Dublin’s Sutcliffe just wants as many top flight hurling games as possible

If there is at least one certainty relating to Saturday’s Central Council debate on a hurling league structure for 2014 and beyond it’s that the players will welcome any extra games.

“Yeah, we need more games,” says Dublin and All Star forward Danny Sutcliffe.

“You want to be playing as many league games as you can, because then you have that gap until the championship where you’re just constantly training and you’re getting sick of having no games. So definitely, I would agree with more games.”

Sutcliffe has experienced both sides of the hurling league debate in recent seasons: relegated with Dublin to second tier status at the end of 2012, then winning back top flight status in 2013. Now, however, the GAA must decide whether to extend the hurling league to 12, or possibly even 14 top-tier counties, or else stick with the status quo of just eight.

Indeed, Dublin intend throwing their weight behind one of the original proposals for an eight-team Division One, and six-team Division Two (effectively affording Cork and Limerick a free pass into the top flight), but which caused major objections from the likes of Wexford and Carlow, and actually forced Central Council to defer the debate at last month’s meeting.

Another 12-team proposal was then presented by Michael Burns, a member of the fixtures planning committee, which would split the top division into two sections of six teams each.

Strong objections
Now, and after strong objections to their exclusion, Carlow and Westmeath have added yet another proposal – a "Super-14" league, consisting of equal standard groups of eight and six, or two groups of seven, albeit graded.

“There are a few teams getting a raw deal,” says Sutcliffe. “With Cork, maybe they’re too big to go down. It was like the banks, I suppose. It is unfair on some of the teams.

“I suppose the main thing, for ourselves, the Limerick (promotion) win was probably the biggest thing this year because we won’t realise it until next year. And no disrespect to the grounds around the country, but you’re going to smaller grounds around the country for league games, whereas you might play in Spring Series games in Croke Park, and that will definitely bring us on come summer time.

“We’re just over the moon to be back up and to be getting big games in Croke Park, hopefully, in March and April.”

For Sutcliffe, in his third year of a Business and Economics degree at Trinity, the success of 2013 – his All Star some reflection of his role in Dublin’s run through Leinster and close fall to Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final – the important thing about next year is to keep improving, no matter what league structure is decided at the weekend.

“Getting over semi-finals has been the problem,” he says. “We just know that if you haven’t done something, if you haven’t got to the place you’re looking for, it’s going to take something different. So next year we’re looking for that different aspect of our game, whether it’s individually or collectively, we’re trying to find something extra that will get us over the line. Presuming we even get that far.

"It's great saying it, 'it will come, it will come' but when is it going to come if you keep saying that? We're the only ones that can win it ourselves.

Did it themselves
"Clare just did it themselves. Everybody is kind of expecting it, 'maybe after this year', but if you keep thinking that you're prolonging it and it might never come. We just have to keep enjoying every year and take it as it comes. I'm just looking forward to a new season."

Meanwhile, the GAA have also confirmed one of the motions that will go before Saturday’s special congress and coinciding with the meeting of Central Council, is a new rule that would remove the onus and liability currently on the referee to ensure all players wear a helmet with a facial guard – and put it on the shoulders of the player or their parents, guardians or other persons legally responsible for them.

The proposed rule reads, “In all hurling games and hurling practice sessions it shall be mandatory for, and the responsibility of, each individual player to wear a helmet with a facial guard (that meets the standard set out in IS:355) or other replacement standard as determined by the National Safety Authority of Ireland (NSAI). Such helmets shall not be modified from their original manufactured state in any circumstances”.