Canning: National League should be started earlier

Joe Canning says that the Allianz Hurling Leagues should be started earlier in the season, with pre-season tournaments cut from the calendar.

It's not that long ago that the league was seen as a good barometer of a team's standing in the game, with a more compact top flight, and a sense that the counties within it were the only ones who might have a realistic chance to claim the Liam MacCarthy Cup later in the year.

Now, with very little chance of the top counties facing the drop, and with the split season closing the gap between league and the provincial championships, there's a sense that hurling's second national competition has lost some of its standing.

For 2017 All-Ireland winner Canning, who was speaking at the launch of RTÉ's GAA Championship coverage, the competition still has potential.

"I think the league is a good competition," he said.

"The earlier competitions, the Walsh Cup and that sort of stuff, could be looked at. I understand that the competitive nature of relegation, going up and down, might need to be looked at.

"There's good games but the schedule could be a bit better. Maybe week on week? Sometimes there's a bit of a break - there was two weeks at one stage - because it's close enough to championship.

"You could start it a bit earlier and get rid of the Walsh Cup. They're pointless at this stage. If you're in your early 20s, or in college, the amount of games those guys play early on in the year is just ridiculous.

"If you're a young fella trying to impress, you're eager to play as many games, and train, because you want to be starting for the league and the championship.

"If you're trying to juggle college commitments as well, and be competitive in that, it's very difficult nowadays. When I was playing we