Derry manager Mickey Harte says scrapping league finals would be a "disgrace"

Harte was speaking after guiding Derry to their first Division One final in 10 years with the Oak Leafers due to meet Dublin in Croke Park on Easter Sunday (4pm). however the recent switch to the 'split' season and a revamped GAA calendar had led some pundits to question the merits of the traditional league deciders within a condensed county season, especially after last season saw Division One champions Mayo defeated in Connacht Championship just one week after their Croke Park league triumph over Galway.

Derry have no such scheduling concerns this time around but Harte was still adamant the finals have an important role to play.

“I think it would be a disgrace to take away the league finals," stressed the Derry manager. "Imagine for the teams down the leagues, getting to play a final in Croke Park could be the highlight of their year and maybe as big a day as they're ever going to get. Why would you take that away?

"And again, I think it would be an anti-climax if today the league was over and the team that's ahead would just win the league. I wouldn't like that. If that was in place we'd have won the league today. I don't think that's a thing to get excited about.

“You go to Croke Park, you play in a final and you win or you lose, but it's a big day out. To take that away - I don't know, what's the big deal? One more week's football? If that only meant shoving the championship on a week then, so be it. But I just can't understand it."

Harte is no fan of the continuous stream of criticism aimed at the standard of the modern game, nor the almost annual rule tweaks and has backed recent comments by Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney who described football as a ‘a brilliant sport badly promoted'

"I tend to agree with Kieran McGeeney that there's too many people whinging about today's football. I think it's a very good product," added Harte, "There's always been bad games and there's always days when the pace is a bit pedestrian and people aren't really doing much with the ball. That happens, but it's not the norm.

“Look at the league this year: look at the results, look at the scorelines. That's good football, that's exciting football, that's entertainment.

“I've seen a lot of football since the '60s and '70s and if we go back and look at that today, it's not very exciting but it was the best there was at that time and everybody accepted that. I never remember a host of people looking to change the rules, tear up the script or write new rules.

“Just leave it alone for a change, take out the positives and accept there'll be some negatives. There'll be games that won't be as good as others; some teams that won't be as efficient as others. That's life. But just to go write new rules because of that? Some of the rules that are suggested are a bit crazy too but anyway that's a debate for another day.”