LAST UPDATE | 9 May 2022

LEITRIM MANAGER Andy Moran said he is disappointed with the structure of the new Tailteann Cup and believes that a round-robin competition with groups of four battling it out is the best way to go.

Moran went on many backdoor journeys with his native Mayo as a player but strongly believes that the weaker counties need to have more games and starting the new competition with a north-south divide doesn’t cut it for him either.

“I’d be disappointed with the way they set it up. That north-south thing was new to me. It came from nowhere last week and I don’t know if that’s going ahead,” he said after their 4-20 to 0-9 loss to Galway in Salthill.

“It’s not the way it was sold to us at the start. It was sold that you get three games after your championship exit. So it would be nice if they really want to build up smaller counties, I think the more games you play is vital.

“The groups of four would be absolutely ideal, because then you would have competitive games and if you want to bring through young guys and see then over a period of time in good competitive games.”

The former Footballer of the Year said that his developing Leitrim side need games to make them stronger and that a solid structure in the Tailteann Cup with guaranteed games would be a huge help.

He knows his side were handed a lesson from a team who were hardened from playing at a higher level and Moran believes that a competitive Tailteann Cup can help counties like Leitrim develop.

“Our guys came in there at half-time and thought they were in this and all of a sudden they see the difference then in the second-half.

“You have got to be able to see what you get to get to if they want this to be a more competitive competition moving forward. The promotion of it is going to be key.

“I saw Tony McEntee last week really bigging it up but the promotion from the GAA itself needs to be huge. They need to get that moving,” added Moran.

First published today at 09.42