Inside the museums, infinity goes up on trial Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while. Descending in terms of quality, hurling in the third, fourth and fifth tiers can occasionally look a world apart from the games shown on television. And yet, while the Christy Ring, Nicky Rackard and Lory Meagher cups effectively occur in a vacuum for all that the country at large is concerned, the same competitiveness largely remains.
The hurling championship is a broad church, then, and the GAA deserves credit for structuring it to enable each county an opportunity to annually achieve something meaningful.
The disparity itself should not be celebrated, however. And yet this status quo shows no real sign of being disturbed. Should they win the Joe McDonagh Cup, Kerry will now be granted a place in their native provincial competition — no strings attached. With And yet, what will become of Kerry should their hurlers bring this motion into practice? What outcome can they seriously hope to achieve playing in the Munster championship?
That is no slight against Kerry hurling. Nothing there could prepare Kerry for the demands Limerick, Cork, Clare, Tipperary and Waterford would make of them, however. Yo-yoing between both tiers is a best case scenario.
One could argue the merit of semi-regular exposure to a higher calibre of team, but to even earn their place in every second Munster championship — assuming they are relegated in their first few appearances — Kerry would need to win the Joe McDonagh Cup in alternate years. Although his work was not without significant successes, when Fogarty spoke to Bogue last year about the opportunities and challenges he faced trying to implement a sincere focus on hurling development in territories dominated by Gaelic football, the outcome was largely dispiriting.
