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'The GAA should see the quality of games and learn from this' | Liam Spratt on Wexford Hurling Championship

Liam Spratt of South East Radio has said this summer's Wexford Senior Hurling Championship has be...



'The GAA should see the qualit...
Hurling

'The GAA should see the quality of games and learn from this' | Liam Spratt on Wexford Hurling Championship

Liam Spratt of South East Radio has said this summer's Wexford Senior Hurling Championship has been one of the best the county has ever enjoyed. 

The legendary commentator, who has been covering club activity in the county for 30 years, was on Off The Ball Saturday as the panel discussed local radio coverage of GAA.

He said that the unusual circumstances of this summer have led to a Wexford Hurling Championship that's better than usual.

"It's been the best hurling championship I've seen for a long time. It was four groups of three so effectively it's a knock-out championship and it's been brilliant.

"I think the inter-county players are absolutely flying. Before they would have played with the county, our hurlers got to the All-Ireland semi-final last year, and players looked tired when they come back to the club then.

"The fact that they're fresh and they've been with the club training and playing for the last four or five weeks you can see the difference in them and their performance on the field.

"In Wexford normally we would have senior hurling every second week because we've a unique situation where most of our senior hurling clubs play senior football as well.

"So we have a situation where they would play hurling one week and football the next week and I think that's to the detriment of the quality of both games.

"The fact that we're now playing hurling right out to the end of the championship and then we're going to start football after I think has been of benefit to both games.

"I think we've had a fantastic Hurling Championship, it's been the best I can remember. Week after week.

"We have four quarter-finals this week, we had the county champions beaten last weekend, it's really exciting.

"The only downside is we've only 200 max people attending."

Spratt also expressed the opinion that the long-term implications of Covid-19 might benefit championships around the country beyond this summer as he highlighted the positives that can be taken from this unusual summer.

"It's been fantastic and I think that the GAA will learn from this, I think County Boards will see the benefit of playing the club championship out like this and the quality of the games that we've had.

"I think down the road this might be a dramatic change for GAA generally, they're going to have to look at the whole thing.

"A lot of things have changed in life because of Covid-19 and I think the GAA are going to have to learn from this and I think it might be to the betterment of player's welfare."

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GAA Hurling Wexford