Moran’s the midfield master for Kerry as he revels in second coming
The clamour for a six-team Leinster hurling Championship ignores major knock-on effects
PAUL COADY had no inkling he’d become a poster boy for hurling change. With one Twitter thread last month, the Carlow and Mount Leinster Rangers player captured the disaffection of all counties looking for a place at the game’s top table but who don’t have the weight of history and tradition to back them up.
On the catch-22 for Carlow that, by winning the Joe McDonagh Cup they secured a place in the five-team Leinster round robin group in 2019, only to lose all four games and find themselves back to square one, Coady stated: ‘I believe we have got to experience Liam MacCarthy hurling to learn from it, at the moment I believe Carlow are about 8-14 points behind the teams we played; but
how do we ever get this gap closer if at a best case scenario we just yo-yo up and down from Joe Mac?’
On the inequity of the association’s funding model which has been Dublin-centric since Bertie Ahern loosened the taxpayer’s purse strings when in power, Coady tweeted: ‘Games development in 2018 for Dublin was €1,303,630 and Carlow was €128,733. Another massive issue is how big counties are able to work off huge sponsorship deals compared to other counties but still receive the same levels of grants funding.’
And, pondering the in-built protection clause for a Munster championship that is still perceived as the jewel in the crown, the Carlow man wrote: ‘Why is there a relegation from Leinster but not from Munster, regardless if we’re even at Waterford’s level, yet, it is still hugely unfair. Relegating Waterford would be wrong because it wouldn’t do anything for Waterford hurling and it’s a shame the same doesn’t apply to Carlow.’
Linked to his previous funding point, Carlow’s pre-Championship training camp consisted of a day in Tramore; Waterford’s squad by contrast spent five days at Monte Gordo in Portugal.
Then there was the TV coverage – or lack of it. He said: ‘9 of the 10 Liam MacC had games shown live, 1 team hadn’t. 1 team had a 2 minute voiceover every Sunday night with every other team having highlights/analysis? 1 of 10 teams needs the promotion more than the other 9. That 1 team obviously Carlow. Not looking for more just the same.’
If he lit the touch paper, right down to questioning the very structure of the hurling Championship, Laois’s exploits have fanned the flames of revolution to the point where president John Horan was found talking up an
expansion to a sixteam Leinster hurling championship. Like a pre-election politician promising the world just to keep everyone sweet, provincial council chairman Jim Bolger even threw out the idea of eight teams being allowed to compete.
In developmental terms, a sixcounty Leinster hurling championship would tick a lot of boxes.
But it also raises as many questions as it does provide answers. The fact that nobody seems to want to deal with any of those questions is only a recipe for further trouble down the line.
In coming to any such decision, it pays to at least understand the potential knock-on effects. Particularly if change is to come into place for the 2021 Championship via any possible Congress vote.
The knock-on effects are at least worth debating and discussing:
The provincial groups of five (and the five-team Joe McDonagh Cup) were settled on for very good reason: it means Leinster mirrors Munster so all players have the same pathway to the All-Ireland series; a six-team Leinster immediately throws that out of whack.
It will also put a more severe load on players. A gap week for all teams was added to this year’s schedule because of the loud and justifiable complaints from counties in 2018, some of whom like Wexford, Offaly, Tipperary and Waterford had to play four rounds in the space of three weekends.
The five-team group means an even split of two home games and two away games; a six-team group means that certain counties are going to see their Championship chances skewed by the luck of the draw and whether they get the vital extra game at home or away. What is currently in place is the very model of equity compared to the imbalance and inequity that blights the provincial football championship and has fuelled the calls for change on that front.
Dead rubbers reduce the credibility of any competition, lead to dwindling crowds and hasten the law of diminishing returns. And a six-team group immediately increases the statistical chance of dead rubbers. Look at the final round this year when WexfordKilkenny and Dublin-Galway provided incredible drama, right down to the very last ball, when all four teams finished on the same points only for Galway to exit on score difference.
The 2018 Championship was the greatest in the history of the Liam MacCarthy Cup by virtue of the depth and quality of games; the 2019 version has been more of a slow-burner but already has
It will also put a more severe load on the players