Limerick must stop playing the victim

If you didn’t know better, you might think Limerick and Cork predicted the league trouble ahead of them as early as last summer. That Limerick forecasted a seventh season in the doldrums of Division 1B. That Cork envisaged the probability of relegation from Division 1A for the second time in four seasons.

Eight months ago, Central Council took the decision to retain the current league format for Division 1A and 1B, which had been recommended by the Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC). Although several of the leading hurling counties, particularly Limerick and Cork were against the proposal, they were outnumbered.

Limerick’s opposition to the status quo being retained was self-explanatory. At that stage, they were five years playing in the second tier of the competition. Despite being promoted to the old Division 1 in 2011, the rejigging of the system saw them demoted to Division 1B. They had called for Division 1 to be split into two groups of seven teams and were backed by Clare, Kilkenny, Waterford, Offaly, and Carlow. Cork wanted an eight-team Division 1 with a seven-county Division 2. They argued the six-team Division 1A was “too competitively structured”. How prophetic those words read now!