System favours the status quo

The lop-sided nature of the current championship hurling structure tilts the balance towards the maintenance of the status quo this Sunday in the All-Ireland quarter-finals at Croke Park, according to a number of the game's luminaries.

While Clare and Offaly have been unanimously tipped to advance (by five respondents) based on the enviable reputations they have forged through skill, work ethic and experience, there was a feeling that Galway, the perennial Connacht representatives and Antrim, generally pre-eminent in Ulster, are being slowly crippled by a system which requires them to face teams from Leinster and Munster hardened by weeks of frantic provincial fare.

Antrim, with honourable mention to Derry, have been the standard-bearers for Ulster hurling since the euphoria of their last All-Ireland win - against Offaly in the 1989 semi-final. They have persistently forced results which portray them as at least being in sight of the summit - a league win against Offaly and running Clare close in the league this year being their most recent feats - but yet their annual trip to Croke Park coincides with a (well-founded) mood of kind-hearted national dismissal.

They generally emerge from a provincial final which, in stark contrast to most provincial show-pieces, passes off without a blink. Only Connacht's annual hurling spectacle, between Galway and Roscommon, is greeted with less fanfare.

While Antrim struggle to produce quality hurlers with the same frequency as the southern strongholds, Galway traditionally do not. While Galway's automatic participation in an All-Ireland semi-final up to a few years ago may have been the stuff of fantasy to Clare players, the situation has changed.

Galway seemed to be able to thrive under the current system just over a decade ago and reached their last All-Ireland final in 1993 but the cataclysmic shift in stamina and speed which teams from Leinster and Munster have initiated seems to have left them increasingly bewildered.

Their lack of match practice was particularly evident against Waterford last year, who breezed through what had been anticipated as a test of their mettle. Again, Galway made flattering noises in the league this year but it is last summer's non-performance against Waterford which seems to have endured in the minds of those polled.

They were also, perhaps, unfortunate to draw Clare immediately. All five of those asked still perceive Clare as being the most obdurate and effective team in the competition, if no longer as fiercely consistent as once they were. While the significant absence of Jamesie O'Connor was noted and Ollie Baker's fitness seen as an area where Galway may profit, the overall impression given was that Clare would just grind Galway down by will alone.

The return of Galway's more mature players was regarded as significant, though few believe that the midfield pairing of Joe Cooney and Fergus Flynn will break even with Colin Lynch and Baker. The fearsome impenetrability of Clare's halfback line was pinpointed as another area where Galway will come under pressure. Tipperary's near toppling of Clare in the drawn Munster semi-final and Cork's win in the Munster final was based upon limiting the impact of Liam Doyle, Seanie McMahon and Anthony Daly.

Also, Galway have yet to disprove the common belief that their forwards, while skill-laden, are simply too lightweight to sustain the hits of a modern-day championship game. The return of Joe Rabbitte is significant but again, the respondents questioned his precise role, suggesting that he was more a stylish ball winner and playmaker than a feisty old body-checking mucker.

The common feeling about Clare was that the old virtues of pride and stubbornness would see them rebound from the disappointment of losing to Cork. They are a team which has soaked up a uncommon level of adversity in recent years and are chasing a title which would make them the team of the decade statistically as well as spiritually.

While none of those questioned felt they would coast against Galway, neither could they envisage anything other than a Clare win, which highlights how much Galway's reputation has slipped in the past three years.

Offaly have left their own indelible imprint on the decade, albeit in a much more serene fashion than Clare. That they are facing Antrim encouraged those polled to endorse them fairly emphatically on Sunday while commenting that their likely fortunes over the rest of the season are more difficult to call. The feeling was that the anticipated Clare win, however, will rejuvenate and re-establish them on the top of the heap as the competition reaches the last four.