Former Tyrone star Sean Cavanagh believes that the Leinster Championship is in a 'pitiful' state and that moving Dublin out of it in the only thing that might salvage the competition.
Dublin have won the last 13 iterations of the championship and their facile 3-19 to 0-12 victory over Meath keeps them on course for yet another win.
You have to go back to 2010 for the last time that Dublin weren’t involved in the Leinster final and their record of winning the competition in 18 of the last 19 years is leading to a drop-off in interest from supporters.
With only 21,445 fans through the turnstiles at Croke Park to see Dublin’s stroll to victory over their old rivals, questions are being asked of the competition and Cavangh feels that it’s time for a chance.
Speaking on the Sunday Game, the five-time All Star was critical of the fare served up.
'Whats the point of a Leinster Championship?' - In the aftermath of the formality that was Dublin v Meath, that's the question Sean Cavanagh proffers. pic.twitter.com/Pz6nhDVgud
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"Meath showed no belief, you never felt like Meath were ever in the game," he said,
"I know you might say Meath were competitive for 40 minutes, no they weren't. Well I didn’t feel they were, I thought they were gone after 15.
"It almost feels as if it’s getting worse. It’s pitiful the Leinster Championship at this stage, there’s no competitiveness, you almost start to ask what’s the point?
"Offaly had a great win last night but they go on to play Dublin now and you feel sorry for them because no-one has a chance."
Cavanagh believes that the only way to regain interested in the competition is to look to hurling for inspiration and emulate the decision to move Galway from their provincial championship.
"You look at what they’ve done in hurling and you start to think the Leinster Championship might be a great championship if Dublin weren’t there," he said.
"Maybe if they were in Munster or Ulster or Connacht, maybe we’d have a championship.
"It just feels that in such a condensed season we spend so much precious time in championship mode playing games that are non-events. Today typified that."
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