The Hurling Qualifiers system - Opinions.

Flukey

Well we have had the first year of it now. The football qualifiers have helped things in the other counties and made things more interesting in the championship. The new structure for Hurling will have benefits but I think there are flaws in it. The way they got the quarter finalists is good, even though the two groups winners were predictable. Having a county relegated from the championship, in this case Antrim, is wrong. The championship should be open to any county that wants to enter it, not restricted to a fixed amount. The Ring and Rackard cups should be run more on the basis of the Tommy Murphy Cup, with the teams going out of the championship as well as weaker counties being allowed to choose to compete. What do you think?

KnowItAll

I disagree. The system gives every team a chance. Take Galway for example. Would they have beaten Limerick by 1 point or Tipp by 2 points if they had not got 2 games to get ready before the Limerick match?

The relegation issue is also good I think. It means that the weaker teams will have to win at least 1 match to survive. If they cannot than do they really deserve to be allowed in it next year. The best thing about it though is that it makes the Christy Ring cup competive because of the promotion.

There will never be a perfect system but I think in the next few years it will make teams more competitive.

Big Ears

KnowItAll wrote:

I disagree. The system gives every team a chance. Take Galway for example. Would they have beaten Limerick by 1 point or Tipp by 2 points if they had not got 2 games to get ready before the Limerick match?

The relegation issue is also good I think. It means that the weaker teams will have to win at least 1 match to survive. If they cannot than do they really deserve to be allowed in it next year. The best thing about it though is that it makes the Christy Ring cup competive because of the promotion.

There will never be a perfect system but I think in the next few years it will make teams more competitive.

have to agree , I think the system as it is , is a good one and will only improve the game .

AthAnRi

As a Galway man I think it's great. Finally there is a system where Galway don't go into a game where they have had no match practice against teams that may have had 1-3 games.

Look at last year for example, Galway played Kilkenny in a qualifier after playing one misfit match against derry or down. This told Galway nothing about there team. While Kilkenny were beaten by wexford it told them loads. The result Kilkenny won by 19 points.

Now I'm not saying Galway are contendors for All Irelands just yet but they were definatley not 19 points a poorer team than Kilkenny.

this year they would not have beaten tipp only for they had a competitive match against Limerick. I'm convinced that in previous years they would have lost that match against tipp.

I think this is the best system they can come up with without abolishing the provincial championships

Flukey

The way the quarter-finalists are decided is fine. I have no problem with that. But it should be the choice of teams as to which of the 3 competitions they should compete in. Promotion and relegation should be kept for the leagues only. A winner of the Christy Ring Cup being allowed into the championship proper is fine, but it limits it to only one county. There are several counties in it that, with a bit of work, could compete in the championship proper, though not with a chance of winning of course. Still, they should be allowed that opportunity if they want it. Only allowing one county up could actually hold back those other counties that also deserve a chance to come up.

We have Westmeath and Down in the Christy Ring Cup final. Whoever wins will come up, but the other team won't be allowed that choice. That could set them back. Demoting Antrim could set them back too. Keep the Rackard, Ring and McCarthy competitions, but let the counties themselves decide which one they want to enter. You could still have the quarter final structure as it is. You'll always have enough teams competing in the top tier to do so. However if we are going to relegate teams we are in effect penalising them which seems to contradict the whole point of the system which was to encourage hurling in weaker counties.

Danno

I agree with the current system that is in place. However, I feel that more teams should be allowed to compete for their provincial crown.

The relegation final gave Laois the kick-up-the-backside the team needed. They felt that Dublin would go down easily in the previous game.

Next year Laois will not want to be in that position again.