All-Ireland SHC format needs 'tweaks' - Flanagan

Former Limerick hurler Seamus Flanagan says the format of the All-Ireland senior hurling championship "tweaks" similar to those made in football, which has been "reinvigorated" by a structural switch.

Only the top three sides from the Leinster and the notoriously difficult Munster Championships progress to the All-Ireland stage after the conclusion of both, meaning that for the remaining counties who don't make it through, their seasons are over in May.

Introduced in the football championship this season was the "backdoor" route for sides that lose a game in Round One or then in Round 2A if they won their first-round game.

Speaking on the GAA Social podcast, five-time Liam McCarthy Cup winner Flanagan believes that a new format of a similar ilk needs to be introduced next season to ensure hurling can stay relevant.

"I don't think you can have four teams coming out of Munster and three out of Leinster. There are tweaks you can make, look at the football championship. It's a masterstroke what they've done to reinvigorate it," he said.

"Football was always hurling's lesser cousin, but that was glossed over by how good Munster hurling was, it carried hurling and it's the first year in a long time you had one that was below par and it's opened up and people are seeing hurling for what it is.

"Football has the RFC (Football Review Committee) come in and they blew it out the water with the tweak. You still have the provincial championship and it means something, maybe less so in garnering you a position later in the championship, that could be looked at, but hurling could take a lot from that."

Flanagan picked out Waterford and Tipperary, winners of the Liam McCarthy in 2025, as two talented sides who could have benefitted from a "backdoor" entry into the All-Ireland after their early exit from the Munster Championship.

He feels having them in an expanded All-Ireland SHC could make it a better spectacle.

"Tipp and Waterford, if they were to finish fourth and fifth and for the Munster Championship to carry on with whoever is in it but there is a backdoor for them to come back in (to the All-Ireland) after the fact are you telling me they wouldn't have had an impact? 100% they would, because they would have tweaked what they needed to tweak," he explained.

Current Wicklow manager Oisin McConville added that a format switch which would include more games can only serve to promote the visibility of hurling.

"You've got a loss less teams playing at the top level and we're crying out for more games," he said.

"It feels now the time for change. There is no way you can have Tipperary, Waterford Kilkenny and the likes not playing a hurling match from May at inter-county level, it doesn't make any sense whatsoever."