Kildare captain Eanna O'Neill reckons the so-called weaker hurling counties are an "inconvenience" to the GAA.

Speaking at yesterday's launch of the Christy Ring, Nicky Rackard and Lory Meagher Cups, the finals of which will be televised on TG4 for the first time, O'Neill backed up his claim by noting how the lower tier competitions are now run off before the battle for the Liam MacCarthy Cup begins in earnest. When the Ring Cup was first introduced 10 years ago, the final was played as a curtain-raiser to one of the All-Ireland SHC semi-finals in August.

"Maybe next year they will look at it more, but it seems we're an inconvenience, just get it run off as soon as possible," he said.

"It's good to see that TG4 is on board this year, but last we definitely got the sense that 'we're running this off quickly, we're not even showing the games on television'.

"I think on the Sunday Game on the night of our All-Ireland final (against Kerry), we got about two minutes. That was a great All-Ireland final, the scoreline was 4-18 to 2-22. Plenty of rivalry too.

"What chance have we got in the weaker counties to promote the game and to get it out there in those circumstances."

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