John Fogarty
We’re on the cusp of what promises to be the most cut-throat top flight hurling league in years and yet the lack of excitement is palpable.
Some of it has to do with this being the latest-starting league in the history of the game. Eight weeks into 2012, a ball hasn’t been pucked in anger and it’s not as if the build-up has been in any way encouraging.
The vacuum has been filled by withdrawal and retirement stories in Waterford, Tipperary and Kilkenny that only make the game weaker.
A lot of the killer buzz comes from just how much counties have felt short-changed by the new format. It was the compromise, of course. Initially, the plan was for the top two counties in a six-team Division 1A facing off in a final and the bottom two battling it out to avoid relegation.
Limerick, after winning promotion from the old Division 2 last year, rightfully felt put out as did most of the top hurling counties to a certain degree because of the drop in games (ie, gate receipts) – five per team as opposed to seven last year.
After some foot-stomping, it was agreed the top two teams in Division 1B would face each other in a de facto quarter-final to qualify for a Division 1 semi-final spot against the Division 1A table-toppers; the second and third-placed 1A sides in the other semi. The bottom two in each group would face one another to avoid relegation.
It meant that only one team in each of Division 1A and 1B would have five games with the majority having at least six. The stakes are still high. Teams can’t afford to lose more than one game because they have little opportunity to make amends.
Less games obviously means less exposure for the great game, which does something of a disservice to it, while there’s something quite ridiculous about a team or teams who could be facing a semi-final or a relegation battle going into their last round game.
Regardless of whether the games will have more to them, they give little or no worthwhile opportunity to younger players or those on the verge of making the breakthrough because managers can’t afford to take too many chances.
It’s certainly not fair on the three new managers in Division 1A – Jimmy Barry-Murphy, Anthony Cunningham and Michael Ryan. All of them are just months into the job, still feeling their way into it. The old league system would have permitted them enough wriggle room to experiment in one or two games but not now.
Instead, they are compelled by the very nature of the league to stick with the tried and trusted. What will that result in only stagnation?
In a way, it was surprising to see Barry-Murphy embrace the extra competitive edge to the league format this year.
Surely, he would prefer to be given more games to get to know his team better but his counter-argument is he’ll learn about them in white-hot games that will be as close to championship standard if not pace bearing in mind the time of the year.
The likes of Seán Óg Ó hAilpín haven’t yet featured in any Cork teams because the manager knows enough about them.
The Waterford Crystal Cup and challenge games have been used well by Barry-Murphy and his experimental outfit performed extremely well against Tipperary earlier this month.
Cork are not known for their love of the league but it could be a marriage of convenience given they so badly need something to build on.
Tipperary won’t be taking the league as indifferently as they did last year. That was true before Lar Corbett’s departure but now it’s a necessity that they find a winning formula without their greatest goal threat.
Kilkenny will finish inside the top three in Division 1A with the majority of the team that proved all their doubters wrong last year. The young pretenders will find it difficult to get a look-in, even if Eddie Brennan, James “Cha” Fitzpatrick, John Dalton and PJ Ryan have stepped aside.
Galway are like Derry in football in that they have shown early season promise season after season and followed it up with diddly-squat.
Cunningham looks exactly the type of guy who can address their mental frailties. Even without Joe Canning for the next four weeks, they’ll be competitive.
Reigning champions Dublin have to overcome a multitude of injuries for the early part of the title defence. The conditioning they’ve built up over the last three seasons under Anthony Daly will stand to them, but the league should be used as a means of honing their killer instinct and improving their eye for goal.
Waterford go into Saturday’s game in Cork not having lost to the Rebels since 2008 but it’s the first of three difficult opening games for the Déise.
Yet they, even with a new manager, could hardly be seen as a team in transition given that’s exactly what was bridged these last three seasons.
Expectations, as a result, will be high but in a league that is most unforgiving they could be misplaced.
Predictions? Just the one – this new format will be short-lived and shown up to be as harmful to hurling.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/z65Qt9aQ1yU/post.aspx
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