Galway 2-16

Waterford 1-6

THE lack of jeopardy in this year’s provincial minor hurling championships saw two teams who have shipped five defeats between them contest the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final at Semple Stadium on Saturday.

Normally, the young hurlers of both Galway and Waterford would have already exited the championship after coming up well short in their respective provinces, but at minor level these days, it’s nearly easier to stay in the All-Ireland title race than to be sent packing.

That’s the system in place, and though no fault can be attributed to Galway or Waterford for managing to stick around, it does raise questions about competition – or more precisely, the lack of it – at minor level. In essence, how many chances does a team have to get or have their limitations exposed before finally running out of road?

On the other hand, we have to acknowledge that U-17 level is now a development arena promoting the theory that the more games for players and their mentors, the more should be learning. Unfortunately, you couldn’t say that about Waterford after watching them on Saturday.

In the circumstances, our expectations were low heading to Thurles for the first part of a preliminary quarter-final double bill which culminated with Wexford emerging surprising comfortable winners over Cork (2-16 to 1-10).

Unfortunately, the first-half of Galway’s match was a shocker. Both teams looked low on confidence, but with Waterford having the extra problem of dealing with a lay-off of over three weeks, some of their play was car-crash stuff. I have never seen a team turn over possession so much through sloppy and inaccurate hand-passing.

Pictured: JOB DONE: Galway players Cathal Maloney, team captain, Seán Kelly and Jonah Donnellan pictured after their All-Ireland minor hurling preliminary quarter-final win over Waterford in Thurles on Saturday.