BEING drawn in the Ulster Football Championship preliminary round has been the downfall of many a good team down the years, but the rules on the draw will change in two years’ time.
The Ulster GAA Competitions Control Committee has announced that, from 2020, the counties that play the Ulster opener will be guaranteed a two-year break before they are eligible to do so again.
Only four counties - Cavan in 1945, Armagh in 2005 and Donegal in 2011 and 2012 – have collected the Anglo-Celt Cup after going the arduous four-game, preliminary round route and the change will mean that just five counties will be included in the preliminary round draw for the 2022 Ulster Championship and the championships thereafter.
“For many years the draw for the Ulster Championship has been conducted on the basis that all nine counties entered the bowl at the outset and the first two teams drawn played in the preliminary round,” explained Ulster GAA Provincial Secretary Brian McAvoy.
“There was a time when the draw worked on a two-year cycle and there were indeed occasions when a county had to play in the preliminary round for four consecutive years
“In my annual report to the Ulster Convention in January I highlighted the fact that Ulster was the only province that operated a ‘straight’ draw and that each of the other provinces had some ‘conditions’ attached to their football Championship draw.
“A close study showed how the Championship draw favoured some counties over others when it came to preliminary round appearances
“Cavan have played in the preliminary round on seven occasions since the millennium, while Derry has been drawn to play in it on just two occasions.
“While some may validly argue that this is just the luck of the draw, the statistics paint a picture which shows that teams which contest the preliminary round have a very poor record when it comes to winning the Ulster title.”
All nine counties will be included in the draw for next year’s Ulster Championship. The counties which are drawn to play in the preliminary round will not feature in the preliminary round draw for the 2020 and 2021 Championships.
Seven counties will be included in the preliminary round draw for the 2021 Championship and from the 2022 draw onwards just five counties will be included in the draw for the preliminary round game.
“Counties prefer not to be playing in the preliminary round and while some counties will in all probability continue to be ‘favoured’ by the draw more than others, this change will hopefully add some measure of equilibrium to the statistics,” said McAvoy.
“While there is no ideal figure, a two-year exemption strikes the correct balance as a one-year exemption was unlikely to bring about much meaningful change. A three-year exemption would result in just three counties being in the preliminary round draw and this would significantly increase the prospect of repeat pairings.”
