When it comes to club championships in the modern GAA, no county employs a more complicated system than Kerry.
The Munster county play two Gaelic football championships each year, with the 'Club Championship' and 'County Championship' acing as two distinct competitions.
The 'Senior Club Championship' sees just the eight senior clubs in Kerry compete in the competition. However, the 'County Championship' sees those eight clubs play alongside eight divisional sides, which are made of players from the clubs below senior level.
It is a convoluted system, and while it does give all players the opportunity to play club football at the highest level, some feel it is a tad unfair in its current guise.
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Kerry club boss slams current championship format
One of the most stories clubs in Kerry in Kerins O'Rahilly's were condemned to the intermediate ranks for 2024 after they lost to Na Gaeil on a 1-17 to 0-16 scoreline in their relegation play-off in Tralee. This is despite the fact that they won a Munster club title as recently as 2022.
While his side came out on the right side of the result, Na Gaeil boss Paul Fitzmaurice admitted he took no pleasure in seeing his opponents relegated.
Speaking after the game (h/t Irish Examiner), he said that he had to question a championship system where poor divisional sides were able to retain their senior status ahead of one of the biggest clubs in Kerry.
Look, we were saying all week coming in it's a game no one aspires to win, but the priority is not to lose it and we are happy with that...
Well the game ebbed and flowed but I will deviate from that, personally I think that was the best game in the County Championship so far this year, hands down.
Kerins O’Rahillys are in a position, nobody wants to be in, but they cannot come out and say this because it might be deemed as sore losers, but I think it's an absolute disgrace that after that performance today that effort, everything they invested in, not just this year every year, that they are gone from the County Championship an established club.
And there's Districts that won no game in the County Championship this year. And one District gathered points from a walkover from another. And all those teams can play uncontested, unquestioned in a County Championship next year is wrong.
He has a point.
One of the eight senior clubs going down each season means that a couple of poor results can quickly get those teams into relegation trouble, something some big names have suffered from in the recent past.
In saying that, there is no doubt that Kerry continues to produce an incredible product when it comes to their Gaelic football championships.
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