Oisín McConville would accept the Ulster Championship being a "sacrificial lamb" if it meant Proposal B gets the green light at Saturday's special congress.

Should the proposal receive the required 60% of the vote, the provincial championships will be played off earlier in the year and no longer be tied to the All-Ireland series.

McConville won seven Ulster titles during his Armagh career but says concessions must be made in order to bring about change, even if it means diminishing the importance of the provincials.

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Speaking on We Become Heroes, an RTÉ Sport podcast, McConville said: "I love the Ulster Championship, it consistently has delivered over the last 20 years, whereas the Leinster and Munster Championships have been nothing championships really.

"But there has to be a sacrificial lamb somewhere along the way. If the Ulster Championship has to be that, for the greater good of what’s happening, we all need to suck that up.

"Even if it’s a proposal we give three years to, similar to the Super 8s. If the Ulster Championship has to go, it has to go.

"Somebody is going to have to bend the knee a little in order for all of this to work. Provincial councils are right at the top of that."

Clare GAA chairman Jack Chaplin has confirmed that his county will back Proposal B

A number of counties have voiced their support for Proposal B, a league-based championship which would ensure each county plays at least seven games.

However, McConville is concerned it will not receive enough support at Croke Park and that the status quo will remain.

"In the last week I’ve gotten more worried because we seem to have convinced ourselves it’s not as broken as we thought it was three or four months ago," he said.

"Now is the time to do something drastic. When people talking about what sort of change we need, I think we need wholesale changes.

"We need a junior, intermediate and senior competition. I don’t think that’s going to happen but if we can get two tiers in first and foremost...

"I do understand where weaker counties are coming from, that they’re just going to drift away from all the aspirations they had, but we’ve got to be realistic about the thing.

"I realise there are going to be a lot of teams that won’t be competing for Sam Maguire for a long time. We need to give them the benefit of more games and the league-based system is probably the way to do that.

"A lot of teams are crying out for a full league programme and as many championship matches as they can possibly fit in. That’s the only way teams will improve but also find out exactly where they are. That intermediate or second-tier championship can be a success.

"Lads are definitely getting their head around the fact a Sam Maguire is dramatically out of reach for most teams. You don’t have to go to Division 4 to realise that. That’s the case for some of the Division 2 teams.

"Two tiers gives other teams a realistic chance of having a run, to build some momentum. When you do that there’s an opportunity for improvement."

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