Galway minors and U-21s should head east

AFTER months of time and effort, the landscape of Galway club hurling faces a fundamental makeover if the proposals of the high-powered review group are rubberstamped at boardroom level. There are many recommendations, but the headline one is the proposed radical shake up of the county senior championship.

It’s ironic, however, that the club title race is about to undergo such a major overhaul given the continued success of Galway champions at All-Ireland level, but the review was never about the annual competitiveness of county champions in their quest for the Tommy Moore Cup. In any event, the dice is heavily loaded in favour of Galway title holders as they head straight into an All-Ireland semi-final and avoid an exacting provincial campaign.

No, the heart of the matter is Galway’s continued inability to hack it at senior championship level against a background where the county is mopping up at under-age level, especially in minor – but these triumphs are, frankly, over-valued due to the way the system gives Galway teams a huge advantage and are actually painting a false (and exaggerated) impression of the talent in the county.

If Galway minors and U-21s had to start off their championship campaigns in early summer when players have to contend with exam pressure and, depending on their progress, might have to peak three or four times to win an All-Ireland, I have no doubt the collection of under-age title silverware over the past 20 years or so would be significantly less. The review group wants no more cosy hurling in Galway, but what about winning cosy All-Ireland minor and U-21 titles?

Against that background, I am astonished that the review group hasn’t throwing its weight behind the Galway minors and U21s joining the county’s seniors in the Leinster championship. At least, in that environment, the regular occurrence of Galway winning soft under-age championships would be over and those that the Tribesmen would win would carry far more value than is the current situation. The proposal for a 16 team U-21 inter-county ‘champions league’ style format is appealing, but probably will get no truck from Croke Park or the provincial councils.

The proposed revamping of the county championship is somewhat revolutionary and a lot of thought has clearly gone into it. I like the system which has been devised but probably not as much as the Kinvara club who stand to benefit immediately by avoiding relegation. The one-year firewall around the intermediate champions is no harm and automatically reduces the pressure on the newly promoted club, as Moycullen should find out next year.

I have no doubt, assuming the proposed revamp gets the green light, that that the county championship will be a far more competitive arena in 2012 and that the number of meaningless matches will be few and far between, but the question still has to be asked will this scenario automatically increase Galway’s prospects of winning the All-Ireland senior title or is just wishful thinking. The reality is that before the county’s collapse against Waterford this summer, those same players had been involved in high profile and big stakes matches against Clare and Cork over the previous three weeks.

Having been at the coalface of the senior hurling team over the past few years, I can honestly say that there is no lack of ambition or commitment among the Galway players, but there are leadership and mindset issues. Of course, the elephant in the room is that Galway currently may just not be good enough, or more precisely, lack the consistency required to make the long awaited championship breakthrough.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.