GAA President Larry McCarthy says there are no current plans to look at the structures of local championships with Kerry Intermediate and Junior clubs dominating at national level.
Kerry have just eight senior clubs meaning that their intermediate champions tend to be incredibly strong.
The knock on effect is that their junior sides are also hugely successful at provincial and national level.
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No county has fewer senior clubs than Kerry, with between 12 and 16 the norm. Last year’s Tyrone senior championship had 16 teams.
Kingdom clubs did an Intermediate/Junior All-Ireland double at the weekend with Rathmore (Intermediate) and Fossa (Junior) bringing more silverware to the county after their respective victories over Galbally and Stewartstown.
This means that Kerry clubs have now won seven out of 19 All-Ireland intermediate club football crowns, four clear of second placed Tyrone (3).
It’s more stark for the rest of the country at junior level, with Kerry landing 11 out of 21 titles, at a strike rate of over 50 per cent.
Next best are Galway, Cork and Meath, all on two titles.
Much of this is down to the strength of Kerry club football but the eight team format unquestionably aids the county’s clubs.
At senior grade, where the playing field is level, Kerry are fourth in the roll of honour with six All-Ireland titles, behind Cork (11), Dublin (8) and Galway (7).
There have been calls for the GAA to intervene and impose a minimum number of teams that have to compete in the senior championship in all counties.
The GAA have already intervened in local competitions with a cap of 16 clubs placed on senior championships and counties given until this year to implement the new directive passed at GAA Congress in early 2021.
This move was aimed at streamlining the calendar off the back of the introduction of the split season.
To complicate matters further though, amalgamation sides play in the Kerry senior championship.
Current Kerry champions East Kerry have players from Rathmore and Fossa, but the amalgamation outfit aren’t allowed to compete outside Kerry.
This year’s Kerry representatives in the Munster senior club were Kerins O’Rahilly's, who won a separate Kerry club championship and a provincial title before losing out to Kilmacud Crokes in the All-Ireland semi-final.
Speaking about Kerry’s dominance at intermediate and junior level, GAA President Larry McCarthy said: “We haven’t looked at it yet. We haven’t looked at it nationally.
“But when you look at the dominance of the Kerry teams in terms of clubs and results over the years, perhaps it is something we will look at.
“But then at the same time it’s a function of the county structures as much as anything else, rather than being a national issue.
“To a certain extent when it comes to All-Ireland semi-finals and finals it is a national issue.
“But it’s a club structure within the county that delivers those teams to us and whether we want to interfere with that in any way, I’m not sure that would be a good thing.”
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