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'I've family members questioning me saying, 'What are you doing it for?''

Leitirm forward Emlyn Mulligan believes a two-tier football championship is the only way to prevent players walking away from the game.

EMLYN MULLIGAN’S REACTION to the Connacht championship draw last week in the RTÉ studios summed it up. 

Emlyn Mulligan Leitrim star Emlyn Mulligan. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO

Mulligan’s Leitrim were paired with Roscommon in the Connacht quarter-final, with Mayo most likely awaiting them in the semis. If they were to somehow reach the final, chances are they’d meet reigning champions Galway in the decider.

It means three Division 1 sides stand between bottom-tier Leitrim and a provincial title.

“I’m deflated,” Mulligan said. “It’s not the ideal draw.

“It’s very hard to motivate yourself. Since I’ve started playing, Sligo are the only team bar London and New York that we’ve ever beaten. That’s why I was so anxious to get them there. It doesn’t get any easier.”

Rather than fill him with excitement for what’s to come in the summer of 2019, Mulligan instead takes a more realistic approach. After 11 years representing Leitrim, during which he fought back to fitness from three cruciate injuries, the romantic notion that anything can happen in championship football has long since left him.

“We’re not like every other county,” he says. “There’s a message nearly sent out at the start of every year for us that’s like, ‘Who will come back?’ It’s a strange one. You look at the bigger counties and they’re like, ‘We can’t wait (to go back).’

“I’m thinking of other players going, ‘I wonder will he give it a year now. I hope he gives it a year.’ I’d nearly be ringing them saying, ‘Here, will you just give us another year?’

“Because the incentive isn’t there. Our commitment is as great as Dublin’s. It’s five or six nights a week between gym, recovery, training and travel. It’s huge commitment and realistic people say, ‘What are you doing it for?’ I’ve family members questioning me saying, ‘What are you doing it for?’

“It is hard so you just think the GAA need to take it on board and look after these counties with more games to help them improve to get better and compete with the bigger teams. Whether that happens or not…It mightn’t happen in my playing career but hopefully, down the line it does.”

Emlyn Mulligan parades with his team Emlyn Mulligan parades with his team before they face Roscommon. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO

For the star forward, a two-tier championship is the only solution to keep players from lower division counties interested. It recently emerged that Wicklow are bringing a plan to Croke Park for a 16-team Tier 2 championship, something which would “definitely appeal” to Mulligan.

“We’re sitting idle a long time now since June,” the Castlerea-based garda said. “I did a few media gigs at the Super 8s and it was great watching on at the games but at the same time, regardless of the level I’d love to be out there playing again in some sort of a competition. Because we’re not improving. In the last three years, we got Roscommon in the draw. 

“Them lads were playing in the Super 8s regardless of whether they were getting hammered or not they’re still getting games against massive teams. Whereas we can see the progression we got even by beating Louth, we put it up to Monaghan for periods of the game. If you had another two or three games in a different competition it’s going to bring you on naturally. 

“There’s players there from bigger counties, the likes of Dublin, that have probably played more championship games in a year than even myself has played throughout my career. When you’re looking back on that basis, games are the only way you’re going to improve. The more games the better is the way I look at it.”

There will be strong opposition from some Division 3 and 4 counties to a two-tiered structure, including Carlow whose manager Turlough O’Brien has been very vocal in his resistance to such a change.

“They’ve a totally different opinion on it and you can understand. I think the likes of their wins last year or even ours against Louth, I just personally think they’re covering the cracks to be honest.

“If you go through other counties and how many hammerings they’ve got throughout their time. It’s covering over cracks. You’ve one great success story and you’ve ten behind it and it’s just covering up for the GAA. It’s easy for Turlough O’Brien or even our own managers coming out and saying, ‘It’s great.’

“But you have to be realistic. In the Connacht championship I’ve only one victory ever in my 11 years playing if you take London and New York out of it. That’s against Sligo in 2011. You’re playing that long you’d have hoped you would have had a bit more playing teams at your own level. 

Jamie Clarke with Emlyn Mulligan and Darragh Rooney Leitrim beat New York narrowly in the championship this year. Andy Marlin / INPHO Andy Marlin / INPHO / INPHO

“But we’re in Connacht with three teams that are competing in Division 1, it’s very hard for us to up our game three divisions come championship day. You’ll be talking about it for a long time but you just hope someone maybe can just say, ‘Right this has to be done’ and people get in behind it and get good support from county managers more so than anyone else.

“I just believe there should be another system, whether they change the structure of the championship I don’t know. 

“Be it three groups of eight or whatever it maybe, and they’re ran alongside each other and there’s a final in Croke Park. That’s what lads dream of. I’ve never played in Croke Park but that’s what you aspire to do and get there.

“Regardless of what way you get there at this stage, I just want to be up there and you want to be there in the middle of August still playing county football.”

The sad reality is that if Mulligan hurled with Leitirm instead of playing football, he’d have lined out at Croke Park by now.

Hurling has been operating smoothly with five tiers for some time now but one of the biggest arguments against a two-tier football structure is the reduced media attention the bottom tier counties would receive. 

“You could say that but at the minute we’re just completely forgotten about,” he responds.

“We’re sitting here doing nothing. There could be some partial media attention to it or else we’re sitting at home and doing nothing. There’s two sides to it. I understand where you’re coming from but we don’t play it for the attention or the media.  

Terry Hyland New Leitrim boss Terry Hyland. Tommy Grealy / INPHO Tommy Grealy / INPHO / INPHO

“Within our own county in Leitrim, they’re not going to worry about what competition it’s in. The children still love coming to see us play, if you’re getting someone like Meath down to Pairc Seán (Mac Diarmuida), these are still big games.

“At the end of the day, there’s only three or four counties at the minute with a realistic chance of winning Sam. Dublin, obviously, and a few more with that. The rest of us are all just competing for the sake of competing realistically. 

“You go in every year at the start of the year in this bubble and you believe you can win this and that. But when you’re realistic about it, all we’re trying to do is get as many games in championship as we can, no more than any team.

“But at the way the system is at the minute it’s kind of preventing us from that. If we get two a year or three max it’s nearly looked as a success.”

Why does Mulligan do it then, he’s asked?

“I love it. I do love it. I’ve got a lot out of the game. I’ve always played for Leitrim trying to make them a better team and trying to push them on for younger lads that want to play for Leitrim. I always think people look down on us.  

“My biggest pet hate is reading articles where they compare Dublin to Leitrim and it’s always Leitrim. That really annoys me. I’m like, why not compare it to Wicklow? Why not compare it to Carlow? We’re actually fine in Leitrim. We’ve money, we’re happy out, we’re well looked after, we done within for anything, we know no better. But it’s always ‘poor Leitrim.’

“I always give off the perception that we need to change this. It’s a mentality outside of Leitrim where young lads are going to college up in UCD or DCU and I can guarantee to go to a Sigerson trial and are asked where they’re from. They say Leitrim and they won’t look at you as eagerly as a lad that’s playing with St Vincent’s in Dublin. 

“But it’s up to us to change that. You see the perspective now of Carlow, it’s changed completely. That’s what we’re trying to aim for and strive for. But again, we just need to have our best players there and unfortunately year in year out, it’s a struggle to get them all to commit. But hopefully Terry (Hyland) will be the main in the middle that can get them all to pull together for the year ahead.”

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