Offaly manager Ollie Baker believes it's wrong that his players should have to wait until next spring for their next competitive game.

The Clare native called for a review of the current championship structure in the wake of the Faithful County's exit from the All-Ireland race at the hands of Cork last Saturday evening.

"We're disappointed, I have 30 lads who've put in seven, eight months' effort, but we're not going to see a competitive fixture until next February," he said.

"For us to develop as a team, we can't be competitive on a consistent basis unless we're playing matches. We're out of the championship now, but there are a lot of lads inside there who want to be playing hurling. Maybe there should be another look at the structures to make that happen."

He continued: "We need matches. Challenge matches and training matches are grand, but the amount a game like this will bring the players on … but it's another seven months before we play again.

"That's a crazy system on one hand, but you can't reward teams for losing matches either, so you have to have a balance. The ratio of matches to training should be changed - seven months for three championship matches? That shouldn't be the case." Tweet

Most Read Stories