Louth hurling manager Pat Clancy feels the involvement of Meath in the Nicky Rackard Cup has devalued the third-tier championship. The Royals thumped the Reds by 19 points last weekend and Westmeath native Clancy was unimpressed by the clear difference in quality of the sides: "It was a complete mis-match. They had a Nicky Rackard competition last year that was a good competition the whole way through, where teams were equal, but when you have teams like that in it, it ruins the thing. "They're at a higher level, and they're at the same level as Westmeath are, which is Christy Ring. There's 20 hurling clubs in Meath, there's six in Louth, so they have a much bigger pool to pull from. "We've a game [on Saturday] against Fingal but, as one of the selectors was saying, you're going out to battle for a place in a semi-final knowing you have very little chance of winning the competition. "Our lads aren't hurling at that standard and you can't expect them to turn it on in just one day, to hurl at the level of Meath hurling." Tweet

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