Dublin have been running a regional competition, probably similar to Kerry's club & regional championships (albeit different times of the year).
I know this was discussed here on and off, and it's hard to see if there's any benefit to Offaly's future if it were to happen in Offaly, but a lot of people would like to see some form of regional/parish competition.
You've got to give credit to Dublin for trying something new for them, as much as I want to see them fail.
This kind of structure suits Dublin football though since they have perhaps 100 players who are interested in playing county football and who are worth looking at - thus making this kind of league viable. You have to remember that there are loads of unknown footballers in Dublin, and each of these amalgamations probably incorporates 20 clubs.
I'd say for something like this to work in Offaly, you'd have to create something like four teams, North, Mid, West and South, and restrict it only to players who have not started an NFL or championship game for Offaly in two seasons. South might need a bit of help, so maybe Shamrocks and Rynaghs could be drafted into their pick.
You could then play the competition as a fundraiser over Christmas, games in the period leading up to December 25th three or four days apart, and that way players who catch the eye could be drafted into the county panel for the New Year.
Having said all that, I think the merit in this competition diminishes hugely once you get into a smaller and smaller playing population, since the odds of finding a great player that we never knew about get slimmer and slimmer. Positively emaciated in Offaly I suspect.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
