The last round of League games on Sunday sent out the message loud and clear - the format badly needs to be changed.
Of the six Division One ties, only one had anything riding on it realistically and that was the Kilkenny-Waterford game but, even at that, Waterford were essentially through to the semi-finals already and were without five or six of what will be their Championship team.
I don’t think it’s acceptable to the hurling public that we reach the end of the round robin phase with a series of meaningless matches, particularly while the football has all sorts of permutations this coming weekend.
The GAA needs to look at an alternative format which ensures that there is something at stake come the last weekend. I accept that with the Championship having moved towards a round robin format that the League is going to suffer as a result to some extent, but there has to be a better way.
I touched on it here last week, but a single Division One of eight to 10 teams with the top four contesting the semi-finals and the bottom four entering relegation play-offs would ensure this.
Alternatively, we could go back to the previous system of six teams in a top flight Division 1A and six in 1B with four from each reaching the quarter-finals.
That format presented its own problems as with six such high quality teams in 1A, it left little room for experimentation. Everyone was in danger of relegation and teams would be gasping for air after the five matches. But that’s a far better state of affairs than what we’ve been subjected to in recent weeks and last weekend in particular.
My preference, however, would be a bigger single one division and start the competition earlier in January to allow for more games to be accommodated. Forget about the Munster League and Walsh Cup.
Yes, the Championship is always going to be the competition that captures the public imagination the most and that’s how it should be, but the League shouldn’t be such a distant second.
Cutting down the top division would mean eliminating some of the developing counties but you’d have to wonder how much they have benefited from that exposure of late. And by having up to 10 teams, you’ll always ensure that there’s a passage to the top flight for them.
Throw in financial bonuses too for the winners, runner-ups and semi-finalists that could go towards their holiday or training fund.
As a youngster, if I had been relying solely on Clare’s Championship games for inspiration then I would have been rather underwhelmed.
Clare’s best days in the 1970s were in the League and it was from going to see Father Harry Bohan’s team that reached three successive finals, winning two, that I got my passion and enthusiasm for the game.
Clare’s home games were big events locally and always very intense and competitive encounters. A far cry from what was on offer over the weekend just gone.
A solution needs to be found in the coming months to ensure that we’re not subjected to another final weekend of shadow-boxing across a range of matches where there was very little edge or will to win.
Waterford tie to show where Wexford are really at
For all the League’s ills of late, I still feel that the coming weekend will provide some much-needed competitive fare.
The four best teams in the competition have qualified for the semi-finals.
I expect Waterford-Wexford to be very tight. Wexford have been the standout side so far and have a great chance of winning the title for the first time since 1973.
Both sides play a similar style, running the ball and playing it short, but Liam Cahill will not have been happy with other fundamentals of the game that were markedly absent against Kilkenny on Sunday. He’ll be demanding more intensity in the tackle and accuracy in their shooting this weekend.
Wexford certainly haven’t been found wanting in terms of workrate, which has been exceptional, and they’ve played to their strengths all round. As I know better than most, they’re a great bunch that are well fit to compete with any of the top teams.
This game will be a big test to see where they are for the Championship.
Can Kilkenny stop the Cork runners?
The Cork-Kilkenny game should be intriguing, particularly on the back of last year’s All-Ireland semi-final.
Have Kilkenny learned from their defeat? I’m eager to see if they can cope with the pace and power of Cork running the ball from midfield, something they struggled with that day.
It’s noticeable that Kilkenny have packed the middle third in recent games in a bid to stop the opposition from developing a running game.
With the Championship still three weeks away for both and no prospect of them meeting again for quite some time, I expect that the two managers will play the strongest line-ups they have available to them and, if that’s the case, I’d expect Cork to shade it.
Everything on the line for Offaly and Antrim
The relegation play-off between Offaly and Antrim is probably the most important game of the competition so far.
It’s massive for both counties, who will be desperate to stay in the top tier and a bit like a first leg/second leg Champions League tie in that they open their Joe McDonagh Cup campaign against each other three weeks later.
But I would imagine that both Darren Gleeson and Michael Fennelly would take your hand off for a victory this weekend and take their chances after that. They’ll want to be assured of playing big games again next year, while there would still be time to recover if the McDonagh Cup gets off to a bad start.
Offaly plugged the gaps somewhat in their last three games, though the dam burst late on against Clare and Limerick, who got in for goals. They shouldn’t be slaves to lining up conventionally - what matters is that they’re competitive.
Antrim took a bad beating against Tipperary when they weren’t at full strength but outside of that they’ve been very competitive. The Laois defeat was a big blow after playing so well up to then but I’d still make them favourites to preserve their top flight status.
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