THE MUNSTER FOOTBALL championship commences on Saturday and the common consensus settles on one side to emerge as ultimate winners.

Kerry triumphing is nothing new. They have carried off the last six Munster crowns and are widely tipped to complete seven-in-a-row in the province in June.

The league form points to a lack of credible challenges with Cork and Tipperary having slumped to Division 3 this spring, Clare just surviving in the second tier and the pair of Waterford and Limerick still stuck in the basement.

Liam Kearns tried to hunt down Kerry over a decade ago when at the helm of Limerick and is trying to bridge the chasm now as he enters his fourth summer with Tipperary. 

The gap that currently exists is glaring in his eyes.

“I think Kerry are well ahead of the rest. They were obviously in a Division 1 Final, and the three teams I mentioned (Tipperary, Cork, and Clare) battled out for relegation in Division 2.

Two of us are in Division 3 now and there are two more in Division 4. Clare are the only team in Division 2 and Kerry have beaten them well in the last couple of years.

“Cork have been hammered by Kerry the last couple of years and Cork have beaten us. Look, there’s no point saying otherwise, the gap is big there from Kerry to the rest.

“I would say there isn’t much between the rest. Clare can beat Cork, Cork can beat Clare. And vice versa with Tipperary. There isn’t much more than a kick of the ball between the other three.

“But the tables don’t lie. Cork, ourselves and Clare were fighting relegation, two of us went down, and one barely stayed up and that’s where Munster teams are at the moment. You can have all the excuses you want, but that’s where we’re at.”

The discussion brings Kearns around to the perennial debate over the Gaelic football structures employed nationally and the constant doubts as to whether they are fit for purpose.

“I think it’s a broader question, the whole thing needs to be looked at from start to finish,. Everybody has their own agenda. Croke Park, the colleges, the provincial councils, the National Leagues, they all have agendas in relation to different competitions.

“Until somebody comes in with no agenda and looks at the whole thing and calls it like it should be, with the players are the forefront of their interests, then I think you’ve got a problem.

“Maybe it will happen now because there is a lot of talk about it and maybe the nettle will be grasped at some stage.

“Certainly, it’s not as it should be at the moment.”

The Tipperary manager has some misgivings over the proposed solution to bring in a second tier to the All-Ireland championship.

“I managed Tipperary to an All-Ireland semi-final. I managed Limerick to compete with Kerry in Munster, drew with them in Munster when they won the All-Ireland in the same year, Division 1 league semi-finals.

“My view is that any county can sort themselves out and go on. I think most players want to compete in the All-Ireland.

“I don’t know is there an appetite. You are hearing about Division 2. If they have All Stars for them, if they have trips abroad for them, if they treat them the exact same as they treat the All-Ireland championship proper then you will find players will show interest.

“And it might become something, but they are fudging that. I am hearing they are talking about running a Division 2, but they are not committing to providing trips abroad, All Stars, or all the things that go with it. It very much depends on how they approach it.

“If they treat it like that then it won’t work and I think they’ll be killing it. The players will have no interest in it.

After their magical run in 2016 that took them into the unchartered territory of the last four, Tipperary have dropped back over the last couple of campaigns. But Kearns rejects the notion that this season feels like a last assault for their group as they get set to face Limerick on Saturday.

“No, I think they’re going to be around for a number of years yet. The age profile, there are a couple of key players who are older like Brian Fox and Philip Austin. Robbie Kiely would be 27/28, but the rest of them would have a good five years in them.

“I honestly believe they can believe if they want to compete for the next five years. But they need to go and make the breakthrough.

“Kerry are only going to get better. As good as they are now, their young fellas will only improve. Cork will come again. They’re too big not to. Once they sort themselves out, give them another couple of years and they will come again.

“I don’t see this as a final hurrah for them anyway, but, again, that’s up to the players. This is my fourth year and they’ve given good commitment to it in that time.

“Are they ready to give it another three or four? Do they believe that there is a Munster title there for them? That’s the thing. We’ll see.”

Subscribe to our new podcast, The42 Rugby Weekly, here: