A motion to change the controversial new football championship format in Offaly was defeated at last night's county board meeting.

Ferbane and Durrow submitted a revised joint-motion - their previous motions were ruled out of order - which sought to revert to last year's format. The motion needed a three-fifths majority to allow it to be considered by Central Council, but it was soundly defeated by 27 votes to 16.

The decision means that teams in this year's Senior, Senior ‘B’, Intermediate and Junior Football Championships will progress to the knockout stages irrespective of how they fare in the group stage. And while it would guarantee every team five championship games – one more than heretofore – a team could conceivably lose all of their group matches and still win the championship.

This is the most glaring flaw in the much-maligned format which was proposed by Offaly CCC in response to requests by clubs for more championship games and was comfortably passed at last November's county board meeting. 

It also means that the championships won’t begin in earnest until the quarter-finals, rendering the group games meaningless. The likely knock-on effect is that attendances will suffer and some players will give the early rounds a miss and instead spend the summer abroad before returning for the knockout stages.

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