Leinster and Galway's unhappy marriage: ‘Croke Park needs to resolve this blatant discrimination'

During his reign as Galway treasurer, Michael Burke was at pains to identify the obvious problems. In his outgoing speech last December, he detailed lingering financial concerns and one move he deemed a complete failure: Galway in the Leinster hurling championship.
'With regard to our participation in Leinster hurling, as this is my final report, I feel obligated to mention it again,' he said. This was a consistent theme at Galway convention. Everyone in the Lough Rea hotel room would have already known his stance from previous addresses.
'The project simply hasn't worked for Galway. We have won one All-Ireland senior title after 15 years. Our U20s and minors are now playing in Leinster and the net result for Galway is that it is costing us enormous sums of money.
'We are simply not getting anywhere near the return we deserve for the huge sums of money that we are generating for the Leinster Council. Croke Park needs to address this serious issue as it has already dragged on for far too long.
'Also, our hurling board delegate sitting here in front of me, for Connacht, should also be a delegate in Leinster. It is farcical that we have no delegate to Leinster when we are a big part every year of the Leinster hurling championship. Croke Park needs to resolve this blatant discrimination towards Galway. It simply makes no sense.'
The move in late 2008 to accept Antrim and Galway into the Leinster hurling championship led to a bitter fallout, inside and outside the county. A host of Leinster counties were opposed to the idea at Special Congress. At a meeting out west, the vast majority of Galway GAA bosses argued against it.
Then-captain David Collins spoke passionately for a yes vote; players were 100% in favour. In the 2008 championship, they were the only team in the country to bow out after just one defeat. There was a need for more meaningful games. Eventually, delegates backed the venture by a 66 to 54 split.
What precisely were their concerns? A lack of representation on the Leinster Council, no home fixtures, the impact on underage teams, what it would mean for the entire championship format. Some of those have been resolved. Galway were granted home games in 2018. Since 2023 the county have competed in all three hurling championships – senior, U20 and minor.
Throughout history, the Tribesmen have been hurling's restless wanderers, caught between provinces and searching for a place to truly belong. Straight to a Connacht final. Automatic quarter-finalists. Semi-finalists. Up through the qualifiers. The schedule, the entire system, was dysfunctional.
Former Galway hurling manager Mattie Murphy had led the campaign to reject the Leinster move. The six-time All-Ireland minor winning manager can still remember those who stood with him.
'That generation, they were people who saw and lived through the time we were in Munster,' he recalls. Murphy is still embedded in the local scene with senior club Castlegar.
'They knew exactly what would happen. We were always going to be the poor relation.
'It is not that we wanted to turn around and go straight into an All-Ireland quarter-final, what we wanted them to do was come up with a better system. This was turkeys voting for Christmas.'
Murphy wanted hurling and Gaelic football to look towards a straightforward meritocracy. The time had come for a complete break from the provincial format.
'The hurling All-Ireland would take the top 12 and divide them into two groups. Three come out as it is now, but it would be an open draw. It is fairer for everyone.
'We were used as a crutch for the Leinster championship. There was Kilkenny and nothing in Leinster. Maybe one odd good game. Take Connacht, it is almost a wasteland for hurling. Mayo beat Roscommon by seven points recently. If you go back to the 1990s, Roscommon would give Galway trouble in Connacht finals. Now look.'
Galway do receive a cut of gate receipts from Leinster GAA but are not entitled to any representation on the Leinster Council. The recently re-established National Hurling Development Committee does not have a single member from a Connacht county either.
The most convincing case in favour of joining Leinster was focused solely on the pitch. It would stand to the county and to the competition, or so they thought. Since 2019, Galway have won three Leinster titles and made another seven finals.
'Much was made of us entering the Leinster Championship for the first time in 2009,' wrote Joe Canning in his autobiography.
'And I've little doubt that over the years our presence elevated that championship to another level.'
That point is debatable, but it is pivotal. For the competition and the county, Galway must provide added drama and serious opposition. Across 55 games in the LHC so far, they have won 33, drawn 7 and lost 15. Another frustrating campaign would see they log three successive seasons with a 50% or lower win rate for the first time ever. 17 years ago, an argument for welcoming them in was a bid to break Kilkenny's iron grip on Bob O'Keeffe. The Cats are currently closing in on a six-in-a-row.
For Micheál Donoghue's outfit, after a 12-point defeat against Kilkenny last weekend in front of just 8,243 at UPMC Nowlan Park, a trip to Tullamore is suddenly enormous. Offaly haven't beaten Galway in the championship since 1994. It is their first home game in the LHC since 2018. They are out to prove they add value to the competition too.

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