Sir, – In the context of the recent special GAA Congress to review the structure of the “All-Ireland” football championship, I am not aware of any delegate raising the anomaly of the title of the competition.
The differentiation of “All Ireland” dates back to the 14th-century solution proposed by Pope Innocent VI to resolve the arcane primacy dispute between the Archbishop of Dublin (now designated “primate of Ireland”) and the Archbishop of Armagh (designated as “primate of All Ireland”).
Perhaps this could resolve the issue of football championship reform.
The provincial champions could compete for the title of “Ireland champions” and the All-Ireland champions would be the winners of the league-based competition.
Such ingenuity successfully resolved the much more contentious 14th-century religious dispute. – Yours, etc,
DAVID LOUGHLIN,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.