This article is from page 64 of the 2011-08-23 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 64 JPG
CLARE County Chairman Michael O’Neill has given a guarded welcome to the new structures for the 2012 National Hurling League, following the move by the National Hurling Development Work Group decision to back proposals to change this year’s four divisions to five groups of six.
Clare will take part in Division 1B of the league, a revamp of the competition that will give them a much higher quality of games as they are grouped with Wexford, Limerick, Offaly, Antrim and Laois.
“We were advocating change and from that point of view we welcome it. I can understand how Wexford and Limerick would be frustrated and suddenly they find themselves back down again,” O’Neill told The Cla re People this week.
“We would have lukewarm welcome for it. As an executive we haven’t discussed it since Saturday, but I think quarter-finals would have been a better option, with the second and third teams in Division 1 played the first and second in Division 2. That would have been our preferred option and it was more or less the gist of option two,” he added.
Division 1A is made up of Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Tipperary and Waterford, while the top teams in each division will face each other in a final, while the bottom two would contest a relegation play-off.