Hurling league too short for minnows

YOU’D genuinely wonder sometimes.

This year more than any other year – presumably because of the truncated nature of the new calendar – the National Hurling League seems a dreadfully trifling affair for the weaker counties.

It feels as if it’s over before it’s even had a chance to begin in a meaningful way. For the majority of counties their hurling league is now over. A handful of counties have league finals to prepare for this weekend, but for most outside the top two divisions (1A and B) that’s it, all done, pack up and go home.

Five games over seven weeks – and it would have been five in six weeks were it not for Storm Emma and the snow earlier this month – hardly seems enough to promote the game or to help counties develop their skills ahead of championship.

Contrast how the Division 2 (A and B) counties are treated with their Division 1 counterparts. The GAA bends over backwards to facilitate extra games for the elite. There’s a relegation play-off from both top divisions. Below that it’s a straight drop down to the next tier.

The top divisions have quarter-finals and semi-finals so as to extend the competition and give teams an opportunity to get more hurling into them before the championship gets underway in earnest.

Hurling is never going to be as egalitarian as football, but is it any wonder that it’s as unequal as it is? The very least the GAA could do is give the lesser lights a few more meaningful games.