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Ó Sé, front, with Ciarán Kilkenny, Neil McGee and Joe Canning at yesterday's Coiste na Gaeilge briefing in Croke Park. ©INPHO/Lorraine O'Sullivan
Munster Matters

Ó Sé reluctant to rush into Championship revamp

Kerry’s Marc Ó Sé hopes to get plenty of homework done when Clare meet Cork in the Munster SFC semi-final this weekend.

MARC Ó SÉ is preparing for another showdown against old rivals Cork in the Munster football final.

Ó Sé and his Kerry team-mates will be keeping a close eye on matters in Ennis this weekend when Cork and Clare meet in the second semi-final.

Clare’s famous 1992 triumph is the only time in over 75 years that the provincial crown has not been won by either Cork or Kerry, a long-running trend which will be extended again unless the Banner men can spring a shock on Sunday.

That gulf between Munster’s best and the rest was evident again in the early rounds of this year’s championship. Kerry never needed to get out of second gear to beat Tipperary and Waterford but despite the lack of any real competitive challenge so far, Ó Sé is taking nothing for granted.

“You’d have to be surprised if it wasn’t Cork,” he said yesterday. “Barring a huge upset, you would be surprised.

“But then again look, Tipperary last year and Tipperary this year were two totally different games. They were very close to Kerry last year whereas this year was an easy victory. So you don’t know how games pan out.”

A proposal from Waterford last week suggested that the provincial draw should be revamped with the four “weaker” counties — Limerick, Clare, Tipperary and Waterford — playing off against each other in a round-robin before progressing to meet the two traditional giants.

Tinkering with tradition is a difficult issue though, and Ó Sé isn’t really sure of the best way forward.

It’s a hard one. Tipperary last year gave us a close match and this year they didn’t. They’ve made great strides at underage and if that’s anything to go by they’ll be stronger in the next few years.

The traditionalists would want the Munster Championship to stay the way it is. Others will want change. It’s a hard one.

On the Waterford proposal, he added: “It’s a good idea. It would give those teams more games.

“The big thing really is that there isn’t a big gap between the end of the league and the start of the championship. That’s the important thing. It’s very hard to train when you don’t know who you’re playing and when there’s a big gap. So if that can be overcome, then maybe it’s not a bad idea.”

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