Waterford's road to All-Ireland success could be a think of the past.

September 8^th 2013 was a great day in the history of the GAA in Waterford. It was the day that a 65 year old famine ended when the county won an All-Ireland hurling final for the first time since 1948.

However, the way Waterford won the All-Ireland could soon be a thing of the past.

Let me say that when it comes to the GAA, I have very mixed views on how things should be done.

For example, here in Waterford we have two divisional boards and a county board to administer the playing needs of about 50 clubs.

At underage level, we have even more bodies with less clubs, as we have two divisional boards, we have a county board and we also have a city board which caters for clubs playing hurling from the city area and South Kilkenny, while in the West of the county (and I stand to be corrected on this) we have a group catering for clubs competing in a Town and Country competitions which I understand has or does cater for clubs in East Cork.

On top of this we have a coaching committee who are responsible for the development squads within the county.

For a county of the size of Waterford, this in my view is far too many boards. I have long said that there should be one adult board in Waterford and one juvenile board.

But while I am in favour of scrapping the amount of boards we have in Waterford, I would be totally opposed to the idea that some have, that the provincial boards should be scrapped and that the inter county championships be run by one committee in Croke Park.

To me and as well as many others, to get rid of the Munster Senior Hurling Championship would be criminal.

It’s a special competition. To get rid of it could well see putting a nail in the coffin of the GAA. You could well find some in Ulster that would claim the same about the Ulster Senior Football Championship. Both competitions it could be argued are so evenly balanced that on any given day, any side could raise the winner’s trophy.

When it comes to championships, I am a bit a traditionalist just as I am when it comes to the Munster Senior Hurling Championship.

While Waterford have benefited over the past decade and a half to changes made to the championships, I firmly believe that all championships should be straight knockout. I have never believed that sides beaten in a competition should be given a second chance to win the prize that is on offer when the championship is completed.

I understand that people will say that players train so hard that they should be given another chance, after they suffer one defeat. But to me there is a but.

The F.A. Cup in England was up to the time that Manchester United did not enter the competition over a decade ago was regarded as the greatest cup competition in the world, and it possibly was. There was a bit of magic to it.

Wimbledon in their day were not the prettiest team in the world to watch, but possibly all but Liverpool supporters were delighted to see them win competition in 1988 just over ten years after they became a Football League Club.

Twelve month earlier, Coventry City won the final beating a fancied Spurs team in the final. After winning the final Coventry City the following year drew non league Sutton United in the cup and the Minnows won.

Did Coventry get a second chance of winning the cup again after going out of the competition? Will Manchester United get another chance this year after going out to Swansea City?  

As I have said I am not in favour of teams getting second chances in the Championship. I firmly believe that the championship should be straight knockout. I however believe that players should be getting games, and believe that this can be done with a restructure of the leagues.

Extra teams should be added to the leagues we have. The top division in hurling should have at least ten teams, all in one group with games played from February right through to the middle or end of May, with a knockout championship beginning in late June or early July finishing in September. All Championship games should in my view in each round should be played over the one weekend, the same way that the F.A. Cup is run in England.

Back to what this latest posting is supposed to be about.

In the coming year we could see further changes to the way our championships are run, which may not go down well with everyone.

We all know how Waterford won the All-Ireland in 2013.

Drawn against Tipperary in the first round of the championship, Waterford were beaten at Walsh Park. This meant that Waterford were paired with the other first round looser – Clare to see who would join Tipperary and Cork the two first round winners as well as Limerick who received a bye into the 2013 semi finals because Kerry did not enter the championship for the semi finals.

Waterford beat Clare in the semi finals and were then paired with Cork in the semi finals, a game Waterford won to advance to the Munster Final against Limerick who beat Tipperary in the other semi finals.

In the Munster Final, Waterford lost out after a replay which meant that Antrim would have to be played in the quarter finals.

Waterford accounted for the Glens-men and then beat near neighbours Kilkenny in the semi final and then had a brilliant win over Galway in the Final.

However, teams winning the All-Ireland at minor level like the way Waterford won it could soon be a thing of the past, if a motion by the Moyle Rovers Club in Tipperary passed at the Tipperary County Board Convention before Christmas and now forwarded to the National Congress is again successful.

The South Tipperary Club has called that only provincial winners in both minor hurling and football progress to the semi finals, meaning that there will be no All-Ireland quarter finals, and that in hurling the Munster and Leinster winners take it every second turn to play Galway and Antrim (taking it that both will win in Connacht and Ulster) in the semi finals, while the football semi finals would be played out on the three year cycle.

The motion submitted by the Moyle Rovers club comes after the Premier Counties minor teams were beaten in the Munster Championship and the team that beat them went on to have a good run in the All-Ireland series.

In 2013 Tipperary beat Waterford in the first round of the championship but the Deise County side went on to win the All-Ireland.

Twelve months earlier the Premier Counties Minor Footballers beat Kerry in the first round of the Munster Championship and again in the Munster Final, and went on to reach the All-Ireland semi finals while the Premier County’s own side bowed out at the quarter final stages. In the same year, Waterford and Tipperary managed to beat Clare in the Minor Hurling Championship but the Banner men still managed to reach the All-Ireland semi finals.

Meanwhile another motion from the Moyle Rovers Club is also set to be debated at the upcoming GAA Convention after it was successfully passed at the Tipperary County Convention.

It calls for players eligible to play in the under 16 grades be banned from playing for a counties minor hurling and football panel.

In 2011, a then 15 year old Stephen Bennett stared for the Waterford Minor Hurling team that beat Limerick at Walsh Park, a game which he put three goals past the Limerick defence.