Relegation idea dropped as Laois scupper masterplan

AS I wrote here a fortnight ago, the relegation issue whereby one of the top teams from the All-Ireland senior hurling championship would be dropping down to the Christy Ring next year was going to take a few twists and turns before it would be decided.

Already we have had the understandable outpourings from county managers and in the early hours of Saturday morning the DRA burned the midnight oil mulling over the issue. The end result? It is clear that none of the top teams is going to be relegated.

Why? Because it is not Laois who are going down? It’s as simple as that. When this idea was first thought up, it seemed very logical – the winners of the Christy Ring Cup would be promoted to the Liam MacCarthy Cup the next year and, following a play-off, the bottom team from the Liam MacCarthy would go down.