Offaly boss pleads for hurling rethink
“Under the current system you’re not able to build any kind of momentum, any kind of consistency,” he said.
“Everything depends on the luck of the draw and your championship could be finished in late June, early July and you’re not involved in competition again until the following spring.
“That comes around and you’re hampered by players having commitments to their colleges, to their club. During the league you’re in a quandary. Do you focus on trying to win your division or do you focus on trying to bring on players and risk your league position?
“What you need is a change of system, something that will provide the likes of Offaly, Clare, Limerick, Wexford with a way forward.”
The problem, says Ollie, is that the league and championship are like two different games played in two separate seasons, totally unrelated.
“The difference between the sod in February and March and the sod in June and July. There’s no comparison, totally different games. As it stands now the league and the championship are poles apart and you can’t build up confidence for one through the other because of that difference.
“There’s a total separation at the moment between them. Some way should be found of linking them, of making league relevant to championship.”
A Champions League type format perhaps? “Exactly, though perhaps within the provinces. I wouldn’t take away the provincial championships, they shouldn’t be the fall guy. Some sort of merger, make everything more relevant. Have more meaningful games at the best time for hurling, give teams a better chance to build up a level of consistency. You would be testing yourself against good teams and you can gauge yourself far more accurately. Devising a formula to suit everyone isn’t easy but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be tried. Something certainly needs to be done.”
You could still end up with Kilkenny and Tipperary contesting the All-Ireland final, as they’ve done for the last three years — so what, says Ollie.
“The stronger teams are always going to come out on top anyway but they should have exactly the same format as everyone else. The way it is now, provincial champions going straight to the All-Ireland semi-final, it’s weighted in favour of the stronger teams. For teams like us, so much depends on the draw we get. Let us have a level playing field, let everyone come through the same channels.”
Were the situation different the current Offaly team, he reckons, would be in a much stronger position to challenge for top honours.
“This is a very talented bunch but they’ve been unable to build up any momentum, any real confidence in themselves.
“These lads can play at this level, I have no doubt about. Every hurling county could play at this level if the structures were right. You need three or four good championship matches during the summer, then you’ll know where you stand, then the players will see for themselves, ‘Yeah, this is what it’s all about, this is why we’re putting in this massive effort every year, to play these games’.
“They’re such a pleasure to work with, so easy to manage, absolutely a credit to their jersey and to their county. The hurling people of Offaly are crying out for a team to support but they deserve to get full value for that support, not be subject to what happens in the draw.”
Baker has a point; Shane Dooley, Rory Hanniffy, Joe Bergin and the rest of this Offaly side deserve far more exposure than they’re getting.
“Teams shouldn’t be judged solely on trophies won; there needs to be a better connect between supporters and players and the only way to do that is to have people see the players more often in the proper environment.
“That’s what people want to see, their teams playing championship hurling across the summer.”
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