Confusion over Antrim status threatens chaos for hurling
THE draw for the relegation phase of the All-Ireland SHC will go ahead next Sunday despite confusion over Antrim's position if they eventually lose out in the play-offs.
Antrim will be joined by Offaly and the losers of Clare v Galway and Wexford v Limerick in a four-way relegation play-off to decide who drops from the Liam McCarthy to the Christy Ring Cup tier.
However, Antrim insist that when the championship was revamped last autumn they were promised a three-year stint in Leinster which carries eligibility to the Liam McCarthy championship. The GAA's Central Council recently ruled that the bottom team in the McCarthy Cup section would be replaced in the top tier by the Christy Ring Cup winners which, this year, will be either Carlow or Down, who meet in the final on Saturday.
A complication has now arisen which threatens to cause chaos with the plan.
Up to now, the bottom team in the McCarthy Cup played the Ring Cup winners to decide who played in the top tier in the following season. That has been changed arising from a Westmeath motion which was passed by Congress last April.
Antrim are adamant that irrespective of the relegation play-offs, they are entitled to play in Leinster next year. County chairman Dr John McSparran said that the prospect of minimum run of three years in Leinster was one of the main reasons they backed the new system.
Offaly, along with the losers of Wexford v Limerick and Clare v Galway will also be in the relegation mix. It would be a dreadful blow to any of them to make the drop as they wouldn't be eligible to play in the Leinster or Munster championships under the terms of the motion passed last autumn.
It remains to be seen how the GAA will sort out a difficulty that clearly wasn't envisaged when the new system was agreed last autumn but Antrim are insisting that if they end up at the bottom of the relegation pile they simply can't be thrown out of Leinster next year.
"What good to us is one year in Leinster? This was not what we agreed," said McSparran.
- Martin Breheny
