{"id":587265,"date":"2026-08-08T18:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/587265\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:30:14","slug":"hurlings-a-list-limerick-star-has-zero-interest-in-all-ireland-b-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/587265\/","title":{"rendered":"Hurl\u00ading\u2019s A-list Lim\u00ader\u00adick star has zero interest in All-Ire\u00adland \u2018B\u2019 pro\u00adposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Right now, John Meyler and the Hurl\u00ading Expert Advis\u00adory Group are sift\u00ading through the 8,500 responses to the pub\u00adlic sur\u00advey on the game of hurl\u00ading and try\u00ading to decide what is actu\u00adally action\u00adable. <\/p>\n

What change \u2013 if any \u2013 is mer\u00adited to the game when, as the former Cork man\u00adager him\u00adself says: \u2018The game of hurl\u00ading has never been in a bet\u00adter pos\u00adi\u00adtion.\u2019<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve filtered all the responses down to \u201820 points that are stick\u00ading out like the hand\u00adpass, steps, head-high tackles, they\u2019re the most obvi\u00adous ones\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"\"John Meyler. Pic: Daire Brennan\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

While their remit is strictly around the game itself and any poten\u00adtial rule changes or recom\u00admend\u00ada\u00adtions, he spoke strongly around the hot topic of Cham\u00adpi\u00adon\u00adship format change in last Sunday\u2019s Irish Mail on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Address\u00ading the issue of too many counties being knocked out early and not enough Cham\u00adpi\u00adon\u00adship games tak\u00ading place in June when there is a glut of foot\u00adball games, he argued against doing any\u00adthing to under\u00admine the pro\u00advin\u00adcial cham\u00adpi\u00adon\u00adships, par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlarly Mun\u00adster, which is set\u00adting records for attend\u00adances and gate receipts.<\/p>\n

\u2018Don\u2019t break the Mun\u00adster model. The Mun\u00adster model<\/a> is right. They\u2019re work\u00ading their arse off.\u2019 If counties want a longer sum\u00admer, he threw out a bit of a curve\u00adball by arguing for an All-Ire\u00adland \u2018B\u2019 title.<\/p>\n

\"Limerick\"Damien Cahalane of Cork in action against Gear\u00f3id Hegarty of Limerick. Pic: Brendan Moran\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

\u2018I think that the bot\u00adtom two teams in Mun\u00adster, which would be Tip\u00adper\u00adary and Water\u00adford this year, and the three bot\u00adtom teams in Lein\u00adster \u2013 Kilkenny, Wex\u00adford and Kil\u00addare \u2013 plus the Joe McDon\u00adagh team would go into two groups of three. Play off two matches there and have an All-Ire\u00adland B final, if you want to call it that, before the All-Ire\u00adland senior final.<\/p>\n

\u2018But in one way, you\u2019re react\u00ading to symp\u00adtoms here.\u2019<\/p>\n

Cer\u00adtainly, it\u2019s an inter\u00adest\u00ading sug\u00adges\u00adtion and one that doesn\u2019t involve rip\u00adping up the exist\u00ading format. It also works in restor\u00ading a cur\u00adtain-raiser to final day when one is sadly lack\u00ading since the removal of the minor All-Ire\u00adland.<\/p>\n

\"tipperary\"Willie Connors of Tipperary leaves the field after receiving a red card. Pic: Ray McManus\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

And yet it\u2019s hard to see that gain\u00ading trac\u00adtion. The idea of Tip\u00adper\u00adary for example, last year\u2019s All-Ire\u00adland cham\u00adpi\u00adons, going full steam for a \u2018B\u2019 All-Ire\u00adland is hard to ima\u00adgine. Sim\u00adil\u00adarly, Kilkenny, the county who leads the game\u2019s roll of hon\u00adour.<\/p>\n

The hurl\u00ading cham\u00adpi\u00adon\u00adship already has a five-tiered format, from Liam Mac\u00adCarthy down to Lory Mea\u00adgher Cup com\u00adpet\u00adi\u00adtion. It\u2019s hard to think that counties in one All-Ire\u00adland will want to wrap their heads around another.<\/p>\n

The Tail\u00adteann Cup works because it is designed around the counties who don\u2019t make the top 16 of the Sam Maguire Cup. Ima\u00adgine ask\u00ading Donegal, after los\u00ading to Down in Ulster, about com\u00adpet\u00ading for a \u2018B\u2019 All-Ire\u00adland?<\/p>\n

I asked Lim\u00ader\u00adick hurler Gear\u00f3id Hegarty<\/a> about this idea after he was hon\u00adoured as the GAA GPA Player of the Month award for July. His reac\u00adtion was instruct\u00adive.<\/p>\n

\"GAA\"PwC GAA\/GPA Player of the Month for July in hurling, Gear\u00f3id Hegarty of Limerick, with his award at Eyre Square in Galway. Pic: Tyler Miller\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

\u2018From my own point of view, if we were knocked out, I per\u00adson\u00adally wouldn\u2019t have any interest in play\u00ading in a cur\u00adtain-raiser\u2026 Per\u00adson\u00adally, I wouldn\u2019t have any interest in play\u00ading in a B final.<\/p>\n

\u2018I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s a struc\u00adture that every\u00adbody will be happy with. I just think there\u2019s noth\u00ading that can be done to keep every\u00adbody happy.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019ve heard the argu\u00adment about the teams knocked out of Mun\u00adster this year \u2013 Water\u00adford and Tip\u00adper\u00adary. But I\u2019d always say this: you play four games in Mun\u00adster, there are only five teams and three come out. Sixty per cent of the teams come out of Mun\u00adster. Fifty per cent come out of Lein\u00adster. If you\u2019re not good enough to fin\u00adish in the top three out of a group of five, well then, tough. Simple as that.<\/p>\n

\u2018I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s a per\u00adfect struc\u00adture that every\u00adbody will be delighted with. People are going to com\u00adplain any\u00adway, no mat\u00adter what you bring in.<\/p>\n

\u2018Again, I\u2019ll go back to the qual\u00adity of the hurl\u00ading in the Mun\u00adster cham\u00adpi\u00adon\u00adship. I thought the Lein\u00adster cham\u00adpi\u00adon\u00adship this year was out\u00adstand\u00ading \u2013 maybe even bet\u00adter than Mun\u00adster from a com\u00adpet\u00adit\u00adive point of view. It\u2019s def\u00adin\u00aditely the best Lein\u00adster cham\u00adpi\u00adon\u00adship there\u2019s been in many years.<\/p>\n

\u2018The two All-Ire\u00adland semi-finals were superb. I didn\u2019t see all of the quarter-finals, but the semi-finals were excel\u00adlent games.<\/p>\n

\"\"19 July 2026; Gear\u00f3id Hegarty of Limerick during the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship Final match between Galway and Limerick at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ray McManus\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

\u2018Do people really want to go back? I was only talk\u00ading to my father about the days of knock\u00adout hurl\u00ading. Teams could be gone in mid-May or the start of June \u2013 one game and you\u2019re fin\u00adished until the fol\u00adlow\u00ading year. Nowadays, you\u2019ve loads of games in the league, then your Mun\u00adster or Lein\u00adster Cham\u00adpi\u00adon\u00adship. <\/p>\n

\u2018If you can\u2019t get out of a group where 60 per cent of the teams qual\u00adify, well then, tough. That\u2019s just the way I think about it. And look, it may hap\u00adpen to us one day. Maybe it will. If it does, I won\u2019t mince my words either. That\u2019s just the way I feel about it.\u2019<\/p>\n

If Meyler\u2019s group were look\u00ading for response num\u00adber 8,501, they cer\u00adtainly got it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Right now, John Meyler and the Hurl\u00ading Expert Advis\u00adory Group are sift\u00ading through the 8,500 responses to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-587265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}