With hurling championship season now upon us, most GAA fans are eagerly anticipating the action down in Munster over the coming weeks.
The opening weekend of that competition already provided us with plenty of thrills and spills. Limerick would produce a wonderful second half comeback to beat Clare, while Waterford would produce a major shock by defeating Cork. Heading into this week's game, there is already a huge amount on the line for the involved counties.
Leinster had some exciting action as well, most notably when Dublin scored two injury time goals to draw with Wexford. However, it's fair to say that this provincial competition is not as likely to set the pulses racing over the coming weeks.
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Donal Óg Cusack blames GAA for issue in Leinster SHC
Whereas the Munster Senior Hurling Championship is often held up as the crown jewel in the GAA, the Leinster equivalent has yet reach such heights.
That is largely down to the competitiveness of the competition, where Galway and Kilkenny have mostly dominated in recent times. Outside of that, Dublin and Wexford can have down years, while the other two teams in the competition tend to rotate between the likes of Antrim, Westmeath, Carlow, Offaly, and Laois.
Those teams have rarely managed to be competitive at provincial level, something Donal Óg Cusack believes is a major slight on the GAA.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, the former Cork star said that the lack of competitive counties in Leinster did not reflect well on the Association.
Leinster is the poor relation in a lop-sided championship. In a province containing 12 counties, plus Antrim and Galway, it’s a tribute to the GAA’s failure to promote hurling that the race for the third qualifying place comes down to Wexford and Dublin every year.
This weekend, Dublin travel to Carlow. The Joe McDonagh champions may cause some scary moments for the Dubs but only some.
Antrim host Wexford at Corrigan Park. After the hiding they got from Kilkenny, the comfort of home still won’t be enough for the traumatised Saffrons.
The big game is Kilkenny’s visit to Galway. They played each other on this weekend last year in a lively bout of shadow boxing. The sequel promises more of the same.
It is clear that many counties within Leinster are doing their best with the resources at their disposal.
It can certainly be questioned how much effort the GAA have put into improving hurling in those counties. They seem largely content to promote the strongest teams without putting a strategy in place to grow the game elsewhere.
That he clearly had an effect on the product that is produced in the Leinster Championship.
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