Angry Ryan wants Antrim out of Leinster

LEINSTER SHC ROUND ROBIN:

Antrim welcome Westmeath to Ballycastle this Sunday in the first of four games they will play in the next 28 days. Carlow, Laois and London are also involved in the round-robin format, with the top two teams advancing to the Leinster quarter-finals on June 1.

The Saffrons overcame Offaly in Division 1B earlier this spring, running Wexford to a single point and Ryan is baffled as to why the northerns are being unfairly marginalised.

Antrim first competed in Leinster SHC in 2009, but given the present structure, Ryan feels the county would be better off pulling out of the province and entering the All-Ireland championship at a later date.

Adding further insult was the invitation issued to Antrim this week to attend the launch of the Leinster championship on May 6, for should they lose both their opening fixtures, Antrim’s interest in the provincial competition will have ceased before it has even been officially launched.

Irrespective of the launch date, three of the teams involved in the round-robin series will be finished hurling for the year on May 25, greatly hindering the promotion of the game in the lesser counties.

“They send us an invite to the launch of the Leinster championship but we could potentially be out of the Leinster championship in two and a half weeks. It certainly doesn’t feel like Leinster championship,” Ryan fumed.

“In my opinion it is not what Antrim signed up to a few years back when they were let into the Leinster championship. This isn’t what they were looking to. You’d be better off reverting to the system a couple of years back where Antrim went straight into the All-Ireland quarter-final.

“I just don’t understand it and I can’t see the reasoning or the logic behind this round-robin system. I don’t know why the authorities believed it was a good move.

“In the league, there was nothing between ourselves, Offaly and Wexford. Yet the two of them are in a Leinster quarter-final and we have to play four games to get a quarter-final. Championship is different to league, but it still doesn’t justify this system.”

Rumours are afloat, according to the Waterford native, that if one of the five counties were to secure a victory in the Leinster championship proper, they would be spared from the round-robin next summer. “What happens though if Laois come through, and they lost by a point to Wexford or Galway, why should that determine they be back in the round-robin system next year?” he argued.

“How it is made up to me is strange. It looks like one of these five counties would need to take a major scalp before this is thrown out the window. Any county that wants to enter Liam MacCarthy should be allowed. That is my firm belief.”

Most frustrating from Ryan’s viewpoint is the lack of time afforded to his troops between the league conclusion and championship fare. Antrim’s final league game arrived on March 30, amounting to a four week layoff, in stark contrast to the 10-week reprieve enjoyed by Wexford.

“It really makes it impossible on us and the other teams. We are straight from league into championship. With the weather changing and evenings brighter, you should have that four or five weeks to prepare, even let the lads back to the clubs for a fortnight. We are not being afforded that time. The lack of break is most annoying.

“Right now if we were preparing for a Leinster quarter-final you’d be playing Division 1A teams in challenges. You’d be trying to improve, tweaking things from league. Instead we are playing teams, at the same level as us, under pressure to win three of the four games to get through. This system needs to be looked at.”