Galway aim for Leinster Championship

01 Jul 2010

Ahead of the historic Leinster Final Christy O’Connor examines the benefits of having Galway play in the Leinster Championship and why this Sunday is so eagerly awaited.

When GAA delegates gathered in Rosslare in October 1998 to decide whether or not to extend the second-chance 'back door' routine for beaten Munster and Leinster finalists, Offaly’s Andy Gallagher spoke against its continuation. And that was just seven weeks after Offaly won the All-Ireland title through the back door.

The late and former GAA President Con Murphy also spoke against the ‘back door’ that day and expressed worries that it would impact negatively on provincial finals. He pointed out that the 1998 Leinster final between Offaly and Kilkenny lacked the usual intensity.

For the following three years between 1999 and 2001, the paucity of the Leinster hurling final was used as a stick to beat the ‘back door’ system. It remained a handy target but that completely missed the point. At that time, Kilkenny were just far better than everyone else in Leinster and the benefit of the back-door system transcended the extra matches it created. What it did, more than anything, was opened minds to the imperative for change. It broke down a mindset.

Over the years, the hurling qualifiers and system has continually been changed but when it was altered again in 2008, there was no stomach for a round-robin format, no will to scrap the Munster championship, no general desire for an open draw which left only one solution: improving the Leinster championship by parachuting in Galway and Antrim. It was wrong to assume that the move could be made without any significant resistance but a couple of things affected the climate for change. For a start Offaly, Wexford and Dublin all derived sufficient encouragement from the qualifiers in 2008 to believe that they were making good progress. But none of them had any chance of beating Kilkenny in the following few years and as things stood, none of the Leinster teams could prepare themselves adequately for a tilt at Kilkenny by simply playing each other.

Clearly, Galway represented a middle-ground between Kilkenny and the other teams in Leinster. If Wexford, Dublin or Offaly could beat, or be competitive against Galway, they would not only be better prepared for a Leinster final against Kilkenny but they would also be better conditioned for a back door match against any of the Munster teams. And if those teams were afraid of Galway, what chance would they have of beating Kilkenny?

However, there was another stumbling block to the move of Galway entering Leinster and it came from Galway itself. For years, their delegates were against the idea and when it was finally decided by a vote in 2008, many of the clubs remained divided about the decision to join the Leinster championship, even though the players were fully behind the move.

It has been clear for a while now that Galway had to enter Leinster to have any chance of winning an All-Ireland and that’s why Sunday’s final is so eagerly awaited. It’s a historic clash in the context that it could be the first time in history that a team outside the province could win a Leinster title. Yet this match will surely give the clearest indication yet as to how close, or far away, Galway really is to Kilkenny.

If you are enjoying the 2010 Championship please take a moment to make a carbon saving pledge and play your part in making Croke Park carbon neutral.

Christy O'Connor has worked in the national newspaper industry for over ten years and now writes primarily for the Irish edition of The Sunday Times. A former member of the Clare senior hurling panel, he is the author of the critically acclaimed hurling book 'Last Man Standing'. He has also written 'The GAA Quiz Book 1' and the 'The GAA Quiz Book 2'.

All News