Kilkenny's route to success You have hand it to the Cats, they have contested and won more league finals in the last few years than any other team I can recall over the last 50 years. While other teams are afraid of peaking too soon or over committing themselves in these league games, Kilkenny give it every ounce they have. They see this as the best opportunity of blooding new players but also ideal preparation for the championship games ahead and how right they are. Other counties have been looking for challenge games which more than often turn into a farce because of the amount of players used during the game but more importantly, you do not have the same cutting edge and competitive nature to the game. Kilkenny have used this league campaign to get them back on a winning track and success breeds confidence throughout the team, particularly among the younger lads. A lot of pundits are now tipping the Cats to win the Liam McCarthy in September and as a Corkman, that suits us down to the ground. Limerick must also be content with their league campaign and even though they did not win the match, they have given a very good account of themselves. I have stated in the past that the key for Limerick was to take the league very seriously and go out playing with the intention of winning every game and that is exactly what they did. Getting the footballers back playing hurling at the start of the year was crucial to transforming this team from non contenders who look at backdoor options to serious contenders for a Munster final place and beyond. Not getting hammered in the final against Kilkenny will instill further confidence and unite the team even further, while ironically if they had won there was always the chance of getting carried away with themselves and taking the eye off the ball for the championship. Nicky Brennan - President of Cumann Luthcleas Gael. I have been reading and hearing a lot of the new President's introduction to his new role as successor to Sean Kelly. He was very quick to stamp his authority on no pay for play and I will leave that for another day as I had also the opportunity to sit and talk to him for over an hour about other issues he wishes to address. Club Scene He hopes to carry through his ambition to rectify the club fixture mess all clubs endure every year, one where nobody has a real structure for and nobody can be sure of when, where and what times games will be played on a permanent fixture listing. There is too much stoppage to club fixtures but more importantly he is planning to eradicate the system in some counties where they will not play any championship matches at all until the senior intercounty team has gone out of the championship. This is a crazy scenario where club players now are almost at the same level of county players but will play one championship match in April/May and will not play another game until July or August. No wonder we are losing players to other codes when this is happening. The amount of games that are held up because of a clash of fixtures is daft and if not sorted as Nicky said will eventually lead to two divisions - one for the Intercounty player and one for the Club Player. We have seen what has happened to club rugby in Ireland and I certainly would not like to see the game of hurling go down that road. Minor and U21 Championships A valid point was made that nowadays with the pressure on leaving cert students to secure huge points to further their education that it becomes almost impossible to represent your county without the added pressures on you and the idea was that if Minor level was increased to U19, it would allow the majority of players to concentrate on results at school first and then have the year after to play minor without the extra headaches. It may not suit every individual but I am certain it would accommodate a lot of players who opt out because of exams etc. Also it is now an accepted fact that any decent U21 will also be part of the senior intercounty set up and that also has its repercussions as this can hold up a lot of matches also. An interesting suggestion was that if you were part of a senior team at the age of 21 or under that you would not play in the U21 championships and this would allow other players the opportunity of taking part but more importantly lighten the loss of players from minor to u21 level. Colleges and Schools I made the point that it was great for Dublin hurling to see the combined colleges win the recent All-Ireland schools competition and that next year maybe the opportunity to introduce another team would help the game flourish in Dublin. I also made the point that our Higher Level Colleges are so well looked after in terms of quality personnel running their teams that it has increased the profile no end with the likes of Babs Keating, Cyril Farrell and Davy Fitzgerald all lending their support. What I would like to see is this kind of commitment and personnel in our schools because it is here where we are suffering most. Hopefully my point was taken and something will be done to address it. Nicky will have a lot on his agenda but if he can tackle the above in my mind, he will have a successful campaign. Tweet

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