Munster GAA CEO: Radical changes to hurling structure would be a panicked response

Instead, a schedule adjustment is required, Kieran Leddy told the Irish Examiner.

Kieran Leddy on Munster SHC:It is generating massive profile interest, viewing figures. We must surely be the only organisation in the world that would then consider getting rid of it.” Pic: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy

Munster GAA chief executive Kieran Leddy says a shift forward in the schedule of the All-Ireland senior hurling championship is “the first and the easiest fix” for the game.

Leddy has long been a proponent of the split season. Munster GAA had proposed it before most other units but the challenges to the profile of hurling in the latter half of the inter-county championship period have prompted him and the provincial council executive to compromise.

Last Tuesday, they agreed to communicate with Croke Park about pushing the All-Ireland SHC into August and conclude hurling’s inter-county window later by at least two weeks.

That August finish could mean the Munster and Leinster finals taking place in the third week of June with all of the 11 Liam MacCarthy Cup teams in championship action until the start of the month.

To compensate for the extension of the season’s back-end, Munster GAA proposes disbanding the pre-season competitions to remain within the 30 competitive weekends in the inter-county window and hurlers would not return to collective training until December.

Leddy appreciates hurling has problems that won’t be solved as quickly. At the same time, he points out that Kilkenny and Tipperary won 20 of the 30 All-Irelands (senior, U21, minor) between 2000 and ’09, while in the 1970s they along with Cork claimed 27 of the 30.

What’s next for hurling can’t be kneejerk, he argues. “A move to radically change the championship structure right now would be a panicked response to two one-sided quarter finals.”

Instead, a schedule adjustment is required, he told the Irish Examiner. “When we're talking about change, let this be the first discussion because this does solve the issue of teams exiting the championship too early. It keeps everybody in it until June. To me, that's the first and the easiest fix.

“The standards issue, we've had this before, because we only have that small number of counties who have always competed at the top table. When two or three slip, we don't have what football has to fill that gap or that void. So then, we tend to get what we have now, but we’ve been here before.

“We must remember there's massive work going on in all counties. You just go through cycles where you get a good group, you're successful, and then things step back. But the work keeps going on, and the teams come again, and that's going to happen here.

“We must remember that there's a Leinster team (Galway) with a great chance of winning the All-Ireland this year, and I wonder if that was to happen, would we be having all these conversations? Maybe not.” 

Leddy knows any rescheduling will have to work for the counties. “I will absolutely respect counties' view on that because they're the ones that won the club championships. I've said in the past the most important thing we've ever done for club players was create the split season, so we have to protect that proper championship window for clubs.”

Leddy strenuously defends the format and qualification system of the Munster SHC. To those who claim he is protecting a competition which reaped over €8m in gate receipts last year, he says it’s a success story that is worth preserving.

“The round-robin format in both Munster and Leinster has been excellent for hurling and has given hurling a massive profile, and particularly over the last couple of years. We've seen full stadiums, big days in Ennis and Thurles and Cork. That can only be good for the promotion of the sport.

“Whatever about protecting the golden goose and all that stuff, as far as I'm concerned, it is working. It is generating massive profile interest, viewing figures. We must surely be the only organisation in the world that would then consider getting rid of it.”

As for the calls for an augmented All-Ireland series with two more quarter-finals, Leddy is not in favour. “At some stage, you’re going to have to start knocking out teams.

“You have a final, you're going to have to have a two-week gap to the semi-final, you're going to have to have a two-week gap to the quarter-final. You can't keep virtually everybody in the championship until that stage because then it kind of makes everything else before us pointless in some respects.”

Former GAA president Nickey Brennan has been tasked with reviewing the Leinster senior hurling championship. It’s not Leddy’s place to advice another province. He just understands why the Munster SHC has been successful.

“A competition works when the teams participating are of a similar standard. If you expand it and you bring in teams not at that standard, I'm not sure what it does for those teams or the competition itself.

“In Munster, you have four games and that’s a lot of championship matches. Just ask the football counties. I’ve no doubt that had Waterford come out of Munster in the few years, we wouldn't be having these conversations as much.

“But to be fair to them, a lot of it has been just sheer hard luck. They were very competitive this year. It was rotten luck and injuries that cost them. That's the thing with a championship – you want games to have that jeopardy.

“Just look at football when they introduce groups of four with three coming out. You The public lost interest in it and it fell away because you could win a match, lose the next two, and you were through.

“Football recognised that and went away from it. It's probably landed on a system that works and maybe there's some flaws in it or whatever. Of course, I'm sure some counties will argue there is, but in terms of excitement and jeopardy and crowds, it's working.”