Hurling championship still needs a tweak or two
THE giddiness which has justifiably infected this summer’s hurling Championship should not blind observers to what is still a flawed structure.
On the plus side, today’s meeting of Clare and Limerick feels bigger than a regular Munster final as a result of the round-robin format fuelling interest and intensity.
On top of that, it has ensured that Ennis will get to host a game of this magnitude, when in the past it would be played out in a half-empty Thurles or Cork.
But there is another game proceeding today which is only avoiding being labelled a dead rubber because Cork need to win to ensure they make the final.
That should not be a problem given that Waterford have nothing to play for but, of course, they would if relegation was in play for the bottom-placed Munster team.
That should have applied in the interest of fairness to Leinster, where the bottomplaced team faces automatic demotion.
But if a relegation play-off between the bottom teams in both provinces was in place, it would give Waterford something to play for today — a win for them would leave Tipperary bottom.
It would also protect the competitive integrity of a championship that is not all that it should be.