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Wexford should be Leinster champions

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If anyone is in any doubt about the joke that the provincial championships are then surely last Sunday proves that we need a new system. The only argument left for having the provincial system is that it allows a team that hasn't had success in a while have a realistic target. Wexford are the best hurling team in leinster this year and after so many years of having to live under Kilkennny's shadow, they deserve to be leinster champions. On the other hand, the Leinster championship will never mean anything to Galway other than a route to the semi final. Make the provincial competitions completely seperate from the All Ireland competion and put a proper fair structure in place for that immeadiately. Don't anyone mention the Minster final as a reason for keeping the current system, the Munster championship is a different competion than the all ireland, not a single team gets knocked out of the all ireland in the munster championship. onlyhurling (Galway) - Posts: 800 - 04/07/2017 11:01:36 2010240 Link
Good luck getting 60K in for boring Champions League style round robins. RoyalBadger (Meath) - Posts: 571 - 04/07/2017 11:40:31 2010287 Link
If that is the case an argument could be made for Kilkenny being A.I champions. galwayford (Galway) - Posts: 2517 - 04/07/2017 11:40:39 2010288 Link
When I saw the title of the thread I thought it was a wind up. But you are largely spot on. I do think your own county benefits from a competitive build up to the semi finals tho. So Leinster is more than just a path to a semi final for ye, it is ideal preparation that you didn't get for over a century. cavanman47 (Cavan) - Posts: 5010 - 04/07/2017 11:47:08 2010295 Link
Just abandon the provincial championships full stop, open it all up, the best competiton by a mile every year is the league, surely it could be tried on a 3 year basis at least? Why the constant opposition to change when it could be good for the game? Easy enough to change it back. Galway have been a very positive addition to Leinster championship, maybe they need to simply rename it? Pinkie (Wexford) - Posts: 4100 - 04/07/2017 12:35:52 2010343 Link
Could split the country down the middle and have an eastern and western championship, putting Galway in with Munster and Antrim (not exactly a parallel at the moment, I know) in with Leinster. That's only just occurred to me by the way and I know it seems pretty random so anyone preparing to shoot me down with multiple paragraphs, please don't waste your effort! MedwayIrish (Wexford) - Posts: 2324 - 04/07/2017 12:46:36 2010351 Link
Replying To onlyhurling: "If anyone is in any doubt about the joke that the provincial championships are then surely last Sunday proves that we need a new system. The only argument left for having the provincial system is that it allows a team that hasn't had success in a while have a realistic target. Wexford are the best hurling team in leinster this year and after so many years of having to live under Kilkennny's shadow, they deserve to be leinster champions. On the other hand, the Leinster championship will never mean anything to Galway other than a route to the semi final. Make the provincial competitions completely seperate from the All Ireland competion and put a proper fair structure in place for that immeadiately. Don't anyone mention the Minster final as a reason for keeping the current system, the Munster championship is a different competion than the all ireland, not a single team gets knocked out of the all ireland in the munster championship." Though I agree with your main argument, I think winning the Leinster final last Sunday meant more to the Galway team and supporters than just getting a direct route to the semi finals. You wouldn't have got 20k Galway supporters there if it meant nothing to us. I was delighted to see our team win a significant trophy and you could see from the players' satisfaction that they were very happy to have won it too. Doesn't matter what geographical area it strictly applies to, it is still a significant achievement (BTW the Tour de France often holds stages in other countries but just cos they're not taking place in France doesn't lessen the achievement of winning them) PoolSturgeon (Galway) - Posts: 1902 - 04/07/2017 13:31:58 2010388 Link
Replying To Pinkie: "Just abandon the provincial championships full stop, open it all up, the best competiton by a mile every year is the league, surely it could be tried on a 3 year basis at least? Why the constant opposition to change when it could be good for the game? Easy enough to change it back. Galway have been a very positive addition to Leinster championship, maybe they need to simply rename it?" You're spot on but too many vested interests in maintaining the archaic set up we have at the moment. They'll have to be dragged kicking and screaming into changing it. dead_as_dodos (Carlow) - Posts: 459 - 04/07/2017 14:11:46 2010431 Link
Being leinster champion never meant anything to me except that it was a path to the All Ireland semi, it literally was always an A.I quarterfinal to me. The importance of the Munster championship is what has been making it difficult for the GAA to move on from the provincial set up.... murrax (Wexford) - Posts: 90 - 05/07/2017 02:39:20 2010817 Link
Replying To murrax: "Being leinster champion never meant anything to me except that it was a path to the All Ireland semi, it literally was always an A.I quarterfinal to me. The importance of the Munster championship is what has been making it difficult for the GAA to move on from the provincial set up...." I would absolutely disagree and say that our provincial final win in 1996 meant more to me than winning the All-Ireland. Our wins in 1997 and 2004 meant just as much, and Sunday would have meant a huge amount to a lot of Wexford people, but I think they have had their day. Pinkie (Wexford) - Posts: 4100 - 05/07/2017 12:18:59 2010917 Link
Replying To Pinkie: "I would absolutely disagree and say that our provincial final win in 1996 meant more to me than winning the All-Ireland. Our wins in 1997 and 2004 meant just as much, and Sunday would have meant a huge amount to a lot of Wexford people, but I think they have had their day." Ah now Pinkie fair play to you for standing up for the provincial final but bigger than an AI final victory?!?! Unless I've just taken the bait and your tongue-in-cheek humour has sailed over my head! MedwayIrish (Wexford) - Posts: 2324 - 05/07/2017 15:09:47 2011021 Link
Sunday was a great occasion but a crowd like that for a Leinster Final is the exception and should not really be part of the decision to keep the provincial structure. As a Galway man the trophy means nothing to me, just the performance and the most direct route to the All Ireland. That is what mattered. We have no "Grá" for it and doubt we ever would have. Mayonman (Galway) - Posts: 1825 - 05/07/2017 15:20:48 2011031 Link
Replying To MedwayIrish: "Ah now Pinkie fair play to you for standing up for the provincial final but bigger than an AI final victory?!?! Unless I've just taken the bait and your tongue-in-cheek humour has sailed over my head!" I think what he may be saying that the emotion of finally winning Leinster in 96 after being through so many heartbreaking finals was huge, after that we were in bonus territory and it was a very different emotion. zinny (Wexford) - Posts: 1799 - 05/07/2017 16:35:41 2011067 Link
Replying To murrax: "Being leinster champion never meant anything to me except that it was a path to the All Ireland semi, it literally was always an A.I quarterfinal to me. The importance of the Munster championship is what has been making it difficult for the GAA to move on from the provincial set up...." I have literally met nobody else in Wexford who would share that view. extranjero (Wexford) - Posts: 375 - 05/07/2017 18:11:01 2011111 Link
Replying To zinny: "I think what he may be saying that the emotion of finally winning Leinster in 96 after being through so many heartbreaking finals was huge, after that we were in bonus territory and it was a very different emotion." Actually no, winning the leinster final is and always was a great feeling , I never paced around the kitchen saying to myself yeah! we are the champions of leinster, no, it means we are into the A.I semi and depending which year it landed on in the dark ages into the A.I final itself . A shot at A.I glory was what it was all about to me growing up. The final for a lot of my childhood was Wexford v Kilkenny every July having a feeling "we rule leinster" never came to mind after a win, the satisfaction of beating Kilkenny did and the possibility of winning it all did and still does. Unlike munster there was no competition. Shoot, back then in the right year, win two tough games and you were A.I champs . The inclusion of Galway , Antrim and Kerry in to leinster is a good thing if it is good for those teams it's good for hurling. Is anyone whining because leinster is being dominated by a non leinster team? hell no, bar a few purists. I welcome it, give 'em bloody home games like everyone else. murrax (Wexford) - Posts: 90 - 07/07/2017 01:29:21 2011751 Link
People miss the point of the provincial cships. In reality a league medal doesn't mean a huge amount to players. That leaves two competitions for each team to win that might mean something. For a team like Wexford or a team like Clare a Leinster/Munster medal would mean a lot since they haven't won it for so long. It gives teams like that something to play for and the season would be seen as a huge success had Wexford won Leinster. If you get rid of them it get rid of a chance for silverware. It's not everyone elses fault Galway have no other counties to play against in Connacht. The current system should be left alone imo. I would reduce League games to make more room for the club. 1A with 5 teams and 1B with 5 and a final between the top 2 and relegation final between bottom 2. tiobraid (Tipperary) - Posts: 4119 - 07/07/2017 07:32:55 2011784 Link
did you ever watch "the purple and gold, story of the 1996 season"? it was filmed later that year,and no less than martin storey said that winning the leinster title was the moment of the year for him. i think that says all you need to know perfect10 (Wexford) - Posts: 3929 - 07/07/2017 07:36:23 2011791 Link
In 1997 the NHL & Championship were played alongside each other. The All Ireland final was on September 14th and the NHL final was on October 5th. I thought it was an interesting experiment but led to Tipp playing a league quarter final where they only scored 0-6 as they had the All-Ireland final on the horizon. It would be interesting if the leagues kept their same format but the Munster & Leinster championships were still knockout and the All-Ireland was a separate competition, open draw and knockout. No extra games, no back doors for teams who lose and still a minimum of 7 games over the season, possibly 15/16 for a side who could win the treble. You would have really exciting draws then ...... slayer (Limerick) - Posts: 6480 - 07/07/2017 08:37:38 2011823 Link
Replying To perfect10: "did you ever watch "the purple and gold, story of the 1996 season"? it was filmed later that year,and no less than martin storey said that winning the leinster title was the moment of the year for him. i think that says all you need to know" I haven't watched it before. Must do. That is the opinion off one player to be fair. Maybe others felt different, probably did. Same as supporters The_Fridge (Tyrone) - Posts: 2088 - 07/07/2017 10:31:39 2011850 Link