Darragh Fitzgibbon: Don't break Munster while fixing hurling

Fitzgibbon has heard the debate about the competition needing a shot in the arm after two lopsided quarter-finals and a disappointing Munster SHC.

eir Ambassador Darragh Fitzgibbon of Cork pictured in Croke Park marking eir’s continued support of the GAA All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship and the fourth year of the Poc Tapa Challenge, a competition open to every GAA club in the country, where the fastest team wins €5,000 for their club and the chance to play in Croke Park on semi-final day. To enter, visit @eir.Ireland on Instagram. eir is recognised by Open signal as having Ireland’s No.1 5G network coverage. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Cork captain Darragh Fitzgibbon would be agreeable to changing the structure of the All-Ireland senior hurling championship providing there isn’t an attempt to fix what isn’t broken - the Munster SHC.

Fitzgibbon’s full focus is on Saturday week’s All-Ireland semi-final against Galway but has heard the debate about the competition needing a shot in the arm after two lopsided quarter-finals and a disappointing Munster SHC.

The provincial championship round-robin format is something the Charleville man would be loath to alter. "I'd be open to anything really, if it was so-called good for promoting the game of hurling.

“But in the last six or seven years, people have been so involved in this bubble of Munster hurling. If you lost that, are you going to lose a lot from hurling as well? There are so many pros and cons to each decision.

“The Munster championship is incredible and it's incredible to be part of it. It was incredible to win it last year and even to be in the Munster final this year, it was such an occasion down in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. You wouldn't want to lose that either. But it's not really something for me to solve. All I'm trying to do is my best for Cork at the moment. That's where my focus is."

Replicating the standards of Munster SHC has to be the objective, Fitzgibbon argues. “I suppose it's about getting that enthusiasm and trying to build those counties that might not be in a strong position. That's just going to stand to the game overall.

“You can see with the Munster championship, where you've got five teams that are capable of winning an All-Ireland, how good and how competitive each game is and how we drive the standards in each other.” 

Meanwhile, Clare’s Seán Rynne would like to see a change to the tackle rule in the wake of David Reidy’s serious injury in last Saturday’s All-Ireland quarter-final.

Reidy was concussed and required lengthy medical attention in Thurles before he was brought to hospital following a foul by Dublin’s Brendan Kenny. He was released from hospital the following day and is back running at training.

"I don't think any player goes out to try and injure someone like that," says Rynne. "But with the speed and the physicality that players have these days, it's obviously going to pose a threat. It would be no harm maybe putting in a rule to try and limit it as much as possible.

"It's hard to find that fine line between not taking the physicality out of the game and stopping injuries happening. Most of them seem to be coming from when a player is rising up from picking up a ball and is maybe a bit blindsided, so maybe something where you can't lead with a shoulder or maybe just having your arms out or something like that to try and stop it, because it is happening a lot."

Rynne was reassured about Reidy’s well-being as he returned to consciousness quickly following the incident. "When it initially happened, you'd be really wary of what is actually happening because he wasn't really moving.

“But I think he was only out for a couple of seconds because the lads said he was back talking after 20 or 30 seconds so it wasn't as bad as we first thought."

* Eir ambassadors Darragh Fitzgibbon and Seán Rynne were marking eir’s continued support of the GAA All‑Ireland Senior Hurling Championship and the fourth year of the Poc Tapa Challenge, a competition open to every GAA club in the country, where the fastest team wins €5,000 for their club and the chance to play in Croke Park on semi‑final day. To enter, visit @eir.Ireland on Instagram.