Extra qualifier ties have little impact

THE BIGGEST surprise of the GAA's annual congress in Sligo was the overwhelming decision of delegates to reverse the decision of October 2006's special congress and readmit Division Four counties to the All-Ireland qualifier series.

Proposed by Wicklow's An Tóchar club, the motion was virtually unanimously carried and altogether eight counties spoke in its favour.

"Only by playing the best can we improve our standard," was one of the arguments put forward but evidence suggests that the counties which spoke in support of the move have struggled to register any improvement in their performances throughout six years of contesting the qualifiers.

In the course of 59 matches between 2001-06, the eight counties who supported the motion - Wicklow, Offaly, Kildare, Carlow, Tipperary, Clare, Leitrim and London - managed to win just 13, over half of which were in matches against each other.

Tipperary referred to the promotion of the game in weaker counties as one of the original purposes of the qualifier system but the evidence is that the extra matches had little impact on the county, which along with Leitrim and London has never won a single qualifier match and in 2004 couldn't even field a team.

It can be argued that the statistics are misleading in places. Tipperary, for instance, should have been Munster champions in 2002 but for an incorrect decision by the provincial council after Cork fielded too many replacements in the drawn final.

Leitrim, although they haven't won a single match, have been very competitive having taken Meath and Donegal to extra time and being undone by a late goal against Roscommon on another occasion.

But if the statistical record doesn't tell the full story the pattern is unarguable. Furthermore, the counties speaking in favour didn't include all of the current Division Four sides; otherwise the proportionate return would have been even worse.

Only once did one of the counties win more than one match in a season of the qualifier series. That was Offaly in 2003 and the victories were against London and Clare.

The Strabane Sigersons club in Tyrone has asked that the public be warned against buying tickets featuring the club logo and purporting to be for the club's fund-raising purposes. The tickets cost £20 each and advertise a prize fund of £25,000 to be drawn at the end of next November. The club is anxious to point out that this is a fraud and that the matter has been brought to the attention of the authorities.

This evening sees the much-delayed Sigerson Cup semi-final between Garda College and GMIT take place in Páirc Chiaráin, Athlone at 6pm. Extra time will be played if needed.