On the field, hurling is a great sport to watch, but off the field you can see where the issues are with the smaller counties. I saw Peter and Joe Fortune talking on RTE last weekend, and saying that the 5 counties that were under threat of being excluded from the Allianz Hurling League are technically ‘clinging on’ to the League. As for counties like Westmeath, Offaly, Laois, Antrim, Carlow and Kildare, they are narrowing the gap between themselves and the elite counties like Limerick. In the meantime you need to see more clubs and more schools playing hurling in a lot of counties. You need finance for this sort of thing, but it’s not all about that. It’s about working from the ground up. There is also talk of who will be the next national hurling development manager, because it has been left vacant since Martin Fogarty left it in 2021 after his five-year term ended. I know it seems a lot to ask and that not every county will play in the Liam McCarthy cup, but it is worth a try.
