Provincial finalists to have edge blunted

GAA/New hurling format: Ger Loughnane says that one of the purposes of next year's new hurling championship format is to limit the advantage enjoyed this year by Waterford and Wexford.GAA Correspondent

The 2005 structure will see a round-robin format in the qualifiers, giving all teams roughly the same number of matches, with the provincial champions no longer getting direct access to the All-Ireland semi-finals.

The former Clare All-Ireland winning manager and member of the Hurling Development Committee that drafted the new format was disagreeing with suggestions that the two counties would be vulnerable to whatever sides emerge from this season's ultra-competitive qualifier series and as a result would benefit from the new system's expanded match schedule.

"I think that every team would prefer to go straight through to the semi-finals. When we devised the system we had in mind that established counties like Kilkenny and Cork would normally have that advantage. We were looking down the line and Kilkenny had at that stage won 13 out of 14 Leinster minor championships." (It's now 14 out of 15).

It has been suggested since the unexpected provincial success of Waterford and Wexford that the six-week lay-off between now and the All-Ireland semi-finals will leave the counties short of match practice. During that time their opponents will have played at least one if not two tough matches to qualify for the last four.

"I think you'd find that Waterford would settle for being in the All-Ireland semi-final. Tipperary, Galway, Kilkenny and Cork mightn't get there. When we (the HDC) went to Galway they stated quite clearly that they had been happy with the old system (under which they had automatic access to the semi-finals) when they only had to win two matches to win an All-Ireland."

Nor does Loughnane necessarily agree with the old theory that under a modified format Galway mightn't have qualified for as many All-Ireland finals but they might have won more.

"But since then (the end of the old system in 1996) they've only been in one All-Ireland final, which they didn't win. The different formats have made it more difficult for them. But the new system gives us a better chance that the best teams will get to the semi-finals, which isn't guaranteed at present.

"We'll get four respectable quarter-finals. At the moment we've only one and this will be a major improvement. There are teams at the moment with absolutely no chance in the championship.

"We were lucky some of them weren't drawn against each other recently because with a favourable draw you could have weak teams getting to the quarter-finals or even semi-finals. That's not going to happen under the new system."

Evidence of the past couple of years would, however, support the view that provincial champions are at a disadvantage when meeting a team that has had the opportunity to fine-tune its selection. In the seven years of the back-door system, on only one occasion have both Munster and Leinster champions won their semi-finals at the first time of asking.

Wexford have surprised Cork and Tipperary in the past three years by drawing All-Ireland semi-finals before going down to heavy defeat in the replays.

"Against that," says Loughnane, "if a team goes into the quarter-finals there's always the risk of losing or that they'll pick up injuries or suspensions. Wexford this year produced their best hurling against Kilkenny when they'd had no match practice for a couple of months. There are advantages to being fresh.

"If I was in charge of a team now I'd hate the new system."

Next year's format has the advantages outlined by Loughnane: a better championship, even if it takes quite a long time and quite a number of matches to sort out the top eight teams for the quarter-finals, and an increased likelihood that the best teams will be there. But he also says there was an element of social engineering about the plan, a desire to make automatic privileges a thing of the past.

"The old system favoured provincial champions and they're more likely to be established counties. The new system isn't there to give more matches to Wexford and Waterford in a situation like this year; it's to cut back on the advantage enjoyed by provincial champions. It's more of a handicap to big counties than an assistance to the others.

"That's why Cork and Kilkenny were the most vehement opponents of the new system. It increases the risk of them being beaten. You can take it that Cork and Kilkenny will win more provincial titles over the next 10 years than other counties. The new system makes it more difficult because the number of traps have increased."