Relegation might just be secret to long-term success

It would seem that if you were to come up with a two-year plan to win the national league, then get relegated in year one.

That’s two seasons straight now that the winners of the competition outright has come from Division 1B where, away from the war-a-week mode of 1A, they had greater chance to acquire two invaluable friends — experimentation and momentum.

It’s not that 1B was a stroll for either Waterford or Clare the past two years. Waterford’s first league game of 2015 was against Limerick, in Limerick, a game the home side were favourites to win; in fact Wexford, you might remember, were also more fancied than Waterford to gain promotion after dumping Derek McGrath’s team out of the championship the previous summer.