Honan believes Banner hurt by league format

THEY possess some of the brightest up-and-coming hurling talents in the country, yet Clare’s young attacking star Darach Honan feels his development and that of his Banner teammates is being stunted by the current Allianz League system.

Since their relegation from Division 1 in 2009, Clare have been operating in the second tier for the past two seasons and face that prospect once more next season after being defeated by Limerick in the recent Division 2 decider in Ennis.

Clare’s championship performances have suffered accordingly as they have only won one out of their five championship ties over the last two years, and that was in a relegation playoff against Wexford in July 2009.

Honan began his inter-county senior career at the start of last season but has yet to be exposed to league matches against the elite teams. He feels the Division 1A and 1B system that was ditched in 2008 should be reintroduced and points to the fortunes of Wexford, who defeated Clare in last year’s Division 2 decider, as an example of the benefits of Division 1 hurling.

“It’s not ideal. The last two years in the league, I haven’t enjoyed it at all. I think it has affected us and I’d be hugely in favour of 12 teams in Division 1. If you look at the league, last year was our first in Division 2 and we were beaten by Wexford in the final. It was just a couple of mistakes that lost us that game.

“We lost a year of league hurling by being in Division 2, whereas they were in Division 1 and had a successful year. Wexford have come on a good bit this year as a result. I don’t understand why there isn’t 12 teams in Division 1. I don’t know who’s calling for it not to be there and what’s to be gained from it.”

The imbalance that exists in Division 2 has further affected Clare over the past two seasons. They have gained 11 victories in Division 2 during that time frame and in seven of those games, Clare have won by a cushion of seven or more points.

“If you look at our results this year and last, we have had some absolute whitewashes where we walked all over teams”, says Honan. “Other games then that we played were quite tight at the end.

” We’d much prefer to be up in Division 1 in the league and I really think we’d be able for it too.”

Did you know?

HISTORY suggests Clare face a huge task this weekend against Tipperary in the Gaelic Grounds, as do Laois in their All-Ireland qualifier against Cork. Since the league format was altered in 2009, Division Two teams have only managed one win out of 18 championship games against top flight opposition. Antrim’s 1-17 to 0-19 qualifier win over Dublin last July is the sole exception to that trend.

* There have been some close shaves for Division 1 sides. Wexford came close to knocking out Dublin in the Leinster SHC and Limerick in the All-Ireland qualifiers in 2009 after a spring spent in Division Two. The Model County suffered two point defeats in both those games. Last year, Offaly needed extra-time before defeating Antrim 2-26 to 3-16 in Parnell Park. And it took an injury-time John Mullane goal Sunday to rescue Waterford against Limerick.

*In general, Division One teams have handed out emphatic defeats to their lower tier opposition. Thirteen of the 17 victories have been by margins of six points or more.

*Of their five games against Division Two opposition, three of Dublin’s four victories since 2009 have been by nine points or more. Galway crushed Laois by 27 points in 2009, defeated Wexford by 11 points last season and had nine points to spare over Westmeath on Saturday week.