Do we want Galway in the Leinster Hurling Championships?

[Lone Shark]

"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?

[oscar]

Personally, I'd like to see Galway compete with us in Leinster. We need more competitive matches against decent teams - sadly, run-outs against Leix (a county where their hurling skills are optimised for beltin' lads) and Dublin don't provide us with that at the moment.

I don't see any harm in raising the bar when it comes to standards underage either. Yes, there is a risk of us being swamped by Galway and Kilkenny but we'll either sink beneath the waves or raise our game.

[BOG OAK]

let them in if we are good enough were good enough. I think it will be harder on their teams and supporters to go and compete for a provincial title they have no historical interest for.
I think it will be an open draw in a few years and we will be competing on a regular basis then, so it would be no harm to get more familiar with them.

[Lone Shark]

Oscar I wouldn't be saying the Leix game will be uncompetitive this year. Walsh cup or not, that draw with KK (okay, lost in extra time, but still) is a much better result than anything we've got against them for a while. They might pay for it this weekend in the league, but if they get within five or six again we'll certainly have to start looking at them as a real threat.

Truth is I'd like to see Galway come in as well, but I'm just wary of it. A Leinster title would mean so much to our minor hurlers if they got one - a little bit of me doesn't want to go raising the bar.

[The Biff]

Gut feeling says I'd also like to see Galway compete with us. More competition should bring up the whole standard, and then if Galway manage to win the Bob O'Keefe cup at some stage, it might help to hasten the introduction of a more fair Open-Draw or "Champions League-type" format for the All-Ireland.

Also, I'd get the chance to slag off with some Galway friends more often (hopefully )

[Rynaghs Biffo]

The leinster championship needs more teams and more competitive matches. In reality, theres only one team being KK; ourselves and Wexland are still a bit behind. Laois and Dublin are out on their own and probably never see a provincal final.

At the moment, the leinster championship is like a lottery, who ever gets laois in the semi-final, are more or less into a provincial final. To make a provincial championship more competitive, we need a minimum of 4 decent teams, which can include galway. It would be better for them and better for us and leinster.

The only thing is the whole tradition, but in fairness, the leinster hurling championship has never really lived up to what is was like in the 80's and 90's. And with all these back doors and quarter finals and byes and changes to the championship, this could be the best change the GAA has ever made to hurling.

[turk]

i don't think letting in galway will help the likes of leix and dublin.

they might give kilkenny a better game than ourselves and the others are doing at present but i don't know will it help overall.

[Kevin]

Another decent team will be a good thing.

[Bord na Mona man]

Galway would be welcome...so long as we always beat them.
Remember most of the overtures are coming from Kilkenny. i.e. Nicky Brennan. They want more warm up matches against better opposition.

I don't think it will help Dublin or Leix. They way it stands, they could get a lucky draw, beat Offaly or Wexico and be in a Leinster final.
Galway's presence makes it harder to make a breakthrough.
Really a tiered championship is the way to go, rather than adjusting the provincial system.

Galway will always want a priviledged position though. Remember they once got a bye to an All Ireland final and nearly always had a bye to the semis.
They want warm up matches, a back door and would secretly still like their old bye to the semis.

[seamroga]

Galway have in recent times been invited to enter the Leinster SHC, and turned down the invitation. What I'd like to know is this: Exactly what committee extended that invitation. I've been at every Offaly GAA convention for over ten years and never heard a motion on the subject discussed or voted on. Surely the GAA clubs in Offaly should have a say.
While it doesn't look like we will win a Leinster SHC in the near future, in my opinion it would be very disheartening to - for example - pull off a shock win over Kilkenny in a semi-final and then lose to Galway in the final. It was the same with Rule 42 - people worrying about the rugby and soccer teams having to play in England. Let's worry about ourselves first and Galway after that.

[Lone Shark]

Seamroga's points summed up exactly why I wanted to bring this up - any time this discussion gets raised, it's always about what's good for Galway and what's good for hurling - never what's good for Offaly, Leix, Dublin or whoever. My gut feeling is the seniors could do with it - we haven't won a Leinster Hurling title now since 1995, and back when we were winning them regularly in the 1980's it was when Leix were competitive and God knows even Westmeath were at the level Leix are at now. Maybe a win over Galway could be easier come by than a win over KK, but it would still be the big boost for the county we've needed since 2001. Remember in an All Ireland context ourselves and Wexford still throw up occasional good results - KK seem to have us in a mental trance within the province.

I do worry about the minors and under 21's though. If you let Galway in you suddenly have the tow best teams in Ireland at those grades in our province - and in recent years Dublin minor teams have been better than anything Cork or Tipp have produced either. With no backdoor there, we're only pushing further away that underage success that would just invigorate hurling in the whole county.