HurlingSeán Moran on how the small hurling elite will remain unless others can develop at underage level

Phase two of the Allianz National Hurling League begins this weekend with tomorrow's eagerly-awaited rematch of last autumn's All-Ireland final between Cork and Kilkenny. A good crowd will be expected at Páirc Uí Chaoimh but it will be a rare occurrence in this season's National Hurling League.

The point has been hammered thin that with its small number of competitive counties, hurling needs a realistic competitive context. This has been accepted in relation to the championship, which this year will be broken into three tiers, but the spring competition has been left to muddle on despite crying out for reform.

But its problems are just symptoms of a wider malaise. Interest has been subdued this year. There is a sense that Cork and Kilkenny are well ahead of the field despite both having been beaten in their respective provinces last summer.

Waterford, the county most likely to challenge this stranglehold, have had a poor campaign, losing Ken McGrath to injury and slipping into the relegation section for phase two. Clare have raised a gallop and beat Kilkenny but traditional counties like Tipperary and Limerick could only attract 1,500 to their league match (albeit played the same afternoon as the Ireland-England rugby match).

But at least the distilled top six will play a series of three competitive matches that will serve as ideal preparation for the championship. The contentment of the leading counties with this situation mean that concerns about the unsatisfactory phase one matches have been subdued.

As a player and a manager with Galway, Noel Lane dealt with a situation in which the county had to make the best out of the league because they had no provincial championship. He says that while the current system is better for Galway at the top level the general structure of the league is flawed.

"There doesn't seem to be a lot of value in the first stage but Galway have three big games coming up, which is very good at this time of the year - and potentially a fourth if they get to the final," he says. "That's much better than arranging challenge games. It certainly suits the bigger counties."

At the other end, however, matches have been meaninglessly one-sided and the whole competition has been damaged in the process, strengthening the gloomy acceptance that hurling is as far away as ever from evangelising the game beyond its traditional boundaries. Tipp beat Antrim by 29 points and Wexford destroyed Down by 40 - both in Division One fixtures.

"That's hurling," says Lane. "What have you? Eight or nine counties. The others will always be trying but they don't seem to be making much progress. They like to play the top teams but what is the likelihood of those teams winning an All-Ireland?"

The argument has been that counties beneath the top level will benefit from playing Division One hurling but there's been precious little recent evidence to back that theory.

Michael Duignan, Offaly All-Ireland winner and RTÉ analyst, managed Meath on their visit to the top flight. He took over after they had survived in the old 14-team Division One but struggled when the numbers were cut to 12. Competing above your weight, he says, has its superficial attractions.

"Meath were in Division One when I took over and I thought it was great because the players would learn to adapt to the speed of hurling and in a way it turned out very well because we beat Laois in that year's championship. But thinking back I'm not so sure about it. It was very demoralising for the players.

"The county gave the team great support and we had the best of preparation, able to bring in a trainer, a physio and everything. The players felt it was the first time they had prepared like a top team and they felt great about the whole thing. But after all this they were going out to get beaten by 15 or 20 points by the likes of Kilkenny and Waterford and a number just didn't come back the following year."

Dominic McKinley, the former Antrim player who managed both his own county and Derry, in an interview with this newspaper three years ago passed even bleaker judgment on the desire to mix it with the best.

"When I played there was a rule that a county had to win two All-Ireland Bs in three years to qualify for senior and I think maybe there was a good point there. People get carried away and set their sights too high.

"Deep down they know they've no chance but are happy to turn up on the big day, get the usual hiding and have people going out the gates saying that they're rubbish."

The fundamental problems for counties trying to develop or rebuild a hurling profile are well known. Aside from the waning interest in recreational sport in the face of various sedentary pursuits, the game is so skilful it requires a disproportionate focus, which isn't readily undertaken in non-elite counties.

The relative ease with which football can be played is another disadvantage for hurling. It enables young hurlers to be dual players without too much difficulty and in football counties the lure of the big ball can become irresistible unless hurling is seen to have momentum.

"I get into trouble for saying this," says Duignan, "but once you're hurling it's very easy to play football. I hardly trained at all for football but managed to play for the county. I wasn't brilliant but I could compete and you couldn't do that the other way around.

"I believe that instead of big clubs in Dublin running 10 under-10 teams they should ask young lads what they want to play and ask them to make a choice. There'd be uproar because you'd be left with maybe one team but they'd all want to play hurling.

"If there's a huge number playing there'll be a fall-off and you end up with hardly anyone playing whereas somewhere like Banagher you're hurling all the time and playing with the under-12s when you're nine and that sort of thing."

Lane agrees with the emphasis on underage development. He believes counties looking to improve can write off senior level unless the groundwork has been done.

"You can coach senior players to a limited extent and you can improve teamwork but if you haven't basic co-ordination between hand and body, you can't do a lot.

"No matter what you do, unless you have the players it's not much use and the only way you get players is early at underage. I've seen a lot of under-14 Tony Forristal and under-16 Nenagh Co-Op competitions and I can say the people involved put as much effort into it as the guys do into minor. Galway have struggled to follow up success at those levels but we're always there or thereabouts at senior and I'm confident a senior All-Ireland will come."

For counties trying to break into hurling's elite or even revive their fortunes the outlook is increasingly a matter of anxiety. Duignan feels the 1980s and early 1990s are now looking like a blip on tradition's screen.

"It's gone back to where it was when I was growing up: Cork and Kilkenny ahead of the rest. It's a depressing thought but I'm not sure that much can be done. In Offaly the underage academy was launched on Thursday night and everyone in the county's feeling great. But this should have happened 15 years ago.

"It's also a big social thing. Hurling's a hard game. It needs a lot of time. I've a young fella who's seven and got a great grá for the football. He's not so keen on hurling and I haven't been pushing him but he'd tell me he got a bang from the hurl and it was sore and so on. I wouldn't mind but parents would pay attention to that sort of thing."

Hurling's future has been a matter of regular lament throughout GAA history. Maybe it has surprised with its durability but difficulties continue to beset it and each generation appears to produce its own.