It’s time to tackle a very unfair system

FOR your edification, snatches of conversations overheard in the media lift on Sunday afternoon, as we headed in search of reaction from the principals involved in the dramatic Limerick/Waterford All-Ireland SHC semi-final, conversations that were surely repeated wherever hurling is followed.

“Another epic contest in what has been an epic season for hurling…” went one.

“Another epic, but every one of those games involved Munster teams,” went another.

“Ah yes,” came the most telling statement of all. “But the All-Ireland winner will probably still be a Leinster team!” Probably? We’ll get to that. But first, the major talking point after Sunday’s game.

The GAA must act now, immediately, to ensure that the utter farce we’ve seen this year in deciding the two teams in the All-Ireland final must never be repeated. On one side of the draw, after five huge games — one of those, admittedly, a replay — Waterford have been dumped out of the championship at the semi-final stage, their first loss. On the other side, Kilkenny have had one big game, against Galway in the All-Ireland quarter-final, one serious test. How fair is that, how equitable?

I want to stress here, and I cannot over-emphasise it, this is not Kilkenny’s fault.

It is the fault of the system put in place by the GAA, a system which is currently lop-sided in favour of Kilkenny, a system which next year will be even more lop-sided in favour of the Leinster champions, entry straight to the All-Ireland semi-finals. Even now, a year in advance, we all know who those probable Leinster champions are.

The Munster champions, too, will go straight to those semi-finals, but only after getting over at least two major hurdles within the province, possibly three, with the additional possibility of tied games thrown in. That system has to go, must go.

I know it’s maybe heresy to suggest it, but if the current provincial championship format is to be kept, and if Galway continue to balk at playing in Leinster, then why not Waterford in Leinster? Prestige, honour, tradition, I hear the arguments already, but I wonder how much prestige and honour the Waterford players attach to their hard-earned 2007 Munster medals this morning?

The provincial championships are now just stepping stones to the All-Ireland championships proper, to the last eight knockout stages. Eight Leinster medals Michael Kavanagh has — how highly do you think he values those medals? More pertinently, how highly do you THINK he should value them, how much are they actually worth?

With Waterford in Leinster, a new instant derby rivalry would be created with Kilkenny, and, overall, the balance would be a bit more even; four decent sides in Leinster in Kilkenny, Waterford, Offaly and Wexford, with the potential of Dublin to come.

Qualifiers? Straight knockout, controlled draw each round, to determine the four who would meet the four provincial finalists in the quarter-finals, after which there would be another controlled draw to decide the semis.

Galway? If they continued to insist on standing alone outside of Munster or Leinster, I’d give them no second chance; in they go to the mix in the qualifiers and take what comes.

Munster? This would still leave four strong teams, two hard and competitive semi-finals. Think outside the box, lads, think outside the province, because in this instance at least, provincial thinking is dated.

Another suggestion: while there is no doubt that Limerick were of such a mind yesterday that they would have stood up to any team in the country, including Kilkenny, it was unfair on Waterford that they had to play such a major game just one week after getting over Cork in the quarter-final, at the second attempt. Three huge games in two weeks, why couldn’t the semi-final have been put back a week, to give Waterford some sort of breathing space before tackling the next level?

There are still three weeks to the All-Ireland final, could this semi-final not have been put back to next weekend? A bigger question — why do we need replays at all?

Alright, they’re a great spectacle, and they do give teams a second chance, but it’s only postponing the inevitable for one anyway. Why cause such havoc with the scheduling of club games within the relevant counties, for the sake of the few extra bob? Is the GAA not making enough already? Just a thought.

Regardless, Waterford are gone, no All-Ireland final appearance for them, and hurling is the poorer. Not because Limerick are there in Waterford’s stead — mark my words, Limerick will do both themselves and Waterford proud on September 2.

No, it’s because Sunday’s situation should never have arisen. Waterford should have faced Wexford in their semi-final, Limerick should have faced Kilkenny, provincial finals crossover; imagine, then, what a final Sunday’s game would have made!