Premier to field intermediate championship side

TIPPERARY GAA chiefs have decided that they will enter a team in this year’s Munster intermediate hurling championship but only on the proviso that there will be an overhaul to the intermediate hurling and junior football championships at national level for the 2011 season.

Tipperary’s participation in the provincial intermediate hurling scene had come under doubt last October, when it was mooted at a board meeting that the county should withdraw due to lack of interest and success in the competition. But following consultation meetings with the Munster Council before Christmas, it was announced at Tuesday night’s county board meeting in Thurles that Tipperary will field a side this season.

Tipperary are drawn to face Cork in the Munster IHC quarter-final in Páirc Ui Chaoimh on May 30, which is a curtain-raiser to the senior quarter-final between the counties. County board chairman Barry O’Brien insists that they only took the decision after being given assurances that proposals to change the structures of these championships will be brought forward to the GAA’s Annual Congress in Down in April.

“The decision was taken at our county board meeting on Tuesday that we will enter an intermediate hurling team this year. The position of the board last year was that we were not happy with the structure of the competition. But rather than pulling out, we decided we’d discuss the matter with the Munster Council before arriving at a decision. We were told that it was not possible in such a short space of time to bring changes to the intermediate hurling and junior football competitions for 2010, and the draws had already been made.

“But we were told that the committee in Croke Park who were brought up the new experimental playing rules, are also looking at the national structure of intermediate hurling and junior football. They’re going to decide on a better way forward for those competitions and their plans will be debated at the GAA Congress in April. The decision was then taken by our board that we should not be making life difficult for the Munster Council.

“If we were to withdraw from this year’s intermediate hurling, then there would be no curtain-raiser for the Cork-Tipperary senior game in May. We want to maintain good relations and we don’t want to be causing problems for the other counties. So we will be fielding teams in Munster this year but it’s only on the basis that there will be major changes in the future.”

The county will also partake in the Munster JFC, despite not having won a first round tie in the past seven years, with their provincial opener against Kerry scheduled for Semple Stadium on May 16th. Senior boss John Evans is also set to take charge of the county junior outfit as it falls under his remit as the county’s newly- installed Director of Football, and he is anxious to use the competition for a development squad.