O'Byrne Cup in need of instant overhaul as Kildare and others announce exit

Has the O'Byrne Cup run its course, following the withdrawal of counties from Round 3 of the competition this year, including Kildare, Louth, Carlow and Offaly. The Faithful County withdrawal, from the quarter final was as a result of Louth (their opponents in the last eight) refused to play their Round 3 game.

Run initially back in 1954 when Offaly were the initial winners, the idea behind the pre-season competition was to build up a players' injury fund, more recently used as a type of hardship fund for players who have fallen on tough times, while at the same time giving counties early competitive games, before the start of the AFL.

Ironically Kildare top the table for the most wins (11) followed by Meath and Dublin (10 each) and so on. In total 12 counties have won the competition and that includes two wins for DCU (2010 and 2012) when 3rd level colleges were allowed enter for a year or two.

It seems some counties have decided after two games their attention turns to the League while Dublin now treat the competition as an opportunity to look at players outside their main panel, which seems a very sensible approach.
Never heard of Mickey Harte pulling his team out of the McKenna Cup when he was in charge of Tyrone though.

You can dolly up the excuses any way you like such as Sigerson Cup, injuries, sickness, exams (sitting or preparing) but at the end of the day it is the closeness of the League that is the problem, along with playing three games in ten days.
There has been so much thought and planning and so many changes over the last number of seasons re fixtures but it seems little thought has gone into the pre-season competitions. Maybe the time is now ripe to have another look at those early season games.

No doubt the up-coming AFL is a major concern to many managers, especially when so much is at stake now as regards where counties finish and subsequently qualify — or fail to qualify — for the All-Ireland series.

Running the competition in future years while not knowing if counties are even going to fulfil fixtures is surely a non-runner.
It seems there are no penalties in the rule book for pulling out of the competition or in the case of Louth, giving a walk-over, while still playing a semi-final.

There has been a lot of adverse comment since counties pulled out, with one county chairman calling for sanctions.
On the other hand cramming three games into an eight day period after players only (officially) returned to training four or five weeks earlier, hardly seems the right approach.

One of two games prior to Christmas might solve the problem, yet Leinster, the weakest province when you take out Dublin, seem the only province having a problem with pre-season games.

All this will, of course, fade into the background in a week or two, but the problem needs fixing.
Maybe some though for those players who have fallen on hard times and benefit from the OBC, might help to focus the minds of both county managements and administrators alike.