Munster Leinster leaving in the shade
SOUTHERN SERIES IS MORE HOTLY CONTESTED AND TRUMPS TV COVERAGE
IN movie terms, the Munster Hurling Championship is the equivalent of Tom Cruise at Cannes, wowing the fans and all the assembled paparazzi as he promotes the latest blockbuster Top Gun movie.
The Leinster Championship is closer to a straight-to-Netflix production, lacking the glamour and Hollywood royalty of its provincial equivalent but which could yet steal a few big awards or build an enduring audience via word of mouth.
The television carve-up for the weekend reflects the divide: tomorrow, Kilkenny versus Wexford is the main attraction, live on Sky Sports Arena, the visitors needing a win to have any chance of staying alive this summer. Simultaneously at 6pm, Galway – already secure of a top-three spot that extends their season — take on Dublin with the action available via a match-day pass on the GAA’s streaming service GAAGO.
On Sunday, RTÉ have pulled out all the stops, bowing to popular demand by screening both Tipperary versus Cork at Semple Stadium, and Clare versus Waterford at Cusack Park on separate channels simultaneously at 4pm — the former on RTÉ2, the latter on RTÉ One.
Cork’s victory over Waterford last weekend was just the latest twist in a thrilling Munster campaign that has truly captured the imagination of the public. Despite soaring inflation, despite the critical mutterings about the effects of the split season and the midApril start, despite Limerick’s pre-eminence as one of the great teams of the modern era and their continued dominance, the campaign as a whole has been a story of rising attendances and on-field drama. It started with a record 40,000 at Páirc Uí Chaoimh for a first round game in the round robin and went from there, Walsh Park and Cusack Park both hopping with packed grounds last weekend.
So why has Leinster then been left in the shade? Well, the move to an expanded six-team group has been a double-edged sword. It’s a change underpinned by noble intentions. Namely, to take a big-picture overview to developing the game in a broader sense by allowing an extra county to find their feet in the high pressure environs of the Liam MacCarthy Cup.
With Kilkenny, Galway, Wexford and Dublin established in recent years as the four big hitters in the province, there has been a yo-yo effect for any county trying to step up after earning a place by winning the second tier Joe McDonagh Cup. Look at Offaly in the first year of the round robin in 2018 – whitewashed in the four matches and finishing with a -62 score difference. A year later, the county was relegated to the Christy Ring Cup. Or take Carlow in 2019, also whitewashed, finishing with a -47 score difference.
Laois were unlucky to win the Joe McDonagh that year only to be deprived a go at the roundrobin and a couple of glamour home gates due to Covid with the pandemic prompting a return to a knock-out provincial series with qualifiers attached. The roundrobin is the big selling point for any county like Laois, Carlow, Offaly or Westmeath, trying to make the step up to hurling’s top table on a more permanent basis. Helping inspire the next generation by at least a couple of home ties against the likes of Kilkenny. If a county is to make that step, playing top level opposition is the only way to go.
But as ever, hurling is such a delicate ecosystem that it’s a fine line between development and damage.
And there is no escaping the downsides to a six-team group. Straight away there’s an imbalance with Munster and a difference between two groups that feed into the same All-Ireland series. The Munster group is dog-eat-dog all the way —Tipperary may be three defeats from three but were right there even with Limerick heading into the final 10 minutes at the Gaelic Grounds.
Compare that to Leinster where Laois – unlucky to be depleted by injury – have already shipped a whopping 11 goals and 112 points. They were beaten by 23 points by Kilkenny in round two (2-34 to 114) and 27 points by Wexford in round three (6-21 to 0-12). The highest margin of defeat across the eight Munster games so far is just 11 – that was in the opening round when Limerick beat Cork comprehensively (2-25 to 1-17).
What does it do for the promotion of Leinster hurling as a whole when Munster is dominating the coverage and the conversation? Again, that has to be weighed against the development of those counties trying to bridge the gap. Look at Westmeath’s draw against Wexford last weekend, one of the great results in the former’s hurling history. That is the sort of result that justifies the six-team group. And either Laois or Westmeath will survive what is effectively a relegation play-off this weekend and get a chance to build on this campaign again by featuring in the Liam MacCarthy Cup in 2023.
And the hurling across the group hasn’t been half bad either. Wexford versus Galway was dogged and dramatic and blessed with a thrilling comeback, the controversy of Conor Cooney’s free being turned over and Lee Chin hitting an injury-time equaliser. Galway versus Kilkenny threw up Henry Shefflin versus Brian Cody and ‘the handshake’ that became the slo-mo sequence of 2022.
Westmeath scoring a last minute goal against Wexford was precisely what the expanded round robin was intended for – that a Wexford man Joe Fortune was in charge of Westmeath only added to the subplot.
But a Saturday behind the limited numbers of a Sky paywall — irrespective of the quality of coverage — versus primetime on the national broadcaster of RTÉ where the viewing figures are exponentially higher… there is no contest as to who comes out on top.
Another weekend then when the red carpet of national television is rolled out for Munster’s Top Guns.
The question is, can Leinster gatecrash the party and provide the sort of last round drama to match 2019 when the top three places came down to the very last ball?
In the Munster Championship, it’s dog eat dog all the way