Striking uncertainty over final league standings

GAAON A DAY that was meant to decide the final shakes and moves of the Allianz National Hurling League, there was instead considerable confusion over who in fact were the winners and who the losers, at least in Division One A.

What we don't know is who plays who in the quarter-finals, but also who actually gets relegated from Division One A. It will be tomorrow before we get the answers.

While Kilkenny easily topped that group, Cork and Waterford were level on second with three points apiece. Normally, points difference would decide who took second and who third, but because Cork sat out two rounds of games as the result of the players' strike, that system had to abandoned.

Surprisingly, the GAA had yet to come up with an alternative, and the Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) will meet tomorrow to find one. A play-off has been mooted, as has a coin flip - but what is certain is the second-placed team will play the third team in Division One B (Limerick) and the third-placed team will place the second team in division one B (Tipperary) in quarter-finals on Sunday week.

Cork's failure to play two of their games impacts not only on who gets to play who in the quarter-finals but also, and more importantly, on who gets relegated from Division One A.

Dublin and Wexford, who did play, and lose to, Cork, ended up joint fourth, but with Dublin having the better points difference.

Antrim will definitely be relegated from that division (two teams go down automatically, to allow for next year's eight-team Division One).

While Dublin are claiming their superior points difference still gives them the advantage over Wexford (given they both played Cork) it appears inevitable a play-off will have to be fixed to decide who is also relegated.

So, to what we do know. Kilkenny enjoyed a 3-22 to 1-8 win over Antrim, despite being a little slow to start, while Cork edged past Wexford, 0-22 to 1-17, to keep their play-off hopes alive. Waterford put up 3-18 to Dublin's 1-17, which also impacted on the final group standings.

Galway topped Division One B thanks to their 11-point win over Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds and so join Kilkenny in one of the automatic semi-final berths, those games set for three weeks' time.

Tipperary and Limerick, who finished second and third, can still look forward to the quarter-finals, even if unsure who they'll play.

Offaly put up a good show against Clare but still went down 1-18 to 2-13 and will therefore take the drop along with Laois, who were beaten 4-17 to 1-12 by Tipperary. That division, thankfully, wasn't complicated by the Cork fiasco, but there will be more of the same after the final round of the football league.

In the meantime, Wexford still intend to appeal the outcome of the CCCC judgment after that Cork strike, whereby Cork simply conceded the points, claiming Cork deserved a bigger penalty. In other words, the whole mess of that affair still lingers on.

Anyway, one man smiling yesterday was Galway manager Ger Loughnane, who oversaw what he said was his team's best performance of the league as they earned a semi-final spot. "That was the goal," he said. "It gives us three weeks until the semi-final. In that time we'll get players back like Fergal Moore, Alan Kerins, and the Portumna lads. We'll have all those in contention for a place in the semi-final and that should make for our strongest possible team.

"And it was our most complete display of the league. The quality of players is there in Galway, and the skill level, and when you put spirit along with that you have to be in contention . . . you couldn't ask for things to be going better than they are, but of course the big tests are to come yet."