Cork Footballers

[peopleluas]

mad scenario of 3 to qualify

It's not mad. You might have a better idea, but to call it "mad" is inaccurate when there has been clear logical thought put into it. With the current arrangement, there's a reward for every position in the group:

1st gets a quarter final against a team which is mentally and physically exhausted.
2nd gets a home preliminary quarter final
3rd is at least still in it - they get a preliminary quarter final, but it's away
4th is gone.

I don't see the problem (or at least not a madness) with having a competition where every team gets at least 3 matches, the outcome of which determines the above.

The situation with Dublin is an entirely different problem. Long term, given urbanization but not only that, if we want to achieve the following:

1. a properly competitive national GAA football competition amongst representative teams (i.e. teams of the best players in a broad geographical area of many clubs), and
2. football successful at ground level everywhere,

then those geographical areas can't be based on county-bounds set up by the Anglo-Normans or whoever. Otherwise you get far too uncompetitive a situation - the most extreme example being Dublin, who will otherwise win most All-Irelands until there's a profound failure of football in Dublin (and what GAA person wants that really).