Leinster Hurling

[DublinBhoyJoe]

Another title for Kilkenny that 9 titles in the last 10 years, The other counties in Leinster seem to be at a standstill over the last 10 years or so , Wexford is the 2nd best county in Leinster and were miles behind today. Hopefully Dublin can keep on improving over the next 2 years and challenge for honours...

[clagan24]

it was a bit boring. i adore hurling but its getting a bit predictable tbh especially for an antrim fan, we walk ulster then get humped by 21 points by waterford.

hats off to the cats though, people in kilkenny are born with hurls in their hands!

[KK-Bhoy]

Great second half performance - found our rythm and scored some awesome goals. Looked a bit rusty in the first half but that's understandable.

Really disappointed in the attendance at Croke Park - 18,000 or so announced on the tannoy. We really need Galway to spice things up a bit - but at this moment in time they're staying away.

[eire4]

To be honest I think the whole old style provincial system needs to be scraped. Especially in hurling where there is not as much strength in depth. Maybe go with group stages followed by Quarter-Finals and in. But certainly there is no reason from a geography stand point to stick with the provincial system when it is so unbalanced.

[KK-Bhoy]

I don't know. The GAA like their tradition.

I'd leave the football where it's at as all four Provincial Championships are open more often than not.

God knows what should happen to the hurling. The Munster Championship is fine but the other three are a bit of a joke. Only Kilkenny and Galway are capable of making a real challenge come the summer from the other three. I think maybe if Connacht and Ulster join together and Galway join Leinster then we might get somewhere, even if that means we have Kilkenny and Galway in the final most years, with Wexford close behind.

[eire4]

Your probably right the GAA won't change. They like their tradition way too much. They are about as quick to change with the times as the church.

Agree with you that the Gaelic Football championship is pretty competitive all over even in Connacht.

But outside the Munster Championship the fact is the other 3 Hurling provincial championships are all a total joke.

[clagan24]

something needs to be done but as you bhoys have said the GAA love their tradition and bringing in qualifiers and quarter finals is as much change as we can expect to see

[eire4]

Originally Posted by clagan24

something needs to be done but as you bhoys have said the GAA love their tradition and bringing in qualifiers and quarter finals is as much change as we can expect to see

Sadly your spot on. No real change seems to even be on the horizon.

[KK-Bhoy]

I don't know. Read a few articles in various newpapers over the past few days talking about how the hurling can and should be improved.

[clagan24]

Originally Posted by TheKilkennyBhoy

I don't know. Read a few articles in various newpapers over the past few days talking about how the hurling can and should be improved.

any links mate?

something needs to be changed, even you must be bored of watching the cats walk it every year? if things dont improve i may be forced to put my boots on again and show those kilkenny bhoys how its done

[KK-Bhoy]

From The Irish Independent

Tuesday, 8th July, 2008

FRUSTRATED Antrim manager Sambo McNaughton didn't hold back at the weekend when asked about the variety of experiments he has experienced which are designed to lessen the chasm between the First and Third Worlds of senior hurling.

"We (the GAA) are about to celebrate 125 years, but only seven teams have won an All-Ireland. If it was a f**king business they'd all be sacked," he blasted. "We have 32 departments and only seven of them are working."

His comments came less than 24 hours before fewer than 19,000 fans bothered to pay in to see the Leinster hurling final, primarily because it ended with Kilkenny handing Wexford out a now-annual thrashing to win their 10th title in 11 years.

In two short days, Wexford, Laois and Antrim were beaten by 19, 20 and 21 points respectively in the championship, proving the massive disparity of inter-county hurling standards which seems to be growing every summer.

Which is why, by the end of this month, the Hurling Development Committee (HDC) will present GAA president Nickey Brennan with the most radical set of proposals ever to restructure the senior hurling championship, including an option to have a Champions League style format in both Munster and Leinster.

Radical options are what Brennan has asked for, and he and the GAA director general, Paraic Duffy, are making a key trip themselves next week when they travel to meet the Galway County Board.

Galway have been asked to bring forward their own suggestions and have canvassed their members extensively over the past three months.

"We have had three forums," Galway hurling secretary John Fahy said. "All the club officers were invited to one. Then we had team managements and interested past players to another one and then there was a general meeting, involving all interested parties, in Athenry a few weeks ago."

Fahy stressed that Galway's proposals are being put together and presented not by him, but by the County Board, and he would not comment on them.

Fahy, who is also a member of the HDC, stressed that, despite comments or opinions voiced by particular individuals, Galway have not "formally" received any invitation to join the Leinster championship in the past three years.

The HDC have already put two radical proposals together and are awaiting the feedback from the Galway County Board before they finalise a third, and that may yet be an 'open draw' system.

But, if the GAA really wants to grasp the nettle and produce an ultra-competitive All-Ireland series, what they need is a Champions League style open draw between the top 12 teams.

Problematic

The problem is that this would involve the downgrading of the provincial series.
And what is noticeable in the two HDC proposals to date is that both still retain the provincial championships, even though there is clearly a growing acknowledgement in Leinster that theirs is doing no one, not even Kilkenny, any favours.

But getting rid of the Munster championship, which is regarded as so competitive and sacrosanct in that province, is clearly the road-block to a complete 'open draw'.

The HDC stress that their only guiding principle is to increase the number and competitiveness of hurling championship matches.

"Hurling is clearly way too under-exposed in the summer, when it is the best time for it," HDC chairman Ned Quinn said.

"One of our proposals will not just give counties more games within their province, but also give them two home games each, which will bring hurling championship matches to venues like Wexford Park and Tullamore and Salthill that counties have been denied for years."

And he stressed that their proposals are also designed to ensure that there are no longer the sort of 'dead rubbers' in the championship which are increasingly turning fans off.

This first HDC proposal (see side-bar) suggests Galway playing in Leinster, playing it and Munster as two round-robin competitions, and then letting the Christy Ring Cup feed its two finalists into the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

This would also include a further incentive to teams involved in the second-tier competitions - a special 'package' of finance and coaching support to improve their standards locally.

The second HDC option would need both Galway and Antrim to agree to play in a revamped Leinster championship. Both the Leinster and Munster championships would be played on a knock-out basis, but beaten teams would have further games designed to lead into the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

As of yet, the HDC has not revealed its third suggestion, but it is expected to be some form of an open draw.

Quinn freely admits that "the present structure, in attempting to eliminate certain problems, has created some others.

"Personally, I would prefer the first option, to bring more games to the counties, give everyone an increased number of games and make sure they are all competitive," he said.

"But that is just my personal view. It is our job in the HDC just to come up with proposals, we will not decide it."

Indeed, a special Congress is expected by the end of the year to decide next year's championship format.

As a member of the HDC, Galway man Fahy admits he would have some different views, but he feels everyone should be guided by non-selfish interests to ensure the long-term future of the game.

"The good of hurling in the country has to be given the same priority as the good of hurling in Galway," he said.

"What might suit Galway might not be palatable to other people but, clearly, even at minor and U-21 level at the moment, there are inequities in the current system and solutions must be found."

[KK-Bhoy]

From The Irish Independent

Tuesday, 8th July, 2008

HDC'S PROPOSAL A

l Leinster (+ Galway) and Munster play their championships as a round-robin. Every team would be guaranteed two 'home' games and each province would have more games with more at stake because there would be no replays and points would decide placings.

l The provincial finals would be retained. The champions would go straight to the All-Ireland semi-finals and the losers would go to All-Ireland quarter-finals where they'd meet the top two finishers in the second-tier competition.

l The latter is designed to give 'second-tier' teams a chance to compete in the Liam McCarthy, and, as an added incentive to agree to this system, they would be given a financial and coaching package to improve standards.

HDC's PROPOSAL B

l Galway and Antrim would go into a seven-team 'Leinster Championship.'

l The Munster and Leinster Championships would be knock-out competitions as usual but the losers of the first round in each province would go into a group that would also play-off and eventually produce a winner.

l The provincial champions would go to the All-Ireland semi-finals and the beaten quarter-finalists would go to All-Ireland quarter-finals. There they would meet the two eventual winners of the 'loser's groups.'

THERE'S ALWAYS C ALTERNATIVE PROPOSAL

This has still to be revealed but if they plumped for a full 'champions league' format the GAA would have to agree to sacrifice the provincial championships for the sake of producing an ultra-competitive elite competition with massive promotional potential.

l Crossing provinces and seeding, if necessary, two groups of the country's top 12 hurling teams would produce an ultra-competitive All-Ireland competition.

l The first stages could be home/away round-robin. Imagine a first round that featured Kilkenny v Cork in Nowlan Park, Tipperary v Wexford in Wexford Park and Galway v Clare in Salthill, with no replays and every point to count.

l It could still feed through to knock-out stages, from All-Ireland quarter-finals. Additional excitement could be added with the addition of a 'draw' after each knockout stage.

l To do this Munster and Leinster would have to give up their prestigious provincial championships, or at least the use of them as All-Ireland feeders.

l And weaker counties would have to accept that they are not part of the hurling elite and have no part to play in it until they can prove otherwise.

[clagan24]

sour grapes from sambo, you cant blame the GAA because antrim are shit and kilkenny are brilliant. he should sort his own team out before he cries about the GAA, getting beat by 21 points by a decent but far from spectacular waterford team was shocking

[eire4]

Well finally at least the GAA are recognising that there has to be a change. I myself like proposal c. Although A might be a compromise that could help.

[D.D.]

The only Provincial championship worth a bean is the Munster one.

What crowds do you get for Antrim's predictable Ulster Final win? 2 or 3,000? Frankly, no-one is interested.

The Leinster competition is a farce because Kilkenny are just a million miles ahead with no hope of being caught in the forseeable future.

Over the last few years, Cork, Waterford and possibly Galway could have all won if they had caught Kilkenny below form but with Kilkenny being given an effective bye all the way to the Semi, then they have only to raise themselves twice all summer, whereas the others have to do so on four, maybe even five or six occasions.

I also think that with the back-door system, the chances of the clear favourite not winning it, has severely diminished. Given that only three or four teams could ever possibly hope to reach a Final, I would consider scrapping the second chance. Kilkenny could possibly lose a one-off to Galway, but you just can't see it happening twice. The Provincial games (including in the football) have now totally lost their edge for the neutral, knowing that defeat is no longer the end of the road.

Quite frankly, for a national sport, the game of hurling is in a very sorry state indeed, and it's no wonder that few people out of the southern most counties have any interest in the sport whatsoever.