Galway minors take care of Kilkenny but system has to change

Galway aren't to blame in this.

When the Galway seniors were followed by the county's under-21s into Leinster this year, you'd think the minors would have completed the clean sweep. It would probably have made a bit of sense. Instead the Tribesmen's under-17s have remained outside of Leinster, meaning the county are following the same path they always do into the closing stages of this competition. The men from the west began their journey just last week when they faced Limerick in a preliminary quarter final game. Last Sunday was Galway's first game of the series, it was Limerick's sixth. That game wasn't knockout either. Both teams would have the safety net of the quarter-final 'group stages,' which were introduced for the first time this year. So where Limerick played six games in Munster and the likes of Kilkenny played six in Leinster, Galway effectively just joined the race halfway through. Limerick only made it to this quarter final group stage because they'd navigated their way through a tricky Munster championship, where they were bettered only by Tipperary in the final. This system is even harsher on the likes of Cork, Clare or even Wexford in Leinster who were eliminated before Galway had even played a game. Galway and Kilkenny met in Semple Stadium as a curtain raiser to the All-Ireland senior quarter final on Sunday. A fresh Galway side blitzed Kilkenny early on and never looked back, the men in maroon going onto win by seven points on a scoreline of 1-21 to 2-11. That was Galway's second game of this series, it was Kilkenny's sixth. The Cats had come through some tough challenges in Leinster, racking up some outrageous scorelines in the early stages of that competition, playing Dublin twice along the way.

Kilkenny 1-26 Laois 1-12 Kilkenny 3-23 Dublin 4-12 Kilkenny 3-21 Wexford 1-12 Kilkenny  5-28 Westmeath 1-5 Kilkenny 0-24 Offaly 2-13 Kilkenny 7-12 Dublin 6-19.

They're not dead yet, they'll have another shot when they face Limerick next weekend to make it into the semi-finals but it's hardly a level playing field with this imbalance in the amount of games played. It would be extremely harsh to pin Galway's rich tradition in the minor competition down to their easy route to the closing stages of the competition, but it's certainly not right. Would it be too hard to throw these lads into Leinster?