CORK and Kerry have at last got what they wanted - a clear passage to the semi-finals of the Munster football championship.

The Munster Council has decided by eight votes to seven that the so-called weaker counties, Waterford, Tipperary and Limerick, have no place among the elite unless they can prove themselves.

From next season the trio will have to play in a preliminary round with the winners to qualify for the semi-finals in which Clare have been seeded along with Cork and Kerry. The semi-finals will then become an open draw.

The draws for the championship will be made live on television later this month. In 1991, the Munster Council gave way to much pressure, particularly from Clare, that there should be an open draw in the football championship series. In fact, Clare went on to win the title two years later and Limerick were unlucky to have lost by a couple of points to Kerry, also in the final.

However, over the past couple of years, there has been a series of lop-sided results in favour of Cork and Kerry and it was on their recommendation that the Munster Council agreed to look at the situation again.