Seán Kelly: Time to spread the love and move Liam MacCarthy around

Surely the onus is on us to have as many teams competing at the top as possible?

Munster hurlers, David Reidy, Clare, Ronan Maher, Tipperary, Robert Downey, Cork, Mark Fitzgerald, Waterford and Cian Lynch, Limerick. Pic: INPHO/Morgan Treacy

If the Munster Hurling Championship delivers like it has in the past few seasons, we’re in for some tremendous excitement and entertainment. Hurling is the gift that keeps on giving!

But the chances of any more than half a dozen counties winning the Liam McCarthy is a long shot and seems an even longer shot into the future. Do we sit back and say “C’est la vie”, or do we look for solutions, so that more and more counties can realistically see Liam in their sights as well as in their dreams?

Surely the onus is on us, the GAA family, to have as many teams competing at the top as possible?

In this regard I welcome wholeheartedly the appointment of William Maher as the Association’s National Head of Hurling. This was a necessary and timely move. William is a passionate and knowledgeable hurling man who has the clear leadership skills and drive to raise the profile of our national game and drive forward a strategic plan for its development. Already we have seen great progress in spreading the game. But while this appointment is a step forward, we must not stop there.

If the Association is serious about developing hurling as a truly national game and levelling the playing field between counties, then we must also put a bigger focus on elite development. That means providing structured support to those counties who are close to breaking through but lack the high-performance infrastructure and resourcing of the top tier counties. This, more than a lack of ambition or commitment, is what is holding them back.

There is a clear opportunity here for the GAA to create a new, complementary role - a Director of Elite Hurling Development - reporting to William Maher, with a specific brief to work closely with counties just outside the current elite bracket.

I would suggest the initial focus for such a role should be on Waterford, Wexford, Offaly, Laois, Westmeath, Kildare, Carlow and Antrim. These are all hurling counties that have either a proud hurling tradition or a clear underage pipeline of talent, but who have found it increasingly difficult to either make the breakthrough or maintain their place at the highest level.

Antrim, Waterford and Wexford are seen as hurling counties but have won very few All-Irelands (Wexford’s last was in 1996, Waterford’s as far back as 1959 and Antrim have yet to win it, last reaching the final in 1989). They would benefit hugely from a leg up.

Kildare has the population and the desire to go to the highest level. Offaly have been superb, but again, resources are a major inhibitor.

I’d talk to Laois, Westmeath and Carlow to see what their commitment would be, and to assess their talent pool, before deciding to include them or not. Certainly, their hurling folk are 100%, but backing, ambition and potential must be coming from all sources to make a real step-up to elite grade.

Dublin, without a Liam MacCarthy cup win since 1938, has the financial resources but might need a different support.

When I finished as President of the GAA, then-Taoiseach Bertie Ahern asked me to set up the Irish Institute of Sport to support elite athletes, help them perform to their full potential, and win more medals for Ireland. It was a visionary move by Bertie.

The Institute of Sport/Sport Ireland’s High-Performance Unit provides much of the blueprint this hurling initiative could follow. This unit supports National Governing Bodies with the structures, funding and strategic support needed to help Irish athletes win medals on the world stage. 

The results of this investment speak for themselves. Our Olympic performances, particularly in Tokyo and again in Paris, and in the European and World Championships, have been the best in our history. That didn’t happen by accident. It happened because long-term strategic thinking, which was backed up by the required investment and a commitment to achieving excellence.

Imagine what that same approach could do for hurling counties just shy of elite status.

To make this vision a reality, we would need to fund it properly. I believe this could be done through a joint funding mechanism, with €1 million per annum committed for 10 years from each of the Munster and Leinster Councils, €2 million from Central Council and €4 million from Government. The counties themselves, and the Ulster Council, would be asked to raise €200,000 each in sponsorship.

This would create a €10 million annual programme, focused solely on raising standards in targeted counties. A 10-year commitment gives these counties the certainty and runway to invest in coaching, facilities, strength and conditioning, analytics, and performance management - the things needed to compete for Liam MacCarthy in 2026.

The right person is key to take on this role. Someone who understands the modern demands of elite sport, but also someone synonymous with the GAA and with hurling, and with a proven-track record at the top level. Someone like Pat Gilroy. Pat transformed Dublin football in the late 2000s and built the foundations for the famous six-in-a-row. He would bring the required drive and strategic vision this role needs. For similar reasons, people like Brian Cody, Jimmy Barry Murphy, Liam Sheedy or John Kiely would be excellent too.

But funding and leadership are only part of the equation. To truly support these counties, there is a need to reform the Championship structure. It is simply not good enough that many top hurlers are finished at inter-county level for the year by the first week of June. We cannot grow the game if we don’t give teams the chance to compete regularly - summer hurling - against the best.

I propose a revised Championship format based on groups of five teams each - one group in Munster and two groups in Leinster. Crucially, however, for a period of ten years, the targeted counties would have guaranteed participation without threat of relegation.

Relegation is a disaster for a team trying to make the breakthrough. I’ve seen this from my involvement with Kerry hurling over the years. I would go so far as to say that relegation does twice the damage as the good that promotion brings.

I understand that removing jeopardy is not without drawbacks, but the benefits are clear: guaranteed games with real competition and the ability to build year-on-year.

At the end of the group stages, the top-performing teams would progress to the Liam MacCarthy Cup series, while others would enter the Joe McDonagh Cup, ensuring that all teams continue to play competitive matches into the summer.

Importantly, this structure does not require us to abandon the split season. The All-Ireland Championship can remain on a June-July timetable, but the lower-tier competitions like the Christy Ring, Nickey Rackard and Lory Meagher Cups could run later into August and September, when they can receive more attention and bring in more viewers (if agreement was forthcoming for such). If not, leave it as is, but they get crowded out completely in publicity and promotion at present.

I recall writing in the Irish Examiner as far back as 2012 about the need for structural reform in the football championship. It took the GAA a decade to adopt those changes, but the new football format is now working well. It's more competitive and more entertaining and is better for both players and supporters. Let’s not wait another ten years to do the same with hurling.

We have a great opportunity to grow the game and increase its popularity across the country. However, ensuring an All-Ireland Championship with more elite teams and more competition is a vitally important aspect of this too. That means more investment, the right structures, and above all, leadership.

If after ten years even one of these counties win the All-Ireland, and other are more competitive, then it is money well spent. It can happen – just look at the transformation in the fortunes of our international athletes.

Spread the love – let’s move Liam McCarthy around. Hurling will be better for it.

*The author was president of the GAA from 2003-2006.