Roscommon, were they wild bothered at losing out on another Connacht medal? As it was they took a nice wee break for a couple of weeks before getting back into some serious training for the real stuff that's ahead of them.

Unless the provincial winners are somehow rewarded in the All Ireland series then they're a dead duck. People suggesting they get played pre Championship is well and good, but then what are they only glorifed McKenna Cup competitions?"

Replying To KillingFields:  "I dont think they are on way out or that they should be removed.
Keep them play them during the season. remove the pre season cups and play the provincials throughout the year as a straight knock out cups with extra time/penalties. some of stronger counties may not care but that gives other counties a shot at winning. give counties a decent reward for winning which could help keep interest.
While Mayo as you give an example may not care too much about losing. Leitrim would give anything to win a connacht title. same with counties in other provinces and plenty of counties at that...."

Replying To Lockjaw:  "Aye but they don't play ALL their games there.

Are Dublin gaining anything by winning Leinster at a canter every year? Might be more of a challenge to them to play someone like Tyrone on a hot day in a packed Clones..."

Replying To Joxer:  "Do they play ALL their games there now? I've already been to Limerick, Cork, Derry and Laois with the Dubs this year and have tickets for Kilkenny in two weeks time. Gonna be tropic! I think your suggestion is a bit extreme here man. If we're moving a county around provinces to try to handicap them then there's something broken with the competition in the first place. Scrap the provos, make the whole thing open draw with home and away fixtures. That will dispense with childish arguments about a dressing with DR 1 on the door, warm ups at different ends of a pitch and lads being asked, or not, to put their gum shields in. Modernise the competition and even consider 2 leg rounds with aggregate scoring."

Replying To Lockjaw:  "Yeah you've hit the nail on the head there really. There's something fundamentally broken with the competition structures. I think we're at a cross-roads. We either remain sentimental towards the provincials, retain them & remain stuck with a flawed AI championship system. Or we get rid of the provincials and come up with a fair and balanced championship structure for all.

Maybe each province will want to run a separate provincial competition. That's grand. But I'm not sure what the appetite would be like for that. Less successful counties might buy into it yes, as it offers a chance of silverware. But what would the reward be for winning it, other than the trophy? Maybe that's enough, but if it doesn't somehow lead towards the All Ireland then I don't think it'll work."

Replying To Lockjaw:  "Yeah you've hit the nail on the head there really. There's something fundamentally broken with the competition structures. I think we're at a cross-roads. We either remain sentimental towards the provincials, retain them & remain stuck with a flawed AI championship system. Or we get rid of the provincials and come up with a fair and balanced championship structure for all.

Maybe each province will want to run a separate provincial competition. That's grand. But I'm not sure what the appetite would be like for that. Less successful counties might buy into it yes, as it offers a chance of silverware. But what would the reward be for winning it, other than the trophy? Maybe that's enough, but if it doesn't somehow lead towards the All Ireland then I don't think it'll work."

Replying To Seanfanbocht:  "If you abolish Provincials there are only 2 trophies on offer instead of 6.
Keeping them means upper middle ranked teams have a realistic chance of a trophy.
Ros have 1 NFL, 2 AI Titles and around 25 Connachts.
Yet it's unfair to have winners/Finalists of 4 unequal competitions getting special treatment in the AI series.
Then there's a fear they'll die off altogether if they have no link to the AI.

Answers on a postcard please to Tom Ryan, Croke Park, Dublin....."

Replying To Lockjaw:  "That's it in a nutshell. If you keep the provincials as they are, and reward the winners with some sort of seeding in the AI Championship, you still have Kerry and Dublin having an advantage. That's why I suggested Dublin do a tour of the provinces! (tongue in cheek!) just to highlight the issue with the competition structure being totally flawed as is."