GAA president issues stark reminder of hurling’s biggest issue

Interesting...

One of the biggest detriments to hurling at the moment is the gap in standards between the top-tier counties and the chasing pack.

This issue was highlighted again last weekend when Cork put Offaly to the sword, winning 6-25 to 2-11.

In the other quarter-final from last weekend, Clare comprehensively beat Dublin by 13 points.

A common opinion across hurling supporters is that the gap between teams is hurting the competition.

However, next year's outgoing president Burns, stated: "Hurling has never been stronger in Ireland."

The Armagh man spoke on the topic during his appearance on RTÉ's Morning Ireland.

The 58-year-old outlined the health of hurling: "There are more people playing hurling at a higher level than ever before. You're seeing the likes of Kildare making breakthrough. Carlow and Laois, these counties are in the chasing pack.

"The biggest challenge is the difference between winning the Joe McDonagh and making the breakthrough into Liam MacCarthy, because the standard at Liam MacCarthy, particularly in the Munster Championship, is so high.

“It’s really difficult for a lot of other counties to make that (jump). The Hurling Development Committee have taken a very, very long-term view on this.

“Our view is that you are never going to have other counties participating in the Liam MacCarthy Cup as long as you don’t have clubs.”

Speaking on the county he hails from, Burns added: "For example, in Armagh, there's only eight hurling clubs.

"You would really need 18 or 20 for Armagh to make a serious challenge on getting even into the Christy Ring or Joe McDonagh.

"We are not going to solve this particular challenge overnight or even in the next three or four years.

"It could take maybe 20 years for us to get to the level that we want."

For Burns, the big solution, that could take the two-decade period, is improving coaching and getting kids to play at a young age.

"We spend €15 million on coaching and games. You could really double that or treble that if you want to make a serious challenge.

"When they hold that hurling stick and they learn how to hit the sliotar for the first time, or they learn how to score a point or pick it up and it becomes part of the instinct, there is nothing better."

"There is no better game in the world than hurling," the Silverbridge man concluded.