The winner takes all! - Starting out in February everyone knew that with only 12 teams competing for All-Ireland honours, you could immediately pick out who was going to be involved when the knockout stages took centre stage. This is the time of the year when the real action begins, no more backdoors or qualifiers, this is the stage where the winner takes all. And while the format for the championship over the last number of years has proved a big money spinner for the GAA, serious questions are now been asked as to the value of the round robin series and the merit of a team losing two matches and still being in a chance to win an All-Ireland. I am talking about my own county here and not alone is it crazy to give the likes of Cork and Kilkenny one chance but to give them two certainly undermines what the so called weaker counties are trying to achieve. It is not Cork's fault that the system is like this and take it from me they would fight tooth and nail to get to the final and win regardless of prior results. There must be a better system and I am sure the GAA President is working hard behind the scenes to make sure that this changed in time for next year. Not alone is it having an effect on the quality of hurling produced but it costing the ordinary spectator an arm and a leg to go and follow his team .But more importantly the big danger is that club activity has now come to a stand still in most counties still involved and no one knows when the next match will be. I have said it for a while now that the stars of tomorrow will come from our club structure but if there are no games for three or four 4 months, who is going to stay around for the summer when nothing can be planned or nothing can be done to arrange summer holidays? If you are a student finished your exams in May, why are you going to stay around for the summer with no activity? Something will have to give and the sooner the better for everyone. I am involved in club management with Glen Rovers and to be told on three occasions a week before a championship fixture that the game is postponed is absolutely crazy and undermines completely people trying to keep the game alive. I also understand where intercounty managers are coming from and they want their panel of players as often as possible and will not take any chances a week before qualifier games. They are judged on results and the bottom line for them is to win the All Ireland whatever it takes. But common sense must prevail - a player who is on an intercounty panel of 30 and who cannot train and play matches with his club but also has not playing with the county team is no good to both. When he does play a game he is completely lacking in match fitness and becomes the talk of a club- intercounty player how are ye! It brings its own pressures on the player in question. There is nothing better than playing games and hopefully this year will bring an end to this marathon round robin series we are having and a new format will be launched. Tweet

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