For two decades now, every single All-Ireland winning team competed in Division One during their championship-winning campaigns
And for two decades now, every single All-Ireland winning team competed in Division One during their championship-winning campaigns.
The 2002 season was the first in which the league programme was scheduled to take place in the one calendar year. Before that it was played in two distinct sections – pre- and post-Christmas. It was a very diluted system, often feeling like two separate competitions.Mickey Harte has long held the line that no team from outside the top division can win the All-Ireland and the last 20 years back up his opinion.
“You see the difference in training and it brings more positivity and confidence. And confidence is a huge thing for players. It is easier to have it when you are winning games and especially if it is against teams in Division One, who you would probably see as your main competitors come championship.”They won the National League in 2010, beating Mayo in the final. Five months later they won the All-Ireland title.
Conor Counihan: 'Teams that have gone well in Division One in recent years have tended to go well in the championship. The results prove that.' Photograph: INPHO/Cathal Noonan They will compete in Division Two again this season, beginning their campaign at home to Meath on Sunday. With Armagh’s 2002 success still the outlier, history indicates this year’s All-Ireland winner will come from one of the eight teams in Division One – though Dublin’s participation in Division Two surely heightens the possibility of another bolter.
If you are coming out of the league in a bad situation, you don’t really have time to amend that before the championshipThe league games that were traditionally played before Christmas tended to be non-informative in terms of where a team was at because in November they weren’t really anywhere. The move to the one calendar year and then a Division One to Division Four structure has helped make it the most competitive competition in the intercounty football calendar.
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