LARRY Tompkins is backing the introduction of a two-tier All-Ireland Championship even though his adopted county Cork could feature in the lower tier next season.
After relegation last year, the Rebels begin 2020 in Division Three and under the proposed new rules - which will be voted on at a Special GAA Congress at Pairc Ui Chaoimh on October 19 - they would need to get to the Munster final to enter the race for the Sam Maguire next year.
Despite that concern, Tompkins says the radical shake-up will allow weaker counties to develop in a competition they have a chance of winning.
“Let’s be honest, Cork shouldn’t be in a tier two competition, but okay they are in Division Three,” said Tompkins, who began his inter-county career with his native Kildare before relocating to Cork and lining out for the Rebels between 1987 and 1996. He captained Cork top the All-Ireland title in 1990 and later delivered two Munster titles as manager.
“I would have a big thing about trying to develop football in a lot of counties.
“How do you do it? How do you get the likes of the lower counties to believe in themselves and for players to be able to commit? What’s there for them at the end of the day?
“So you have to have a two tier competition and you have to give it a profile and make it special. Do you play the final of the second tier in Croke Park before the All-Ireland final? Do you have a trip for the winners? Do you have an Allstars selection for the second tier?
“How do you give life to the likes of Wicklow and Carlow? How do you give life to those players to get out there and train? Is this a way of trying to promote that? I think it has to be.”
Tompkins rejected the idea that some counties will view the introduction of a second tier as a death sentence. There are concerns that panels will lose players who simply aren’t interested in committing their time to playing in a ‘B’ competition.
“A second tier competition would be providing an opportunity where two counties could meet in the final of that, two counties that wouldn’t have seen light at the end of the tunnel at the start of the year,” said the GAA Hall of Famer.
“You could have teams that could end up in a final at Croke Park that would be a massive occasion for them.
“These counties all train hard, you have to give them light at the end of the tunnel. You can’t have it the way it’s going at the moment because it’s just going to eat them away.”
