LIAM O'NEILL, who extended the invitation to Westmeath to contest this year's Leinster hurling championship, is standing by the idea despite the county's big defeat by Dublin at the weekend.

O'Neill, the former Leinster chair who came second to Christy Cooney in last month's GAA presidential election, is also calling for a national debate on the future of the game.

"I don't think the result mattered to what we were trying to do in Leinster," he says of the invitation to Westmeath to take part in the provincial championship even though not eligible for the senior All-Ireland.

"The thinking was that the GAA should strive to get the number of teams competing in the championship up to 16. In realistic terms the competition model should be based on eight counties or 16, and we don't have to do anything to get eight competitors because they're there already."

He points out that the report of the Strategic Review Committee in 2002 had proposed that hurling be specifically targeted in six counties, to be selected by the games development committee and none of which had won All-Irelands in the previous 30 years.

"The SRC proposed that six teams from outside the top 10 should be selected for intensive development plans so that they could be in a position to contest All-Ireland senior semi-finals within 10 years.

"We're now six years later and nowhere closer to developing and implementing such a plan. There are 12 teams in the MacCarthy Cup at present.

"It's arguable how competitive some of them are, but if we could develop another four there would be 16. Our thinking with Westmeath was that they could take the first steps towards that.

"Now, Sunday was a setback, but Westmeath beat Dublin two years ago and now Dublin have proved themselves considerably better, which is recognition for the substantial investment in Dublin hurling. We can't have it both ways."

The problem at present is that a number of the current elite, the 12 MacCarthy Cup counties, need radical attention before any attempt is made to expand the base. Dublin, as Leinster's most successful county in underage hurling, are currently exemplars of the impact of specifically targeted development aid, but otherwise the field of contenders is contracting, not expanding.

"That's defeatist. That's saying: 'let's hold on to what we have' and is an excuse for not tackling the problem.

"We haven't framed a collective vision and haven't actually communicated this to people on the ground. There needs to be an ongoing debate on how we organise and lay out what's to be done.

"I understand the difficulties of struggling counties, having been hurling secretary in Laois as well as county secretary, and I think we need to be careful with the language we use. I've heard counties described as 'lesser counties', and even 'weaker counties' is unflattering to those who are struggling with small populations and county boundaries."

O'Neill believes that split-level competition can be an interim measure, allowing developing counties test themselves in provincial championships while retaining their grading in the All-Ireland championships.

"Counties have to have a taste of both. As things stand, you'd be happier being a Westmeath hurler rather than a Laois hurler after Sunday.

"Westmeath got their chance to test themselves in Leinster but can go back and compete in the Christy Ring, which is pitched at their level. Laois must go forward and probably face Galway in the qualifiers and the possibility of another annihilation.

"But the ultimate aim has to be to raise the numbers competing in the MacCarthy Cup.

"At the moment we're failing hurling. Now we're not the first generation to do that, but we're the latest."