Div 1 finale was exciting but lacked intensity

Ciarán Whelan says the Allianz Football League should be started a couple of weeks earlier and allow the competition more room to breathe ahead of the championship.

Round 7 of Division 1 provided a chaotic, madcap finale, with only two points separating the top team Mayo - who finished first despite a negative score difference - and Tyrone, who became the first team to be relegated on seven points since the league was re-organised into its present format in 2008.

While it provided exciting fare from a permutations perspective, with teams jumping in and out of the relegation zone, with prospective league final pairings changing from minute to minute, Whelan argues it lacked intensity compared to Division 2, where teams were scrapping for promotion and Sam Maguire round-robin places.

Donegal, table toppers after Round 5 of the league, lost their final two games after rotating their side, Jim McGuinness admitting three weeks ago that the proximity of the league final to their Ulster championship opener against Derry - one week - meant they would "not be thinking about the league final. We will be thinking about what's best for us."

Whelan says the pressures of the calendar are selling the competition short.

"The intensity and the energy in some of the Division 2 games was at championship pace, whereas Division 1 lacked that intensity," the two-time All-Star said on Allianz League Sunday.

"You can see two points separating the top seven teams. That demonstrates that it's a league that teams want to stay in (rather than win).

Ciaran Whelan says the Division 1 finale lacked intensity and the league needs more room to breathe in the calendar

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"We have a calendar now where the championship backs onto the league. You've got to look at it from a players' perspective, a supporters' perspective and a sponsors' perspective - they deserve more from the league.

"I'm quite sure players want to win the league and we're in this situation now where managers are looking at their calendar, they're looking at their recovery, they're looking at their training load.

"We didn't have pre-season competitions. Why can't we just start the league a week or two earlier? Let it breathe and let teams try and win a national competition.

"Because it just lacked the bit of intensity today, everybody was just trying to stay up. Anybody could have been in the final and there was a little bit of excitement.

"It's something the GAA has to look at and even the GPA have to look at.

"They're playing matches in December and January anyway. Like, play it a couple of weeks earlier. I'm quite sure any player out there would want to win a national title."

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