McDonnell defends 'special' Ulster Championship

Armagh forward Steven McDonnell has issued a stern hands off warning to those seeking to scrap the provincial championships.

McDonnell, who has won six Ulster titles with the Orchard County, is adamant that the provincial Championships retain a "special" place in the hearts of the players. He rejected the notion that it's time to conisder an alternative to the current format, as proposed by Derry boss Damian Cassidy during the week.

"I feel that the Championship is set up fine," said McDonnell, the GPA Player of the League for 2010. "I have no problem with the way the provincial Championships are set up at the minute.

"The one issue I would have is the eventual winner maybe having a second chance. Ourselves in the past, we fell down of course come the quarter-final stage. I would say mostly because of the gap between the matches after provincial finals.

"But, I would say that there is certainly something special about the Ulster Championship and I would like it to be kept the same way that it is."

McDonnell, who captained Armagh to the Allianz GAA Football National League Division 2 title last month, rejected the notion that winning a provincial title can be an impediment to greater success later in the year.

The argument has been proffered that the extra games offered by the All-Ireland Qualifiers can be of greater benefit to teams that have exited the provincial Championships at an earlier stage.

Armagh won seven Ulster titles between 1999 and 2008 but only managed to go on to win an All-Ireland title in one of those years, 2002.

However, McDonnell puts Armagh's inability to build on provincial success down to their failures as a team rather than any problem with the format of the Championship.

"In the last ten years, maybe ourselves and Dublin have been the two most successful counties in relation to winning provincial titles and it hasn't probably served us well going on to the All-Ireland series, but that is probably through our own fault as well," the Armagh captain added.

"We maybe took our eye off the ball in some of the matches and against some of the teams that we faced. It's a problem that we have to overcome as a team, but I would certainly feel that winning a provincial title is a very special thing."

Meanwhile, McDonnell said he is fully behind the idea of staging the 2010 Ulster final at Croke Park.

Ulster Council Secretary Danny Murphy said the proposal to bring the decider to the capital was being considered, although no venue for the game has been fixed as yet.

The Ulster final was played at Headquarters for three successive years from 2004. McDonnell was involved in three provincial finals at Croke Park, including wins over Donegal in 2004 and '06, as well as the epic '05 decider, which the Orchard County won after a replay against Tyrone.

"I've been fortunate that the Ulster Council have taken three Ulster Councils to Croke Park and I played in every one of them - and luckily enough won every one of them. I would be quite happy to see the Ulster final go to Croke Park," McDonnell, the leading goal scorer in the history of the Ulster Championship added.

"We have a long road before we go before we can even think of Ulster finals but regardless of who is going to be contesting the Ulster final, I would certainly be open to the possibility of taking it to Croke Park because it is a great stadium.

"Any opportunity a footballer can get to play in Croke Park, they should be given that right. If the Ulster Council feel they can fill it then I would be urging them to go ahead with it."