McStay: Chances of dead rubbers 'almost negligible' in new format

Kevin McStay has welcomed the "massively positive" news after a new football championship structure was voted in for 2023 and rejected the idea of too many dead rubbers in the new format.

At today's annual GAA Congress, almost 95% of delegates backed a tiered All-Ireland structure where the eight provincial finalists will compete for the Sam Maguire Cup along with the next eight teams ranked in order of league seniority.

Those counties will enter a round-robin stage comprised of four groups of four, with the group winners progressing straight to the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

The second and third-placed teams will vie for the remaining four quarter-final spots.

"I’m delighted with it," McStay told RTÉ’s Saturday Sport. "Of course there are going to be a few creases in it, the plan I suppose over the three-year trial is that they will be ironed out.

"It’s a great new look for us. There will be a lot of excitement and in general, massively positive."

Detractors have pointed to the retention of the provincial championships, and the possibility of dead rubbers at the group stage when only one team from each of the groups is eliminated.

The former Roscommon manager doesn’t subscribe to that viewpoint however believes that the structure means, in practice, there will be hardly any meaningless games.

Even if you are qualified, you are still fighting for home advantage

"I don’t agree (with the argument of increased dead rubbers)" he said. "A round-robin with four teams, where at the end of it is only reduced to three teams, isn’t much of a round-robin.

"That’s done for a specific reason - to stop the dead rubbers.

"If three teams are emerging from a group of four, the chances of a dead rubber are almost negligible, because there is