Mixed views on Leinster hurling plans

THE reaction was mixed and emotional in Leinster yesterday as officials digested the plans of provincial secretary Michael Delaney for hurling in the region.

Delaney this week proposed the disbandment of adult intercounty teams in Laois and Longford to help improve and streamline the code in Leinster.

He also suggested that Carlow, Kildare, Wicklow, Meath, Westmeath and Laois should opt out of all adult championships, senior B, intermediate and junior for the next three years.

The inclusion of the latter county sparked most reaction, with hurling boss Paudie Butler ruling out any possibility of acceding to such plans.

He believes that Delaney’s proposed scheme is flawed and considers a meaningful summer schedule as the wisest course of action.

“We would be very ambitious,” he admitted yesterday. We aim to join the top four group in Leinster. I have never seen a case where has team has opted out and that has helped their situation. The standard of play in any sport is directly related to the level of coaching and quality of coaching.

“The traditional GAA systems have always favoured the strong. The majority of teams are gone before they reach peak fitness. They don’t even know what potential they have.”

But he believes that the championship can be re-organised without damage to the historic provincial formats, so that teams, both strong and weak will benefit accordingly.

“I think that the provincial championships will hold, they have a lot to offer the public. But if there could be a system for the top 12 hurling counties-let them have the All-Ireland and the second group have the All-Ireland B with real pacey games on good ground.”

Meath manager and former Offaly All-Ireland winner Michael Duignan also considers the proposals to be flawed.

“Everybody realises that something has to be done and they are trying to outdo each other with ideas. the one thing I agree with is hurling during the summer, but I would prefer to see it in a county structure.

“The whole summer was gone and you were depending on guys playing club hurling.

“When we started again six weeks ago, their hurling had gone back. In counties like Meath and Kildare, where football is so strong, they will be playing club football in precedence over club hurling. I am not sure that club structures would be strong enough to support his (Delaney’s) plans.”

“The only way thing will improve at senior level is if you have proper underage structures.

However Westmeath County Secretary and former All-Ireland referee Paddy Collins believed that Laois were the only county who should rightly challenge the proposals.

Mr Collins agreed that there were huge discrepancies in standards among the teams taking part in the Leinster hurling championship and he felt that counties like his own, Carlow, Kildare, Louth, Longford, Meath and Wicklow would have little difficulty in agreeing with the proposals.

But only if a sound alternative was put in place. “Everything has been done to improve standards in the weaker counties, including a senior ‘B’ championship but all to no avail and as things stand at the moment all the counties named by the Leinster Secretary, with the possible exception of Laois, have absolutely no earthly chance of winning a Leinster senior hurling championship title in the forseeable future,” said Mr Collins.

He agreed that the aforementioned counties were deriving no benefit whatsoever from participating in the senior championship and he felt that the only alternative for improvement was the introduction of a well-structured provincial club league with the top six senior hurling clubs from each county taking part, as mooted by the Leinster Secretary.