State of hurling has never been as low, says Babs Keating

Tipperary great fears Kildare face "a crucifixion" in 2026 Leinster SHC

Joe McDonagh Cup champions Kildare lost their All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final to Dublin in June by 21 points. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Babs Keating insists he can’t remember the state of hurling being as low as now and fears Kildare will face “a crucifixion” in the Leinster championship next season.

As the Hurling Development Committee later this week propose the end of the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals to Central Council, Tipperary’s two-time All-Ireland winning manager feels the gulf between the Liam MacCarthy and Joe McDonagh Cups is widening.

Kildare lost their preliminary game to Dublin by 21 points in June and yet they will be entering a Leinster championship that hasn’t produced All-Ireland winners going on nine years in 2026.

“The state of hurling has never been as low,” says Keating. “Look at Leinster hurling and Kilkenny with an old team being heads and shoulders above everybody else. It’s never been as low in Galway in my opinion.

“Waterford are going through a spell now and I’d be afraid Cork, who have been waiting 20 years for an All-Ireland, will be waiting some more based on what I saw in the club championship there.” 

Keating supports the disbandment of the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals. “Have we seen anything that resembles what deserved to be a quarter-final over the last number of years? The answer is no. It’s a waste of a Sunday.

“I've got sympathy for the counties that are trying to come up. But at the end of the day, have we seen any one of them progress to the stage that, for example, Antrim achieved over 35 years ago? The answer is no.

“There has to be a better way of looking after these teams, if it’s them competing in the senior championship at an earlier stage. But what we know really well is that they're not doing enough to promote themselves.

“Looking at Naas and St Martin’s (Leinster club SHC semi-final), Naas have been at the top of the ladder in Kildare the last number of years but they were so far away from the principles that govern teams at the highest level.

“I’m not saying St Martin’s are top of the pile but Naas were giving away frees you’d see a junior B team doing and that’s a Naas team that have eight or nine in the Kildare team going into the Leinster championship next year. It’s going to be a crucifixion.” 

Keating says he has received huge support since his call last year for hurling to break away and create its own association. He is convinced fixture makers who schedule top level championship hurling games in Leinster and Munster don’t have the best interests of the game at heart.

“The league final on the first Sunday in May in our time was a special event as was the Railway Cup and the Oireachtas was a great competition. You have to ask did somebody in Croke Park do away with 20 Sundays that we can’t have those events?

“It was the biggest insult in the world to see Oasis in Croke Park in August when it was built for All-Ireland semi-finals in August and finals in September. And hurling followers going to games and missing out on others because they’re on the same afternoon.”