Occasionally, travelling around, I come across people who believe that the state of today's game is not a patch on the hurling played in the 1930s through to the 1960s and '70s.

There may have been a time when I would have been inclined to concur but now I tend to disagree with that analysis. This is chiefly because I watched a number of the GAA Gold series of games shown on TnaG featuring the old players.

These hurlers supposedly were flawless in terms of basic skills - striking either side, ground stroking, striking in the air - but the replays clearly illustrated that this was not always the case. I was astonished at some of the mistakes. I suppose it comes down to the natural tendency to embellish the exploits of the past.

But in relation to the modern game, I believe the skill factor is very much alive. Over the past few decades, it is directly traceable through players like Jimmy Barry Murphy, Pat Delaney, Ray Cummins, D J Carey, Brian Whelahan and Jamesie O'Connor.

The most fundamental and obvious change is the fitness level. In 1963, I was on a Limerick side that began training for the championship just three weeks before it started. On the first night, only four players and the trainer showed up.

Relate that to now. The effort modern players put in is just colossal. I don't think the public realise the extent of their sacrifice. Now, it could be argued that this emphasis gradually leads to an erosion of skill but that is not my belief. Certainly, players may have less time to work on the ball but it is a question of striking a balance.

It has to be acknowledged that raising fitness levels has allowed new counties to break through. Limerick put in an unprecedented effort in 1973, as did Galway in the early 1980s. Clare obviously did the same with great success. They managed to achieve incredible levels of fitness but also possess some fine hurlers.

I thought they were awesome this year, particularly in the replay of the Munster final. The subsequent controversy surrounding Colin Lynch side-tracked them I feel, and ultimately, the series of draws against Offaly cost them. All their training possibly caught up with them. But it is extremely rare for a team to endure six successive tough games in one summer.

Offaly are an interesting side to consider in the context of the modern game. I reckon their fitness level was at around 60 per cent of Clare's during that game. They have never been the best of trainers.

I read in one of the papers yesterday a quote attributed to Johnny Pilkington stating that hurling was something you did on a given day and the rest of your time was your own. That view certainly contrasts with my own belief as to the ideal mind-set of an inter-county hurler.

But Offaly do seem to be a breed apart in their psyche. This current team are fantastically gifted, have some incredibly natural hurlers. I can't explain why that is, I assume it just came from playing the game every day.

Coaching them the year they won the All-Ireland, I knew the next year would be difficult, I feared they would be sated by the win. The same thing happened with Limerick in 1974, when we defended the championship. It is just exceedingly difficult to get a player to put in the same effort once they have climbed the mountain. And winning can breed complacency, you can see it in a lad's eyes, thinking `ah, we'll beat them on the day'.

But Offaly are in this All-Ireland essentially because of their hurling, the way they moved the ball. In a sense, you could argue that their presence is a victory for the purists but it also reflects their basic pragmatism.

I would be worried about the methods of young coaches nowadays. In the 1980s Galway popularised the idea of big forwards running at men and dishing the hand-pass and while it can work, there are also ways of stopping it.

I feel that hurling is a game of ebb and flow, very unpredictable, a sport which forces you to adapt and the best way of dealing with this is to embrace the passing game, something Offaly do so well.

If the running game gains a lot of currency, I think hurling will become peppered with hooking, blocking and what I call mullicking - four or five lads scrapping for a ball. But if a manager feels a style will bring results, naturally, he is going to use it.

And that brings me to the other defining characteristic to be considered in relation to the state of today's game. Pressure. This summer, more than ever, has hinted at the pressure on the manager. He performs or he is out the door, same as Kenny Dalglish over in Newcastle.

Ger Loughnane was one manager in the news a lot over the championship. I feel that Ger decided to take a certain stance in defence of Colin Lynch and it backfired. It unsettled Clare in the long run.

There is also incredible pressure on the players. This is an amateur game which demands a professional approach from all counties. Inter-county demands has led to a general clash between club and county. Rarely will a county player train with his club. he simply has no time.

I feel that amateurism is slowly filtering out, that the game will inevitably become semi-professional. Sponsorship and gate receipts mean the money is circulating and eventually, the players will be paid. It could lead to problems. Look at the scenario at Glasgow Celtic with massively wealthy players cribbing about bonuses. I would find it difficult to see a similar situation arising here, but there could be pitfalls ahead.

I suppose, in conclusion, one could see the current game as having reached the amateur zenith, that never again will athletes invest so much time and effort to the game without the prospect of material gain. How long this ethos can continue is, however, unclear.

(In an interview with Keith Duggan)