Dessie Farrell has questioned the future of the provincial Championships after seeing his Dublin side cruise to yet another Leinster title.
A facile 21-point victory over Louth wrapped up Dublin’s 13th provincial crown in succession and 18th in 19 seasons as they now move into the new-look All-Ireland series in a group containing Roscommon, Kildare and Sligo.
Dubs boss Farrell has stated openly in the past that the provincials should be scrapped and the fact that the Connacht, Munster and Leinster finals produced an aggregate margin of victory of 49 points for Galway, Kerry and Dublin hardly weakens his viewpoint.
READ MORE: Dublin cruise to 13-in-a-row in Leinster with rout of Louth
He said: “The GAA won't need me to tell them this, of course. For years I've been banging that particular drum.
“Look, I get it, it's quite political. Provincial councils have been established a long time and feel that they have a role and a responsibility and that their contribution is important to the GAA.
“While that is definitely the case, I think it's probably time to have a proper review of the competition and see who does this benefit, these big wins, the big discrepancies between teams? Is there a better mixture? So my tune hasn't changed on that in a number of years.
“This year is slightly different in that we're now going to step into the real competition I think, and that's going to be very interesting and very exciting.
“It's hard to accommodate everybody, I get that and I'm sure it's very much on the GAA's and the Central Council's and Congress's own radar in terms of what to do with the provincial competitions. It's something I'm sure they're going to look at.”
Dublin start their Group 3 campaign with a home tie against Roscommon on the weekend of May 27/28, with Farrell referencing a “big step-up in class” as the All-Ireland series kicks in.
“It didn’t help that we’ve been playing in Division Two this year never mind the provincial title.
“With a Dublin hat on, we’re very conscious of how our season has gone thus far and while today was very pleasing we still have only played Division Two or Division Four teams this season thus far.
“So, there is a big step up in class coming at us fairly quickly. We have Roscommon coming at us in two weeks now and they have been wholly impressive all season and have had some really good games under their belts against stiff competition that we have probably yet to face bar two weeks ago against Kildare.
“That’s going to be a challenge for us and we need to be ready for that.”
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