Condensing season would aid clubs, says Déise boss Ryan

WATERFORD hurling manager Michael Ryan would like to see the GAA season condensed to give clubs a fairer crack of the whip.

“I would bring the championship forward because it’s practically impossible to run the club championship now. I would be happy to see the All-Ireland played in August and then the club championships played off. I would like to see the thing played pretty quickly.

“You have two seasons really now. You have the league, which is compressed into a short time, and then you have a good break before the championship. So it’s two seasons in effect. I would like to see the whole things condensed a bit more.”

As a successful club manager with De La Salle he’s familiar with the challenges for club officials when there are lengthy gaps between inter-county games.

“We discussed this with the county board. We had a meeting with the officers and we did agree that there’s no point in the world having big long lapses between club games. Just because you have two guys on the county panel you have 20 guys at home doing nothing. That’s nothing that’s going to improve Waterford hurling.

“We have had a look at the schedule already and we’re happy that we have been able to improve it a little bit. Obviously it will take more time because it is going to have to be tweaked. There are some good templates out there in other counties, but it is difficult for counties with dual players.”

He doesn’t favour proposed adjustments to the rule allowing inter-county managers 13 days with their players; there are proposals to go before Congress cutting that to six days.

“In fairness, you have to have 13 days because Championship is very, very important. Everything is about the Championship and it’s very important for counties from a financial viewpoint as well, so I wouldn’t be changing that 13-day rule.”

The Fourmilewater man dismissed concerns about Waterford’s perceived issues at full-back.

“I’m not going to comment on how the team has been set up, but I think Liam Lawlor has been doing well over the past two years. I think he has only conceded one Championship goal to his direct opponent.

“We have a couple more options on the bench that we are going to try out in challenge matches. Liam is like everyone else — he is fighting for his place and competition is the name of the game as far as we’re concerned in every position on the field.

“There are one or two other contenders, but it will depend on matches and training. We will see how they shape up and make a decision then.

“I think the whole thing is over-rated in a way. If the ball coming in is good from out the field there’s very little any full-back line can do about it. Look at Kilkenny — they don’t allow good delivery from out the field and that’s an aspect we have to work on.”

* Meanwhile, former hurling panellist Gary Hurney has been confirmed as Waterford’s senior football team captain for the 2012 season.

Hurney, 30, takes over the role from Tony Grey, who has captained the Déise footballers for the last two seasons.