DOWN boss Paddy Tally fears there could be an exodus of players from across Ireland to America this summer, should they find themselves consigned to the Tier Two Championship.
His Mournemen just missed out on promotion to Division Two of the National League this year, and must escape the clutches of Division Three next spring to avoid the possibility of playing Tier Two football.
And the Galbally man expects a watching brief to be kept from across the Atlantic in the hope of securing the services of some top talent for the summer months.
“I would have a fear for it,” he said.
“A lot of county players might decide at the end of the League that, if they haven’t a chance in the senior competition, to go off to the States. And I am sure the clubs in America would be keeping a tight eye on who is finishing where in the League; who is not playing in Tier One.
“So I would say there could be a big exodus of young players this year to the States from all counties. I’d say that trend will only continue, which would have a very negative effect for club football.”
Next year will be the first run of the Championship restructure, which was given the green light at a GAA Special Congress in October.
There is still ill feeling about the hasty manner in which the plans were rubber-stamped, and scepticism about whether a satisfactory solution has been reached.
Like many, Tally is unconvinced.
“To be honest, the whole way the thing was done wouldn’t be my way of doing it,” he said.
“Your League now determines what Championship you go in - in the past, your Championship decides where you play after that, even with the back door system. Your provincial Championship, and then the All-Ireland Championship.
“I think it could be done slightly differently, that we could have had a different structure that would have been better. We could have had a round-robin system that would have led on to a knock-out system where you had groups of four, everybody had three games and the top 16 played off into a competition and the bottom six went on in their own competition.
“It means that everyone is getting lots of games. This one here, there could be that feeling that some players decide at the end of the League ‘I’m off, I don’t want to play Tier Two’.
“And that could happen. Some players might not see the merit in the Tier Two competition. I think there could have been a better way of breaking this in. If it was going to happen, fair enough, but there might have been a better process to get to this point.”
Down begin their National League campaign away to Tipperary on January 25 and finish up against Louth.
It was against the Wee County where disaster struck on the final day this year, defeat at Pairc Esler derailing their promotion hopes, before Armagh and Mayo ended their interest at Ulster and All-Ireland level.
And Tally is hoping to better things to come in his second year in charge,
“Probably disappointed, to be honest with you,” he said when asked for his assessment of year one.
“I do think there is an expectation to push on, and I think it is important that our players respect the importance of a really good League this year. We make no bones about it, there is going to be a renewed vigour on all teams to get out of Division Three to make sure they are in the right pot come the Championship, at the right end of the League.”
