I think the Hurling Championship could do with a new Tier

Stabshauptmann

As it is there are 4 Tiers in the Hurling Championship.

Looking at Liam McCarthy, there are 13 teams, 4 are in with a shot, and another 3 can put up a show. However, I do not believe that Antrim, Carlow, Clare, Laois, Limerick or Offaly can play anywhere near the standard of even Dublin.

These 6 teams however would simply waltz through anyone in the Christy Ring. Is it fair that they should be stuck in no man's land like this? Embarressed to play teams like Cork, or Kilkenny; yet too good to be let loose against Kerry or Mayo.

There are 36 Hurling counties, divided into groups of 13, 8, 8, 7.
I'd propose making 4 groups of 8,8,8,9 - and ditching Fingal and South Down, and only having one (conglomarated) team from England.

The point of the Tiers was to A) Make the sport more interesting, even if you are from a crap county you have a competition you could win, and opponents at your level and Help the sport survive / weaker teams improve by giving them more games.

If you want to achieve those aims, I believe you need to divide the Tiers better; Laois beat Carlow comfortably, Dublin will hammer Laois, Kilkenny will destroy Dublin. Whats the point?!

jordainius

Stabshauptmann wrote: »

I think the Hurling Championship could do with a new Tier

I was already skeptical here

As it is there are 4 Tiers in the Hurling Championship.

Looking at Liam McCarthy, there are 13 teams, 4 are in with a shot, and another 3 can put up a show.

I started to lose interest here

However, I do not believe that Antrim, Carlow, Clare, Laois, Limerick or Offaly can play anywhere near the standard of even Dublin.

And here I just stopped reading. Remind me; Dublin have achieved what exactly? I'm not having a pop at Dublin but you seem to have massively overestimated them. Limerick's best 15 beat Dublin last year while performing short of their best. Clare woulld fancy their chances of beating them, Offaly and Wexford wolud be at a similar level too. You are talking nonsense.

What you basically want is for the GAA to tell traditional hurling counties like Clare, Limerick, Antrim to sod off because they are short of being good enough to win it; you want those counties to be deprived of playing at the highest stage and for hurling to suffer in those counties, and nationally as a result.

In the history of hurling there have only ever been 3/4 teams with a realistic chance of winning the All-Ireland. It is no different now than what it has ever been; the only difference now is the backdoor which only serves to make it harder for the smaller counties to win it; as the backdoor only suits the big teams.

Its the same in football; only 3/4 teams ever in with a realistic shout. Counties want to play at the highest stage possible, Carlow will be much happier having it tough in the McCarthy Cup than having it easy in the Ring cup. The day your "idea" becomes reality (not that it ever will) is the day hurling dies.

dotsflan

Offaly bet dublin in the league, limerick bet dublin last year, laois were very close to beating limerick last year, kilkenny only bet dublin by 6 or 7 pts last year, hardly a hammering.......i could go on and on:rolleyes:

TheSpecialOne

Clare,Limerick,Offaly have brought so much to the championship over the years.They are not fantastic every year but they will come in spurts Limerick/Clare/Offaly where good during the 1990's.Since the Turn of the decade it has become tougher but they will bounce back Clare have won the u/21's,Limerick contested a final in 07 and a semi just last year.Offaly are improving but when facing the cat's,Galway etc.. of course they will look out of their depth.Give these counties some respect and stop with the spur of the moment stuff.Antrim,Laois,Carlow are all improving and this was shown in the league e.g. All Running Clare close and Carlow beating Wexford....Going by your method it should Be Tipp,Kilkenny,Cork,Galway and Waterford only which would be a disaster as we all love the underdog story and the great rivalries.But what the heck lets ditch tradition just because a few of the Counties have fallen back.

ki

We already have a tiered system for the league.

Every team every year should have a crack at the Liam McCarthy Cup.

How that is done is up to the smart guys in Croke Park.

But my suggestion would be a Muster Championship and a Rest of Ireland Championship with seeding so that you don't get too many one sided matches.

Also I would like to see it go back to a knock out, (one loss and your out) then filter in to Christy Ring championships, etc, not back into the All Ireland,
then you have exciting matches that people want to go and see even in May.

BigCon

Stabshauptmann wrote: »

Dublin will hammer Laois, Kilkenny will destroy Dublin. Whats the point?!

Hope the Laois players are reading this! I don't think that Dublin will hammer Laois (they have never hammered Laois in living memory), Dublin will probably win, but not by a lot.
I also don't think that Kilkenny will destroy Dublin, sure they only beat them by 6 points last year.
The rest of your post is nonsense too!

antoobrien

There was an interesting article in the Sunday Tribune about allowing Ulster and Connacht (- Galway) to put in a provincial team. There are very good players in all counties, (Higgins from Mayo regularly playing on the Connacht railway cup team) so the idea has some merit and should be examined.

http://www.tribune.ie/sport/hurling/article/2010/may/23/comment-kieran-shannon-alternative-ulster-could-ye/

Danno

We have the railway cup for the provincials. This should be marketed better, perhaps a home and away league style meaning for more matches with the top two in a final???

Warper

If that is the OP's rationale then surely football should be the same. After all everyone knows its probably goin to be Kerry in their seventh AI final in a row playing either Cork/Tyrone, Dublin for their sixth Leinster in a row etc.. People forget that the football championship is just as predictable as the hurling.

This thread is pure bull.

flahavaj

You've basically described the structure of the league....