THE most important matter down for debate at this weekend's GAA annual Congress in London is that concerning the proposed reforms of the Hurling Development Committee.
The tide turning in favour of the proposals has removed the spectre of them being drummed off the floor of Congress and raised a good possibility that they will be carried. At this stage, the only sustainable arguments against the package are based on arch-conservatism and the traditionalist suspicion of change that frequently characterises the GAA's attitude to new ideas.
Congress will decide on whether the defeated Leinster and Munster finalists should reenter the All-Ireland at the quarter-final stage and also on a reform designed to give all counties a meaningful championship to contest
It is the re-entry of the Leinster and Munster finalists that has created the greatest controversy. Arguments concerning the complementary proposals to play the National League in conjunction with the championship will not be addressed until the Central Council meeting after Congress, in May.
The conspicuous irony of many objections to the notion of beaten finalists being able to re-enter a championship is that it is a common enough practice in county hurling championships around the country - including Offaly, one of the few major hurling counties to come out against the proposals.
That it is not the way of the Gael is therefore an amorphous objection and also - no matter how deeply held - a misconceived one. Another complaint comes from - and on behalf of - the Ulster counties Antrim and Down.
Judged from the perspective of self-interest, their contention makes sense but not for the overall good of the game. One well-known Ulster hurling figure privately admitted as much by saying that whereas he could the sense in the proposals, Antrim and Down couldn't be expected to surrender the Ulster champions' guaranteed right to contest an All-Ireland semi-final.
Isolation isn't the only problem besetting Ulster hurling and recent outings in the All-Ireland series have been painfully counter-productive. The corollary of the Croke Park argument that big, televised matchdays are a vital marketing tool is that big, televised beatings do nothing to promote the game in the counties on the receiving end.
Galway's progress has been achieved without any provincial championship until last year. It was built on an under-age programme of what was then breathtaking ambition, started over 30 years ago and significantly, the county's first modern break-through - winning the League and reaching the All-Ireland final in 1975 - came about three years after the investment in youth produced an All-Ireland under-21 title.
Ulster has been spectacularly successful in dominating football through the application of advanced coaching techniques despite a recent tradition not notably more inspiring than that currently trailing the hurlers of Antrim and Down.
Under the new proposals, an Ulster team will sooner or later win its quarter-final and the consequent presence in the semi-final will be all the more formidable for the additional match.
What then are the reasons why these proposals will benefit the game in general?
Firstly, the line from Croke Park that makes the starkest impact is the "six matches five days, three months" description of July, August and September. The proposal to have quarter-finals that will lead to more competitive semi-finals, worthy of individual billing, increases the number of matches by only two but more importantly gives far higher profile to the semi-finals.
Secondly, this arrangement benefits the most unsung victims of the current system the minor semi-finalists who are currently being forced, to alternate between playing what should be the biggest match of their lives to date before a paltry crowd at some in-between venue - last year on a Saturday evening - and turning out for a breakfast throw-in at Croke Park before the senior semi-finals. Now, all will enjoy the same exposure as their footballing counterparts.
Finally, the provincial system has for long enough tyrannised counties on the verge of a break-through. Clare may currently know the joy of having subverted Munster's formidable caste system but in the past, they had fine teams who inexplicably slipped at the final stage - agonisingly overcome by the weight of tradition and its attendant inhibitions.
Were such scenes of joy as we witnessed in Thurles last July - to take an example - worth the loss to Clare of so many generations of talented hurlers who might have contributed something to the game had there been a broader outlet available at the time?
The other proposal, to institute a new Intermediate championship makes obvious sense and stands on its own merits. One of the abiding absurdities of the current inter-county structure is the lack of meaningful competition for many teams outside of the muddy cavortings that make up the NHL in the lower divisions.
Allowing counties with no real immediate prospect of senior breakthrough contest an intermediate championship gives that middle stratum something to aim at. Permitting them to compete at senior level (although winning a first-round match would mean abandoning the intermediate championship) solves the problem posed by the B championship in the past whereby ambitious counties were forced to choose between a championship they could win and one that might improve their game in the long-term.
