Murphy wants revamp of Cork championship

Erin’s Own coach PJ Murphy has called for a re-structuring of the Cork county SHC.

Murphy, a senior medallist and county winning coach, feels the present system is loaded against the clubs.

Despite an impressive victory over Killeagh on Saturday night in the fourth round of the county championship, Murphy and his players had to wait 11 weeks to play that game and he feels that is not fair on the clubs and players.

“There are 16 senior club teams in the county and I’m calling for the county championship to be confined to those clubs,” he said.

“Pressure on clubs is enormous with the threat of relegation hovering over them even before a ball is struck. Something has to be done to remove that threat, and I feel a championship, confined to those 16 clubs is the answer. A smaller number of clubs would make it that bit easier to get games played.

“People in the club scene are putting enormous time and effort in, and I feel it’s totally unfair that they are left idle for anything up to three months of the year because of the inter-county scene.

“Apart from the 16 clubs, there are two colleges and six divisional teams taking part, but they cannot be relegated. They can lose a couple of games, and still not face the threat of relegation.

“I’m calling for a senior hurling championship confined solely to the 16 senior clubs. In the event of that not happening, every team participating in the championship should begin from the same starting point and face the threat of relegation the same as the clubs.

“Under the present system, divisions and colleges cannot be relegated while clubs who, we are told, are the backbone of the association, can be unlucky to be hit by emigration and injury, and find themselves involved in a relegation battle. That cannot be right.”