Provincial winners must get just reward

Munster finals between Cork and Tipperary are still magical occasions, but John Allen has serious concerns for the future, writes Jim O’Sullivan.

THE provincial hurling championships risk being downgraded as long as the winning teams are not ‘rewarded’ with a place in the Guinness All-Ireland semi-finals!

John Allen strongly holds this view, and while acknowledging the glamour of ‘traditional Munster finals’ between Cork and Tipperary he can’t help wondering about how long this attraction will remain.

“That’s one separate competition. The real competition we all want to win starts on July 22, with the All-Ireland quarter-finals,” the Cork manager told media at the Maryborough House Hotel last week.

“Last year we were here after the Munster final and it was just like we were at a dinner.

“There was no hype, no people, no excitement — there was nothing really.

“We won the Munster final and we went home. That was it.”

And he has concerns for the provincial championships.

“I personally believe that if we keep going down the same road — with no prize other than the honour of being champions — it’s going to have a long-term effect in demeaning the value of winning.”

Generally, he favours a ‘tightening up’ of the schedule, feeling that there is ‘too much time’ between the big games. Counties had a valid complaint up to a few years ago about a five weeks delay between the Munster final and the All-Ireland semi-final, he pointed out.

“If the season was tightened you could have quarter-finals and the Munster and Leinster champions (would be) in the semi-finals. Whatever way you look at it, you could have a situation where a team which loses two games could ‘catch’ a team on an off day and beat them in the quarter-final. I don’t think that’s fair. There should be a reward for winning the Munster final, as there always was — a just reward for what is a tough championship. Leinster probably isn’t as tough now as it was, whereas in Munster five or six weeks ago you could have said that potentially any one of the teams could win out.”

Allen admits that he has no ready solution to the problem and accepts that players would not tolerate going back to the old knock-out system.

“It’s hard to find a system. Are we going to have eight teams with a realistic chance, or a competition with eight teams only in it. The problem is wider than ‘just now’ and Round Robins. Hurling is becoming more elite where there are probably only four teams with a realistic chance of winning this year’s All-Ireland!”

Cork are certainly high on that list of four. It’s clear that they have a lot of talent and he says that the success they have enjoyed keeps them ‘intrinsically motivated.’ But, he balances that with the view that things don’t often work out as expected and that the best of players can have ‘off days.’

One of his abiding memories of last year’s final in Páirc Uí Chaiomh is the recovery which Tipperary managed after it seemed possible at half-time that they could be beaten by ‘a cricket score.’ What happened was that after ‘totally’ dominating the first half, his team subconsciously eased off.

“That’s very hard to guard against, but we did it that day. I generally don’t give out to fellows, but I gave out to them that day because I felt that for three or four minutes before half time we were what has been described as ‘show-boating!’”

The inevitable question was asked about the ‘quality’ in his own team, specifically around half-back and at midfield. He describes them as a: “formidable, athletic, forward-moving and intelligent quintet, agreeing that ‘on their day,’ they are the best in the game.

However, terms and conditions apply.

“You’re only as good as your last game. These players still have do it the next day. No matter what happened in the past, the five players have to go out and perform on Sunday.”

Interestingly, as much as he values the strength of the half-back line, he feels that Sunday’s final ‘could hinge’ on how effectively the Cork half-forwards perform ‘as backs.’ Without disclosing their strategy, he agrees that they will have a vital job to carry out in stopping the supply to Eoin Kelly.

It would be an interesting exercise to count how many times that name will crop up in the sports pages this week. Allen praises Kelly for his bravery, singling out his two scores at the end of the semi-final as ‘exceptional.’ He applies the same epithet to his ‘balance,’ comparing him to Joe Deane — the way he can ‘centre himself’ very quickly and take a score, off his left or right.

This Tipp team is no one-man band, he says. And, he doesn’t believe that ‘a good forward’ is capable of winning an inter-county championship match on his own. Eoin Kelly might disagree.