ANALYSIS: Halfway through the season, the championship is about to experience a weekend like no other. There is anticipation in football and hurling with history and historical possibilities in the provincial football finals and an awesome pair of hurling qualifiers, writes Seán Moran

Next year will be the 10th running of an amended championship format in hurling. In that time, and over two formats, it has slowly eased the restrictions of sudden-death play and led to a hugely expanded calendar in both games. This weekend is significant because of the counties engaged in the qualifiers.

As originally envisaged, the dispensation of allowing defeated provincial finalists (from 1997-2001), and its extension, the giving of a second chance to nearly all teams, was a marketing opportunity for the games in the provision of more events. But due notice was also taken of the possibility that counties with less successful traditions wouldn't be as inhibited now that a safety net existed, which would improve their chances of playing to their best and give them a second crack if they lost.

Against that background there is some irony in the coming All-Ireland hurling qualifier matches. Cork, Tipperary, Kilkenny and Galway represent the game's modern aristocracy. It could be argued the first three named are hurling's aristocracy full stop. But bearing in mind the last 20 or more years, Galway's perennial ambitions and, until recently, ready access to the later stages of the championship, plus their constant profile in under-age competition, makes it reasonable to classify the county as among the game's elite.

Between them these four counties have won 27 of the past 35 All-Irelands. That they should be drinking, Galway excepted, in the last-chance saloon is a turnaround. It has been levelled at the new championship structures they diminish the achievement of beating the establishment counties because the defeated team isn't gone for the year. Wexford's win over Kilkenny would have been sweeter had they known the deposed champions wouldn't be around possibly to haunt them later in the year, but that would be to overlook the opportunity for development that Wexford were granted last year and in 2001 when they availed of second chances.

There is, however, no denying the additional frisson in Fitzgerald Stadium and Thurles when the safety nets are removed. By Sunday night there will be no way back for two major contenders. Exciting as this may be, there is good reason to look forward to next year's latest evolutionary step in championship structure. The constant problem the GAA have faced in trying to expand the season and provide more activity while at the same time accommodating a lop-sided provincial system is the disproportionate number of matches played by different teams. This has worked as a handicap with the likes of Cork, who won their provincial title last year while their semi-final opponents Wexford worked and improved their way through the qualifiers (not that Tipperary's progress 12 months ago equipped them for much in the All-Ireland semi-final).

This summer is different. Both Waterford and Wexford, with their victories in Munster and Leinster, will wait six weeks while the four teams in action this weekend, plus Clare and Offaly next week, sharpen their fangs over two matches before reaching the semi-final stage.

In other words, the incentive of qualifying directly for the All-Ireland semi-finals isn't necessarily doing the provincial champions a favour. This will affect Wexford more than Waterford, who have already put away Clare, Tipp and Cork. Wexford could do with further opportunities to test themselves and improve.

Next year such opportunities will be available, or at least more evenly distributed, with counties playing the same number of matches, and the provincial titles will be an end in themselves rather than a ticket to All-Ireland privileges.

On a related subject, much is made of the plight of "weaker" counties, and any new system gets held up and judged on the basis of what it will do for them. It is often alleged reformed structures are "supposed to help the weaker counties", which is rarely an accurate charge.

All that a serious competition can do for weaker contestants is ensure they have, in metaphorical terms, a level playing field and that provision can be made to encourage their development. But sometimes you get the feeling such counties aren't that interested in it themselves. Tweaking intercounty championships is never going to make more than a marginal impact on how the games thrive in such counties, so it is surprising so much hot air gets generated concerning these issues. For instance, whingeing about venues is about as relevant to the situation of Waterford's footballers as complaining about the menu in third-class aboard the Titanic.

The level playing pitch that would most benefit Waterford and other counties of similar calibre (allowing for their assertion last week that no one's quite as bad as them) would be a competition pitched at a more realistic standard, which might facilitate the development of last year's promising under-21s. Yet they are one of the counties taking a rain-check on the inaugural running of the Tommy Murphy Cup.

Allowing that the competition, designed to run parallel with the championship and involving weaker counties eliminated before round three of the qualifiers, has been organised in a hurry over the past few weeks, it still represented an opportunity for Waterford who had shown some life in the second half of last week's qualifier against Longford.

In terms of structural reform hurling is heading in the right direction; football looks like taking a longer road.