The current qualifier system is not the finished article, but it's a lot better than it was. This has all moved from a stage in 2001 when Tipperary played Clare in one of the finest matches you've ever seen. Clare had been training for months and by the Monday they had lost by a point and were out - season over.

There was too much effort going into preparation, too much taken out of players' lives to have just one opportunity to show what you could do and then you were gone.

People have forgotten how unsatisfactory the previous back door was. It was unfair because you had defeated provincial finalists playing against a side that had won one or even two matches within a short period of time. Wexford had to play these matches shortly after losing the Leinster final.

The current format is more equitable and you're getting games like these ones tomorrow, Westmeath v Waterford in Mullingar and Laois v Galway in Portlaoise. You're bringing top-class hurling matches at the right time of the year to provincial grounds.

The problem is that, with all due respect to the weaker counties, the two teams that are going to qualify are already known from the time the draw is made. So you've six matches to play in order to get a result that broadly you already know. That will have to be looked at.

In my view, there has to be a down side to losing a championship match. I think a simple answer at the moment would be to have an open draw for the qualifier groups - regardless of province and teams you've played already, you go into a hat and four come out on each side.

Obviously, you'll get lop-sided groups from time to time, but you're going to create do-or-die situations, which will help preserve the integrity of the Munster and Leinster championships because in a match like Waterford v Tipperary, Waterford would not want to be going into the qualifiers if they thought that Limerick and Clare might be in the same group.

It's a work in progress, but things like the Christy Ring Cup already seem to have been a positive experience. Westmeath have beaten Dublin in the championship, had Kilkenny going down to Mullingar and now have Waterford coming to Mullingar. There's an impetus to hurling in Westmeath and that's what it's about as much as attendances.

Finally, Offaly are capable of playing a lot better than they did last Sunday, but they're on a bit of a downer today, coming to Parnell Park to play before a small crowd. It'll be a big change for them and looks like a big opportunity for Dublin.

This will be the best chance for Dublin to make a name for themselves in the group, but Offaly will be playing to redeem their reputations. Their league quarter-final display against Tipperary in April was miles ahead of anything they showed last week. I think they'll win, but they'll to need to up it considerably.

This is a real banana skin.