Taking shot in the dark
It could turn out that they have only served to feed foolishness. The problem is nobody knows.
Lazy commentary would claim the changes to the hurling championship structure was solely a reactionary move to football’s Super 8.
Sure, it may have accelerated the process for change but as we have written before the appetite for more championship hurling matches predated the restructuring of the SFC.
If anything, the Super 8 only made it more difficult for dual counties to endorse a provincial round-robin format in early summer when the latter part could be taken over by inter-county football.
More hurling will hopefully negate the crippling training-to-games ratio now that all counties are guaranteed a minimum of four SHC outings but then it hardly needs to be said that quantity equals quality. Munster hurling final day shouldn’t lose too much of its allure.
After all, there will be an improved distillation of the two best teams in the province and Leinster although the day of two unbeaten teams reaching that stage is likely to be a thing of the past in 2018.
What about the repercussions? The Allianz League is almost sure to be the biggest loser since it is effectively being followed by two leagues.
The success of Galway this year and Waterford two years ago from Division 1B had already demonstrated Division 1B isn’t all that bad but the top flight will hardly be as cut-throat as previous campaigns as teams are guaranteed regular action against counties of similar strength in the provincial championships.
Expect the league structure to change to reflect that reality and the pre-season competitions to be little more than run-outs for fringe players. As things stand, all but Waterford are capable of hosting home championship matches.
Walsh Park, with its “Bitter Bank” and questionable surface, may have a certain nostalgic allure to it but it has been lost in time.
Seven years ago, former Waterford secretary Timmy O’Keeffe’s idea of the county hosting championship games in Nowlan Park was scoffed at.
Now his idea doesn’t look so ridiculous, at least for a year or two as Walsh Park is given a face-lift. The Waterford County Board has major financial difficulties and will require a sizeable dig-out from Croke Park to play hosts.
As Anthony Daly of this parish mentioned on RTÉ Radio on Sunday, the start of the provincial championships in mid-May will clash with a lot of third-level exams.
The GAA could get away with that when there were only one or two matches in each province at that time of year but there will be eight counties involved in the first weekend.
Hurling became a young man’s game long before Tony Kelly and Austin Gleeson won the young hurler and hurler of the year awards. Depending on what the calendar reveals, there might be a player welfare question to answer.
There is also the matter of July being a hurling-poor month. The game will be handsomely represented in May and June but the draft schedule for 2018 still boasts 19 senior football matches and five in hurling (Munster final, All-Ireland quarter-finals, All-Ireland semi-finals).
The draft calendar is obviously subject to change and the preliminary quarter-finals could be staged the same day or weekend of the Munster final but it was that disparity which prompted the call for a Special Congress. As football hots up, hurling winds down.
At least the gaps between matches, even for the provincial champions, should be cut. If the championship begins on May 13 and ends on August 19 next year, the down-time for counties will be reduced. All-Ireland semi-finals will be played over the same weekend.
As for the developing counties, it remains to be seen how relevant the preliminary quarter-finals between the third-placed provincial teams and the tier two finalists are when the bigger nugget, for all but Kerry, is winning that decider and being a fully-fledged part of the Liam MacCarthy Cup the following year. How incentivised will Kerry be if they are to be stuck in a purgatorial state between the top tiers?
Dual counties have the most food for thought. Inter-county success always carried health warnings for their club fixtures but now the inter-county structure dictates it.
Cork must change. The bloated Tipperary senior championship was in dire need of stripping anyway but if, as expected, these calendar changes are the precursor for the GAA’s season starting and ending in a calendar year how many of these counties will finish their championships in time to be represented in the provincial club competitions?
The GAA can’t lose sight that all but one of the counties set to contest the Munster SHC next year opposed the format of the championship.
The phrase “trial basis” was emphasised by the GAA hierarchy afterwards and there’s a strong possibility this structure will have to be revised. For now, though, there should be excitement about Ennis and Salthill seeing provincial hurling action. Wexford town will see more too.
If hurling is to be truly promoted, it must be spread. It can’t be overshadowed by football either. We may soon have our first multiple-losing All-Ireland champions but it may just be worth the whirl.
