"GALWAY hurling manager Conor Hayes has hit out at his county's continued refusal to take up the invitation to play in the Leinster championships and believes that it reduces their chances of winning the All-Ireland title this year.
Having reached last year's final, Galway's hopes of bringing the Liam McCarthy Cup across the Shannon for the first time since 1988 this year have soared, but Hayes warns against blind assumptions that the upward graph will continue to the ultimate peak.
"I'd be more confident if we were playing in the Leinster championship rather than having to wait until they and Munster have sorted themselves out before we know who we're playing in the All-Ireland qualifiers.
"Every county is in the same boat for the league. We all know who we're playing and when but when that's over, Galway enter a wilderness while the others concentrate on a first round championship clash. "
Ignoring for the moment the fact that the provincial championships will probably be dead in the water inside the next 10-15 years, as Biffos what do we think about this?
It makes perfect sense in the senior championship - certainly, but is there a danger that the presence of a dominant team like Galway would completely suffocate our underage hurlers? Galway and Kilkenny have been far and away the most consistent counties at underage hurling for the past decade, and this shows no sign of stopping. We've had some good minor teams in particular that ran into a Kilkenny brick wall, when if they were playing in Munster they might have been a lot more competitive.
There also is the question of where then for Ulster hurling? Do we take them in as well? If not, they end up completely isolated, if we do, we end up with Leinster Championships with huge amounts of teams taking part - as it is our minor hurling championship has to start in April.
In saying all that, there are obvious benefits, and while it mightn't necessarily be the best thing for us, it probably is for Galway and for hurling in general.
But what does everyone else think?